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Babylon Micro-Farms and Marc Oshima

From Bronx Schools to Cruise Ships: Babylon Micro-Farms CEO Marc Oshima Shares What’s Next

Marc Oshima has spent his career at the intersection of food, sustainability, and innovation — and now he’s bringing that experience to Babylon Micro-Farms as its new CEO. With more than 350 micro-farms operating in a range of settings from schools to cruise ships, the company is redefining what’s possible with on-site indoor farming. In this Q&A, Oshima shares why he joined the team, how Babylon is scaling its impact, and what’s ahead for the indoor ag industry as it faces both new opportunities and real-world challenges.

You’ve helped shape the indoor farming industry from its early days. What drew you to Babylon Micro-Farms at this point in your career, and what excites you most about leading the company into its next chapter?

I am a builder and love helping businesses and people grow. I am passionate about the FoodTech/AgTech space and understanding how we can drive commercial, scalable solutions to our most pressing agriculture and supply chain challenges.  Babylon Micro-Farms has been leading the way for on-site farming solutions, with over 350 farms across 40 states and 5 countries, and I am excited to lead them for the next stage of transformational growth. They have a great product line, seasoned team, proven track-record and business model, fantastic customers, and long-term committed investors, and I see so many positive opportunities ahead for them.

Babylon Micro-Farms has really carved out a unique niche with its on-site farming model in places like hospitals, schools, and corporate dining. How do you see this approach evolving as more organizations look for fresh, local food solutions?

There are major tailwinds with greater emphasis than ever before for food as medicine, health and wellness, sustainability, and culinary differentiation that are fueling a significant pipeline of projects for Babylon Micro-Farms. What is exciting for us is that we now have years of operating experience, established business cases and proof points on how we can help drive greater employee/guest engagement and more positive customer experiences when our on-site farming solutions have been deployed. While our systems are turnkey to install, we see further opportunities with new builds and retrofits to have our systems already specified into the design and planning phases to create even more seamless integrations.  A great example is our ongoing work with MSC Cruises where we have our on-site farming solutions built right onboard for their dining and kitchen facilities. We were excited to see the unveiling of their latest World America cruise ship this month in Miami at the Seatrade Cruise’s major event called F&B@Sea where Babylon Micro-Farms was recognized as Trailblazing Product of the Year.

With hundreds of micro-farms already up and running — and a tech platform managing it all — how is Babylon using data and automation to keep things consistent and scalable?

Our Babylon IQ operating system is the brains for our business, managing the entire fleet of farms real-time with remote monitoring and oversight. Our Guided Growing app enables anyone to become a farmer with easy-to-use training and tips that automatically guide the farmer through each stage of growing. We are able to use data from our systems to measure all aspects of the individual growing sites and our overall operations to provide a consistent, high level of performance.

You’ve long been an advocate for making healthy food more accessible and equitable. How does Babylon’s mission tie into that — and what role can the broader indoor ag community play in pushing this forward?

I have been working for over 20 years to improve our food systems, and Babylon Micro-Farms is committed to inspiring a greater connection with freshly harvested produce and how it is grown in order to help address our broken, complex food supply chain. We operate in key verticals from Education to Corporate Dining to Hospitality to Healthcare / Senior Care and can have a direct positive effect on anyone aged 4 to 84. We recently had ribbon-cuttings for some of our new farms in NYC public schools in the Bronx and Queens, and it is tremendous to see the immediate connection you can make with today’s youth about our food and where it comes from. We are also fortunate to work with great partners and changemakers like Stephen Ritz and his Green Bronx Machine organization that works with thousands of schools around the world, and we see how partnerships like this can help us scale our mission and impact.

In general, we hope to learn and lead within the broader agriculture community and see tremendous value working closely with important trade organizations like Indoor Ag-Con as well CEA Alliance and International Fresh Produce Association to help share best practices and help advance the indoor farming industry. We realize that we go faster and have greater impact by working together collectively.

What do you think are the biggest opportunities — and maybe a few challenges — that indoor farming is facing over the next few years as the industry continues to grow and evolve?

There are tremendous opportunities ahead because the macro-pressures facing traditional field farming from climate change, increasing weather volatility and damaging storms, drought, overuse of pesticides and fertilizers, food safety, worker welfare, cost of doing business are all continuing to increase dramatically. The challenges with any business are understanding your economics and what problems you are uniquely solving. Babylon Micro-Farms has identified a unique niche and solution for hyper-local, on-site growing where we make margin on the sale of our farms and even more margin on our recurring subscription fees to service our farms.

The recent downfall of a few Agtech companies represents a market correction because the business fundamentals were not in place to drive the right unit economics with the right technology solutions. As with any emerging industry, we fundamentally need to continue to invest in new technologies and solutions to help mitigate these increasing pressures. We, as an industry, need to do a better job of celebrating and showcasing the success stories to continue to attract interest from key stakeholders from selling partners to government to investors, and we are appreciative of the work that Indoor Ag-Con does to help provide a platform and forum to come together as an industry.

Learn more about Babylon Micro-Farms.

Indoor Ag-Con 2025 Unites Global CEA Leaders for Collaboration and Innovation

Las Vegas, NV – (March 14, 2025)Indoor Ag-Con 2025, the premier event for the controlled environment agriculture (CEA) industry, concluded its 12th annual two-day conference and expo on March 11–12 at the Westgate Las Vegas. This year’s event welcomed 1,657 attendees from around the globe—including representatives from the U.S., Canada, Australia, the Caribbean, Europe, Latin America, Africa, Tribal Nations, and more—reinforcing its status as the key meeting place for the indoor and vertical farming industry.

The 2025 edition featured the largest Indoor Ag-Con expo floor to date, with more than 300 booths showcasing cutting-edge products, technologies, and solutions designed to help grower/operators improve their businesses, increase profitability, and scale their operations effectively.

“At its core, Indoor Ag-Con is about fostering collaboration, idea-sharing, and networking—and this year’s event truly delivered,” said Brian Sullivan, CEO of Indoor Ag-Con. “Bringing together C-level executives, growers, investors, tech providers, government members, academia, and key stakeholders from every facet of the CEA ecosystem, the conversations and connections made here will shape the industry’s future for years to come.”

12th Annual Edition Highlights

Growing Industry Association Events & Participation

  • Expanded Venue Benefits: Indoor Ag-Con’s new Westgate Las Vegas location provided increased meeting space and additional networking opportunities for industry associations.
  • CEA Alliance: Hosted its annual meeting in conjunction with Indoor Ag-Con.
  • International Sprout Growers Association (ISGA): Held its 33rd Annual Convention alongside the event.
  • GLASE (Greenhouse Lighting and Systems Engineering Consortium): Returned with its Vivid Canopy Panel & Networking Event.
  • Women in CEA Luncheon Networking: A new initiative that fostered a collaborative environment through networking, information sharing, and resource exchange.
  • Aquaponics Association: Hosted an Expo Theater session with accompanying networking opportunities.
  • The FarmTech Society: Welcomed both current and new members to the event.

New Cultivating Excellence Awards – The CEAs
Indoor Ag-Con and Inside Grower magazine launched the inaugural Cultivating Excellence Awards (CEAs) in 2025. Sponsored by bpgrower.com, the new awards recognized excellence, innovation, and leadership within the controlled environment agriculture sector. Announced at a gala awards luncheon, the winners included:

  • Operational Excellence: Little Leaf Farms (Devens, Massachusetts & McAdoo, Pennsylvania)
  • Good Stewardship: 80 Acres Farms (Hamilton, Ohio)
  • Product Innovation: Dramm – CE-Line

Keynote Sessions
Morning Keynote – “CEA State of the Industry”:
The CEA Alliance, the membership trade association representing vertical farms and greenhouse producers, presented the opening keynote. Moderated by CEA Alliance Executive Director Tom Stenzel, the session featured industry leaders including:

    • Tisha Livingston, President, 80 Acres and CEO, Infinite Acres
    • Skip Hulett, Vice President and General Counsel, NatureSweet
    • Abby Prior, Chief Commercial Officer, BrightFarms

Day 2 Keynote – “Trends in Canada: Insights from Leading CEA Growers Across the Nation”:
This session featured a dynamic panel of Canadian CEA leaders who discussed the latest industry innovations, sustainability strategies, and business growth opportunities. Moderated by Trina Semenchuk, Founder of Little Greenhouse That Could, the panel included:

    • Bahram Rashti, CEO & Co-Founder, UP Vertical Farms
    • Gabriel Forero, Head Grower, Sunterra Greenhouse
    • Valérie Terrault, Sales & Marketing Director, Gen V

Workshops, Educational Tracks & Expo Theater Panel Discussions

  • Pre-Event Workshops:
    Ceres University hosted two pre-event Food Safety Workshops designed to help industry members meet GFSI scheme requirements.
  • Conference Sessions:
    The conference featured two action-packed days of educational sessions with over 90 speakers across five tracks – Technical Grower, Trends, Planning & Operations, Cannabis and the International Sprout Growers Association 33rd Annual Convention track.
  • Expo Theater Sessions:
    Held on the expo floor, sessions ranging from “Growing Minds: Integrating Controlled Environment Agriculture in K–12 Education for a Healthier Future” to “Not All Hope Is Lost: Vertical Farming’s Future and Lessons from the Past,” drew packed crowds.

Networking Opportunities
Attendees connected with new and old friends at daily networking events, including a conference lunch on the show floor, Expo Hall Happy Hour and the new “That’s A Wrap” closing session and celebration.

Indoor Ag-Con | Philips VIP Welcome Party
Back by popular demand, Philips Horticulture LED Solutions once again teamed up with Indoor Ag-Con to kick off the 2025 edition with a VIP Welcome Party on Monday evening, March 10, at Atomic Golf. Conference speakers and industry VIPs gathered for an evening of golf, networking, cocktails, food, music, and fun—courtesy of Philips LED Horticultural Lighting.

Indoor Ag-Con 2026 is scheduled for February 11–12, 2026 at the Westgate Las Vegas. For more information, please visit www.indoor.ag.

About Indoor Ag-Con

Founded in 2013, Indoor Ag-Con has emerged as the largest trade show and conference for vertical farming, greenhouse, and controlled environment agriculture. Its events are crop-agnostic and cover all sectors of the business—from produce and legal cannabis/hemp to alternate protein and non-food crops. For more details, visit www.indoor.ag.

Babylon Microfarms STEM Garden at Indoor Ag-Con

Babylon Introduces The STEM Garden At Indoor Ag-Con 2024

(Richmond, VA) Babylon Micro-Farms, Inc., North America’s leading manufacturer of on-site, modular vertical farms, officially launched its latest Micro-Farm, the STEM Garden, designed for the education market. The team showcased the new design at Indoor Ag-Con, March 11-12, 2024.  The company is taking pre-orders and will begin shipping units in June 2024.

Their latest Micro-Farming system is designed to engage the senses and expand the mind by delivering an accessible and affordable interactive farming experience to the education market. After delivering Micro-Farms to hundreds of locations worldwide, Babylon has collected feedback from a wide range of educators to inform the design for the STEM Garden. Their engineering team has carefully designed the product to deliver the highest-quality farming experience available to educators at an accessible price point. STEM Garden is simple, reliable, and configurable, making it a workhorse for teaching various science, technology, nutrition, and mathematics topics.

Alexander Olesen (CEO & Co-Founder) said, “The STEM Garden represents the next step in our journey to make hydroponic agriculture accessible to all. We have set the standard for safe, reliable, remotely managed vertical farms manufactured here in the USA, enabling anyone to become an indoor farmer. The STEM Garden is an accessible device that significantly expands the market for on-site vertical farms in the classroom and, eventually, home.”

After researching the education space over the last few years, Babylon has created a versatile growing system to engage, educate, and inspire students by bringing farm-to-table into the classroom. Here are some of the key features:

Hands-on Learning – Removable trays in workstations promote hands-on learning for crop planting, nurturing, and harvesting.

Classroom-Compatible – Our design fits K-12 classrooms, maximizing space without compromising on the quality of education.

Student Led-Experiments – Designed for simplicity, our unit encourages students to work together, promoting teamwork and collaboration skills.

Exciting Seed Varieties – Students can explore the world of plant biology in depth, including different leafy greens, herbs, flowers, and microgreens.

Educational Integration – Get lesson plans and materials for hands-on gardening integrated into your curriculum.

Food Safe Cultivation – Our enclosed and locked gardening system ensures ideal plant growth with minimal effort and a more efficient and secure learning environment.

A dietician with Aramark at VCU, Julia Danisewicz RD, said, “We love our Babylon Micro-Farm; our students love the knowledge that their food was grown just a few feet away. As a dietician, seeing a university like VCU value sustainable, pesticide-free food choices for its students is exciting. I didn’t have a green thumb before working with the farm, but it is so easy to use that now I feel like a pro.”

The STEM Garden is available for pre-order today.  Access the info sheet, spec sheet and please sign up for the waitlist here. 

About Babylon
Founded in 2017, Babylon provides an indoor farming service to enable businesses and communities to have a year-round supply of ultra-fresh produce at the touch of a button. They manufacture all their products in the United States. The BabylonIQ software platform remotely manages the modular vertical farming systems network to make sustainable agriculture accessible to institutional food service clients like Compass, Aramark, and Sodexo. The service includes semi-automated vertical farms, software, and supplies wrapped into a flat monthly fee.

Link to TED Talk: Watch my TEDx Talk on “The Next Generation of Vertical Farming

Link to Times Magazine: Top Greentech Companies 2024

NY Sunworks at INdoor Ag-con

NY Sun Works – Supporting the Next Generation of Urban Farmers and Innovators

NY SunworksFor more than 10 years, NY Sun Works, a NYC-based non-profit organization, has used hydroponic technology to teach K-12th grade students about science and sustainability. Their first hydroponic farm-classroom opened in 2010 at a Manhattan public school.  Since then, they’ve grown to nearly 200 schools across the five boroughs of NYC and metro NJ, enabling over 65,000 students in 2021 alone to learn biology, ecology, chemistry and environmental science concepts – all while growing fresh produce to share with their families and school community.

To date, NY Sun Works has installed more than 700 hydroponic systems in school farm-classrooms and greenhouses.  And this number is growing quickly as the non-profit is set to build at least one new hydroponic classroom every week through 2022 – and demand for the program is only growing.  Students plant and grow a wide variety of crops, not only exposing them to critical hands-on science and sustainability topics, but also to new and nutritious vegetables and herbs. As students bring their harvest home to families, they share with them how delicious and fresh vegetables can be when they are grown hydroponically and eaten soon after harvest.

Now, NY Sun Works is introducing its new high school career readiness program in Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA). Recognizing the need for high school students to have direct-to-work options – and the growth of indoor farming as a green industry in NYC and other urban areas – the program provides high school students with marketable technical skills to enter the job market directly after graduation or to continue with further training in a post-secondary academic program.  The program launched in 3 Brooklyn high schools in the 2021-22 school year with pilot funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and will expand to other schools and boroughs next year.

This is an exciting time for urban farmers in NYC, and NY Sun Works has been a key driver of new growth and development in this sector. Last fall, NY Sun Works Executive Director Manuela Zamora was appointed to Eric Adams’ Food Policy Transition Team where she worked alongside industry leaders and community farmers to develop plans for the administration to help grow urban agriculture in NYC. As then-Brooklyn Borough President, Mayor Adams stated in 2021, “Urban agriculture has the potential to revolutionize our urban landscape and play a significant role in an equitable recovery process…Programs such as NY Sun Works give high school students technical skills required in the emerging agricultural industry…We should seek to scale this up further.”

NY Sun Works is excited to launch this innovative career readiness program and to help build a greener NYC.  For more on our CEA certification program and to learn more about NY Sun Works, please contact: Megan Nordgrén, Director of Program Development: megan@nysunworks.org.

 Join Sidsel Robards, Co-Founder, the Greenhouse Project, NY Sunworks for our Indoor Ag-Con 2022 Panel: Cultivating The Workforce Pipeline: Educating the Next Gen Farmers.  Learn more & register today