The Year Ahead and Glancing Back at 2022

PART II

Q1 was spent recalibrating the company to narrow our focus and determine where we provide the most value to our customers, technology partners, and the indoor farming industry at large. Skout Strategy is unique in the sense that we have developed our ethos outside of the sphere of mainstream indoor farming. We are based in Albuquerque, NM—far from the bright lights and regional hotbeds of indoor farming–which has allowed us to develop our own unique viewpoint on indoor farming through the lens of our customers and our own experience.

Most of our projects have been in the development phase for the last two years. In that time, we have developed our supply chain/technology ecosystem, creating the capacity to deliver on projects across the globe. As we move into the early stages of Q2 2023, our first three commercial scale farm partners will either be bringing the first stages of their projects online or will be getting to full capacity. A large part of telling the story of Skout is telling the story and highlighting the journey of our customers. Our first three projects have been built on the back of relationships that span 3 to 4 years, so this is a truly exciting time for our community.This year, our primary focuses are in Venezuela and the northeastern US. 

Biofarm Agricultura is based in Caracas, Venezuela. Diogenes Infante, along with his brilliant team, have been at the forefront of indoor agriculture in South America for the better part of the past three years. I began working with Diogenes 3 or 4 years ago when this farm was purely a concept and have been able to watch him and team go from their first pilot farm to now launching their first commercial scale facility in Caracas. Diogenes and team have been diligent in their approach, testing their assumptions while forging a new path and creating a new market for fresh produce in Caracas. They have a deep understanding of the engineering and construction process of indoor farms and how that coincides with operational efficiency. By the middle of Q2, their farm will be operating at full capacity. At this stage, they are focused on driving efficiency within their farm while continuing to develop their market in 2023.  

Allwell Greens (AWG), who was technically our first vertical farming customer back in July of 2021, is weeks away from the launch of their first commercial scale farm in Long Island City, NY, where they specialize hydroponically-grown heritage Asian greens. My relationship with the Allwell Greens team goes back to Indoor AgCon May of 2019; so to say this one is a long time coming, is an understatement. The AWG team has been by our side since day one and vice versa. They have trusted and valued our perspective as technology and farm operations experts, leveraging Skout to assist in rounding out their technology stack and operational excellence. We are truly building our businesses together and that creates a dynamic within our relationship; a relationship founded on trust, respect, and honesty. We recognize that we are two separate organizations, but our success is interconnected.

Ellicottville Greens (EG) has provided our team with a crash course in building and operating container farms. Our relationship with Gabe, their CEO and Founder, started nearly three years ago. From the get-go there was a pull to work together, but we just had to find the right time. In May of last year, Gabe called with a pretty specific request for container farm kits and we were able to answer the call. For EG, we act as a conduit of information, constantly surveying the technology landscape and bringing the most effective solutions to them for implementation. From that point on, we dove in, working to become experts only in building container farms and the business model that Gabe and his team are building. Not only do we see ourselves as technology partners with Ellicottville Greens, but as business partners, helping them enable and grow their business model, long-term. 

In addition to these three projects, we have a diverse set of projects across our portfolio that promise to be groundbreaking in their own right. Many of the projects that we have been working on since 2022 continue to get closer to the finish line and we continue to learn more and more about the scope of getting projects to completion. For Skout, it is critically-important that we continue to immerse ourselves within our current customers' businesses in order to continue to shape and standardize the process of designing, building, and operating successful indoor farms.

We are methodically breaking into new markets across the US and abroad. We are developing innovative business models with partners across the value chain of the food system, real estate development, construction/engineering, renewable energy and water conservation to create more certainty for our customers. 2023 promises to be an insightful year where we continue to develop our expertise across the indoor farming sector and the food system at large.

Thanks for being here.

-GC