BrightFarms - a produce supply chain revolution | Paul Lightfoot | TEDxManhattan

Paul Lightfoot is the Chief Executive Officer of BrightFarms, which designs, finances, builds and operates greenhouse farms at grocery retailers, eliminating time, distance and costs from their produce supply chain. With the elimination of shipping and the drastic reduction of fuel consumption, carbon emissions and water use, BrightFarms enables grocery retailers to change their produce supply chain in a way that improves the planet and their profits. For nearly 10 years, Paul was the CEO of an enterprise software company that improved the supply chains of major retailer and their suppliers. Previously, Paul was the founder and CEO of Foodline, a venture-backed software company that provided customer and reservations information technology to restaurants. Before that, Paul was a transactional attorney at the Wall Street law firm of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. Paul was recognized by Chain Store Age magazine as a "Rising Star in Retail" in their annual 40 Under 40 awards.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

Sometimes, it really does feel like
we need a revolution

when we think about
the challenges we face today:

debt crisis, political stalemates,

energy, the environment,

the food we're feeding our families.

But I don't think
we should be discouraged.

And today I'm going to talk
about the story of BrightFarms.

But I also want this to be an example -

an example for us as leaders,
as activists and as citizens,

an example for how we can think about

how some of our generation's
greatest problems, greatest challenges

can be converted into some
of our greatest business opportunities.

I want to start
by looking back a little bit.

I want you to raise your hand
if you were working in the food industry

five years ago.

Wow! A lot - more than half.

We're going to need that experience.

Five years ago, I wasn't.

Five years ago, I was running a business

that improved the supply chains
of big retailers and their suppliers.

I had a singular goal

which was to maximize the efficiencies
of systems that brought goods to stores.

And let me tell you, I am programmed
to live, breathe and, yes, eat efficiency.

I have a license plate
that reads "Efficient."

(Laughter)

It's true. I do.

When I followed my passion
and came into the food industry

and dug into the produce supply chain,

I encountered a system
that was at odds with itself.

Our produce supply chain
is incredibly efficient and inefficient

all at the same time.

First, here's how it's efficient.

It produces huge quantities
of food at low prices.

And here's how it's inefficient.

Our fresh produce
holds up to travel great,

but it can't uphold taste at all.

In fact, we grow produce for travel
and not for eating.

The system breeds foodborne illness,
and it's killing our environment.

Our fresh produce supply chain
is industrialized and centralized

to the point that it's an enormous
consumer of land, of water, of crude oil

and natural gas.

The more I learned,
the more I came to realize

that for all the good intentions
to feed the world,

parts of our food supply chain
aren't merely inefficient -

they're toxic.

If TED is about inspiration -
well, I was inspired.

I was inspired to rethink
the produce supply chain.

I was more than inspired.

I was compelled to develop
an alternative supply chain:

one that eliminated these inefficiencies

and that prioritized farmers,
quality food, our health, the environment

and still produced large quantities
of food at low prices.

I want to make a full stop
here for a second.

I want to ask each one of you
to visualize the best tomato

you've had in the last year.

Do you have it?

I want you to raise your hand
if it came from a supermarket.

(Laughter)

I can't believe that there's really zero.

(Laughter)

Although I am not surprised that it
would've at least been close to zero.

People typically visualize
the tomato from farmers' markets -

probably a lot of that -

gardens and restaurants.

Virtually nobody, or perhaps in this case,
literally nobody says supermarkets,

even when I asked that question
of supermarket executives.

(Laughter)

I'm serious.

The tomato I visualized
was produced by a six-year-old,

my beautiful daughter Emilia,
in our kitchen garden.

Emilia and I like to discuss how the most
important ingredient in food is love

and how you find love in the food
that someone grows or prepares

for someone they care about personally.

Emilia's tomato that I'm visualizing
and the tomatoes she grows in the garden

look a lot like this tomato.

And the tomato I visualized
was bursting with flavor;

it was bursting with love.

And this tomato?

Sucks!

(Laughter)

I'm serious. That tomato was awful.

(Laughter)

It was organic. It was expensive.

We bought it at a fancy supermarket
not far from here.

So why does it lack taste?

And nutrition too, by the way -
they run together.

And what does that tell us about
the supermarket tomatoes and lettuces

that we're buying
and feeding to our families?

These tomatoes
are international travelers.

They bounced here to New York
from Mexico in a 53-foot truck.

No wonder they suck.

That's typical, by the way,
for US supermarket tomatoes in the winter.

Did you know that nearly 100 percent
of supermarket lettuces in the US

come from just two places?

Near Salinas, California, in the summer
and Yuma, Arizona, in the winter.

These lettuces travel 3,000 miles
to reach the local grocery store here.

It's no surprise that lettuce is prone
to rotting before it's purchased

or right when people bring it home.

This causes huge losses for supermarkets,

and it makes my wife,
who loves fresh baby spinach, unhappy,

which makes me unhappy.

(Laughter)

Produce executives, produce buyers,
they don't want this.

They've actually got families of their own
that they're feeding with produce,

and they're good people.

But they're not just good people -
they're business people.

They want to bring you quality produce,

but they need to buy large quantities
of produce at low prices.

And right now, there's only
one option for that,

which is our industrialized
and centralized food system.

Incrementalism isn't going to do it.

Moving food faster or better
through this system

isn't going to solve these problems.

It's time for a revolution
in the produce supply chain.

Can you imagine a revolutionary new system
that had fewer miles, fewer trucks,

fewer tasteless tomatoes,

that had less foodborne illness,
less crude oil and less rotting lettuces?

Can you imagine
a revolutionary supply chain

where we went back to our roots

and grew and sold produce
in the same community

by a farmer who, like Emilia,
grew for taste instead of for travel?

And maybe even with a little bit of love.

You think that'll be better?

Do you think that'll be better?

(Audience) Yes.

We think so at BrightFarms too.

And you know who else does?

Produce buyers
at supermarkets, they do too.

In fact, nearly 20 percent
of the top 50 US supermarkets

are already working with BrightFarms

to try to make this revolutionary
new system a reality.

The industry is reacting
with huge enthusiasm.

Produce buyers sincerely want to bring
great food at great prices

to their customers.

They just need a better option.

So, how is BrightFarms going to do this?
What are we doing?

How are we going to bring
large quantities of food at low prices

that's better quality
and better for the environment?

It sounds hard, but the answer
is surprisingly simple.

We're building greenhouse farms,

but it's how we're building them
and where we're building that matters.

We're building them at supermarkets,

on their roofs,
at their distribution centers

and always in their communities.

BrightFarms provides a turnkey solution.

We finance it, we build it, we manage it
for our supermarket clients

in a way that cuts time, distance
and costs from the produce supply chain.

We're building hydroponic,
recirculating greenhouses

and recruiting farmers across the country
to bring better produce to everybody.

Here's how the deal works.

We put up the money,
we build the facility,

we find, we nurture, we support,
we train the local farmer.

The supermarket is required
to put up zero investment.

They merely commit to buying
produce that's better.

That's not enough, by the way.

Zero investment
and better produce on their own

doesn't satisfy their requirements.

There's another factor,
which is the price.

If we can't meet or beat
current market pricing,

this is going to remain
a fringe initiative.

And I'm not interested in the fringe.

I am interested in making a difference.

But we can meet or beat existing prices.

We do it by having a shorter
and simpler supply chain.

More than half the cost
of this lettuce isn't the lettuce -

it's the long and complex supply chain
that gets it to your local grocery store.

We simply operate without that long
and complex supply chain,

so we have lower operating costs
than the traditional industry.

We can sell at low enough prices
to meet or beat current market prices.

This is a case where less is truly more.

So, is our business model working?

It is.

We actually just recently announced

the industry's first
long-term produce agreement.

It's with a great supermarket
called McCaffrey's.

We're building them a greenhouse
at their store in Yardley, Pennsylvania.

And I want all of you to go there
and check it out.

Jim McCaffrey, like many
supermarket executives,

cares deeply about his customers.

He's not just a great businessman.

He's a visionary as well.

And he had a vision to commit
to a revolutionary new system

that's bringing better tomatoes
and consistent, fantastic lettuces

to his store shelves
on the day that they're picked.

And by the way, we care
about McCaffrey's customers

as much as Jim does.

We're not going to be anonymous,
3,000 miles away.

Our farmer won't be 3,000 miles away.

He'll be three blocks away from the store.

He'll be living,

sending his kids to school,
creating jobs and growing produce

in the same community
as McCaffrey's customers

and shopping in the same produce aisles
right there with them.

When we started - earlier, I said
that TED Talks were about inspiration.

I've been inspired by many of you here
today, and I thank you for it.

And I hope I've had the chance
to inspire some of you as well,

inspire you to not be discouraged
by the problems you're facing

with the supply chains
in which you feel like you're stuck,

but instead, to think
about these challenges

as opportunities to start
your own revolutions.

And in our case,

a revolutionary opportunity
to bring our society produce

that's safer, healthier, tastier,
better for the environment

and bursting with the most important
ingredient of all: love.

(Applause)