Tag: wellness

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

Written by Indoor Ag-Con on April 21, 2025. Posted in Blog.

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.

Where Agriculture Meets Wellness: Q&A With Seed2Source Founder Jennifer Waxman

Written by Indoor Ag-Con on October 15, 2022. Posted in Blog.

After successfully guiding The Villages Grown™ to its current position as a vertically integrated, 84-acre total footprint, controlled environment agriculture (CEA), year-round, produce growing operation in Central Florida, Jennifer Waxman is heading back to her roots. That is, she’s turning her focus back to Seed2Source, the firm she launched in 2005 driven by her “agriculture meets wellness” passion and vision.

Indoor Ag-Con is thrilled to have Jennifer on our Advisory Board, as a speaker at the upcoming CEA Summit East in Virginia next week , and Indoor Ag-Con in Las Vegas in February 2023. We had the chance to catch up with this busy CEA industry leader to learn more about her vision and plans in this month’s Q&A

For the last 6 years, you’ve overseen the impressive growth and development of The Villages Grown. Why was the timing right to leave that post to focus on Seed2Source?

We were given the honor and trust to carry out our vision and model for The Villages Grown. This included the strategic direction, design, construction, and operation of a first-of-kind CEA in the South. We backed this with educational programming from both B2C and B2B. We built a community-based brand yet grew enough product for expansion throughout Florida. We worked with beautiful people in a beautiful community.

However, it is no secret that CEA is only scratching the surface in the US. We knew we wanted to be at the head of the ride with its growth. Several players in the CEA sector were showing intrigue and interest in our model. I believe this was rooted in our ability to build a strong brand, educate, all the while supporting other local farmers along the way.

I’ve learned a lot since entering the hydroponics sector in 2000. This is when I started to conceive this model of holistic wellness and was based on my global travels, thus observing the ‘Future of Food’. There is a lot to share from a rather long career in this sector. I have experienced successes, failures, and have observed overall industry needs and voids. This is the exciting part and I wanted back in!

Share more about Seed2Source, your Sustainable Ag Business Consulting Firm focusing on controlled environment agriculture

Seed2Source launched in 2016 but was really an evolution of my first ‘Agriculture Meets Wellness’ firm which was launched in 2005. Seed2Source is a first-of-kind, Sustainable Agriculture & Wellness, consulting firm headquartered in Florida but serving the US (and beyond). The firm focuses on strategic CEA projects rooted in sustainable agricultural, food-as-medicine, and local food system models.

Our CEA experience includes Vertical Farming, Controlled Greenhouse, Aeroponic and Hydroponic Methodologies, Strategy, Branding, Distribution, Education, Innovation, and Science. We are a one-stop-shop and are surrounded by the best and the brightest in all operational units required for true success. We bring in different consultants as the projects deem fit. This allows us to take on both small and large projects as the market dictates.

At the upcoming CEA Summit, you’ll be speaking on 2 panels, including one titled “Building The Future of CEA”. If there is one message you hope to get across on that panel discussion what is it?

The CEA industry is still at its infancy and shall evolve with continuous iterations and innovations. Typically, when most people think of CEA, they only think of High-Tech, AI, Automation, etc. and forget about the State of Agriculture in general. I hope people start to realize that CEA is ‘part’ of a solution and not the ‘only’ solution. Also, I hope that people don’t forget about the actual agriculturists and horticulturists that are the true heroes in creating a sustainable, profitable, CEA operation. This seems to be lost with many of the current players in CEA.

You’ll also be speaking at the 2023 edition of Indoor Ag-Con on a great session idea you brought to us, “Building A CEA Alliance: The Power of Grower Partnerships.” Can you share a little more about this idea?

As it stands, there is little-to-no diversity in US CEA. Everyone is clamoring for funding, market share, and innovations in technology. I believe they are missing a huge opportunity for collaborations, strategic partnerships, and supply chain solutions. We must work together not only for larger supply chain opportunities in both retail and wholesale, but to truly exchange best business practices and the like. We should also be collaborating to keep domestic supply in our own backyard and with prominence. There is enough business to be had for all!

What’s next for you and the team at Seed2Source?

Our vertically integrated CEA Model, of which we pride ourselves on, was clearly not an overnight success. We are still on this journey. This will continue to be the core of our mission and vision. The Vision – ‘Intersecting Agriculture with Wellness as a Food-As-Medicine Approach’ — will continue to drive our passion and expansion.

We feel strongly that this is the model for success and ultimate operational sustainability. We are being courted by some amazing operations – both new and old players in the CEA space – which has been rewarding. We will continue to build our CEA and overall Domestic Farm Partnerships and Educational Programming.

Learn more about Jennifer and her team at www.seed2source.com

Re-Envisioning Urban Farming With Direct To Consumer Urban Hubs

Written by Indoor Ag-Con on September 11, 2021. Posted in Blog.

Q & A With Brick Street Farms CEO Shannon O’Malley

is excited to welcome Brick Street Farms CEO Shannon O’Malley to our speaker roster for the October 4-5, 2021 edition at the Hilton Orlando. Based in St. Petersburg, FL, O’Malley and her growing company are on a mission to “ignite a sustainable farm revolution by dramatically reshaping the global population’s ability to access clean, healthy food.” We caught up with Shannon to learn more about the multi-million investment Florida agribusiness leader Lykes Bros. has recently made in Brick Street Farms; her company’s THRIVE Containers division, and its non-profit Desert Farms Foundation.

Read our Q&A here AND learn more next month in Orlando as Shannon joins our “Women in Ag” panel discussion

Congratulations on the recent news that Lykes Bros. Inc has made a significant investment in Brick Street Farms! What does this mean for your company and how does it play into your mission.

Brick Street Farms could not be more thrilled about the investment from Lykes Bros. Inc. We both inherently believe that within the agriculture space there is room for traditional farming models and urban community models. With our Lykes Bros.Inc. investment, Brick Street Farms will be bringing the first large-scale direct to consumer urban community model to the forefront: Brick Street Farms Urban Hubs.

With this model, we have the privilege of contributing to the local economy by empowering and investing in our urban communities in as many ways as possible. We provide nutritional and medicinal food that has not been compromised by traditional agriculture supply chain issues, grown on-site, in one of the most advanced environmentally sustainable arenas in agriculture. With harvest to home in 24 hours, we take pride in leading the way in the evolution of how people connect to their food. We are growing 16-20 acres of farmland in 1/3 acre lots and could not be more excited. Brick Street Farms is defining what urban agriculture is with our urban hubs. These hubs are the truest form of bringing mass food production to the point of consumption. And the best way to sustainably feed more people from urban locations.

From a financial standpoint, this model is scalable, replicable, and sustainable. Below is a graph from the Artemis State of Indoor Farming 2020. We have added the Brick Street Farms direct to consumer model to this graph as shown below:

What was the rationale behind the launch of your THRIVE division and what makes your containers different than others on the market today?

When my husband, Brad, and I started Brick Street Farms, we had no idea how quickly our business would scale. With this scale and both of us having backgrounds in engineering, the obvious next step was to design and manufacture our own containers. As we thought through the designs, there were key areas that we knew needed improvements. Our main objective was, and still is, to build containers for growers, by growers. The maximization of plant sites was important, so we added a sixth row of channels and turned other excess space into plant sites. We significantly reduced the amount of components in the container that require maintenance.

Our THRIVE Containers provide a one pump, one reservoir, one dosing station system for the complete grow cycle. Improving water sanitation through the use of nanobubble technology was a no brainer because it cleanses the water and eliminates toxins so we don’t have to use chemicals for cleansing. Those are just some of the ways our THRIVE Containers are different from those on the market today.

Tell us about the Brick Street Farms membership model and how it plays into both your business growth plan as well as the support of your overall mission.

We knew fairly early on that the only financially successful and sustainable model in this space is a direct to consumer model. That’s why we had to design the best in class containers in order to build the first of its kind direct to consumer Brick Street Farms urban hubs. Our membership program is similar to a gym with both individual memberships and corporate level memberships. This provides a recurring stream of revenue and is not a CSA model. Our customers are very community driven, hyper-local and support advanced environmental sustainability. Introducing the membership model was just a perfect way for them to connect with us and for us to connect with them and it supports the part of our mission which focuses on being good to our community and planet Earth.

Can you tell us about your non-profit Desert Farms Foundation – why you started it and what you hope to accomplish through it?

Bringing our Desert Farms Foundation to life has been such a neat experience. The foundation is really growing faster than we expected. We don’t even have the Desert Farms Foundation website live yet, however, we have received a great kick-start to our operations budget and are already delivering to three major non-profit food organizations. It’s really important to recognize that we are a start-up and to be able to bring a non-profit to life in such a quick amount of time is super commendable and not easy. We all have so much on our plates and I am so proud that we got this off the ground and I look forward to witnessing the impact this foundation makes by working to provide nutritional wellness for ALL.

Learn more about Shannon and Brick Street Farms by visiting their website here.