Where the Changemakers Live: Meet Diogenes Infante
One of Skout’s earliest projects,
George and Diogenes immediately connected over a shared love of food and family. Infante founded BioFarm C.A. Agricultura Urbana with a simple principle in mind: more food and better food for people, especially Venezuelans. As a Molecular Biologist, Infante has dedicated most of his career to understanding how to optimize growth and improve plant quality.
Every single time we have the opportunity to speak with Diogenes, we are amazed and inspired by his insight and his passion for his craft and his country. A rarity and a true changemaker, we are thrilled to continue developing our relationship with Infante and his team.
Images courtesy of BioFarm C.A. Agricultura Urbana
Q&A
Tell us your background. Where were you born? Where were you raised?
I was born and raised in Caracas Venezuela, where I lived until I was 27 years old.
What do you love most about Venezuela?
What I like most about Venezuela is the people. Venezuela has the friendliest people in the world— here we all treat each other with fraternity and, particularly in Caracas, with a lot of joy. I don't know anyone who has lived in Venezuela and does not remember his or her life here with pleasure. Caracas has the best climate in the world, here it is never too hot or too cold, in general 23-26 °C (73-79 °F) all year round. I also like the Venezuelan geography very much, it is a country that has everything: big mountains, big rivers, tropical jungles, the best beaches in the Caribbean. This is the only place in the world where you can find a desert next to a tropical rainforest.
How has your childhood shaped who you are?
During my youth I was greatly influenced by my mother's family, who came from a small town located about 80 miles east of Caracas— a rainforest village where what I consider to be the best cocoa beans in the world are grown. My mother was born there and although her family moved to the city when she was about 20 years old, they never ended their relationship with that town. I still have a house there that my great-grandfather built at the end of the 19th century. Throughout my childhood and youth my mother would tell me stories of her childhood, how she lived in a village where there was no electricity or water in the houses. In the case of water there were people who came with donkeys carrying jugs and there was a system for purifying water called Tinajero, essentially a stone that served as a filter. So, with her I learned how the advances of the 20th century came one after another, most particularly my mother was impressed the first day she saw and felt ice, something impossible to find in the tropics before the invention of refrigeration. The whole town lined up to touch that cold substance they had never seen in their lives! These stories left an impression on me about the power of technology to change people's lives.
Why did you decide to start your business?
I am a scientist, essentially a molecular biologist, and for many years I studied plant diseases. One day I realized I was the kind of person who needed very serious things to happen in agriculture for me to succeed in my work. So, one day I was thinking about my future and I decided to dedicate myself to do positive dedicate myself to climate science or plant science science, for which I began to study cocoa, how to produce better chocolate and how to propagate that fantastic tree that produces what Linnaeus called the food of the gods, Theobroma. In this way I was able to develop processes of mass production of plants of agricultural interest through somatic embryogenesis, cocoa, coffee, agaves, cassava. More and better food for the people, without anything bad having to happen for me to justify myself as a researcher. The next thing was to try to commercialize my lab results, until I came to climate-smart agriculture, I was able to quickly realize the advantages of this new system.
What do you wish people knew or understood about the industry prior to starting their farm?
An urban farm is a system of vegetable production in a closed and controlled environment, where an impressive increase in productivity can be achieved, but which is like a formula one car, which can go very fast but needs a group of technicians who are all the time adjusting it to make it work well. Nothing is written in stone on a climate-smart urban farm.
Favorite thing to grow?
Well, I am currently dedicated to producing green vegetables: lettuce, micro greens and baby leaf. Obviously, these are my favorite vegetables, because the future of my company depends on having good production and excellent marketing. Another crop I produce is cocoa, the best in the world, but that's another story.
Where can we find your produce?
We are starting up a new headquarters where we have greatly increased our production capacity and we are developing the marketing channels for our products, including an online store. Our products can be found in several supermarkets in the city of Caracas, in several restaurants and in direct sales we make to several individual customers.
What do you love most about the industry? What would you like to change?
What I like most about this industry is its ability to implement new technologies to change an activity that has essentially remained the same since the beginning of civilization. The knowledge we now have of the physiology of plants and how they use lighting, i.e. photobiology, allows us to increase agricultural productivity in an amazing way. In addition, we are making the city self-sustaining.
What is the biggest misconception about being an entrepreneur?
Most people think that an investor entrepreneur is a very rich person, with pockets full of money, and many times I have to explain that what I am is a person who has a lot of debts, and I will continue to have them until my company starts to give positive economic results. Our economic calculations indicate that this will happen by the end of this year.
Any advice for other entrepreneurs in ag-tech?
To invest in a technology company, and especially to manage it, it is necessary to have a very deep knowledge of the technologies used, to be able to solve all the challenges that are continually arising. An urban farm is much more than germinating seeds in a container.
Biggest success to date?
Fortunately, I think I have many. However, I remember the day I obtained my doctorate in France. I had to overcome many obstacles, economic, cultural, learn a new language, French, and write my doctoral thesis in that language, when there were still no spell checkers, nor the translators that accompany us today. It was an extraordinary effort that changed my life. Another success: my family.
A failure that you can now laugh about?
I don't remember any failure that makes me laugh nowadays. Failures that make me cry I do remember some, very few fortunately. As Frank Sinatra once sang "Too few to mention.”
If you had to eat one thing every day for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Well, after many, many years I eat [ one head of ] lettuce a day. I will continue to do so.
What is your first food memory?
Something I don't like today: spaghetti and black beans, with grated Venezuelan white cheese. It was my favorite when I was 4-5 years old.
What’s your favorite thing to make at home?
I am a good chef, as I like to cook, and especially make my own bread. Homemade bread is much better than any commercial bread. Also, French and Venezuelan food.
Favorite food and restaurants in Caracas:
There is a typical Venezuelan restaurant that is my favorite, which is Arepera. The arepa is a white bread made from corn, it is made in a round shape and then filled with a variety of things. Another level for the food! In the areperas you normally eat the stuffed arepas, accompanied by tropical fruit juices. Now that there is a large Venezuelan diaspora all over the world, since in the last few years about 7 million Venezuelans have left the country, you can get arepas in practically every country in the world. And I don't know anyone who doesn't like them. Well, one person in my entire life. Here in Venezuela there is also very good Italian and Chinese food. I like Chinese food very much because it includes a lot of vegetables.
What’s something you would tell your younger self (words of wisdom, if you will)?
In any circumstance, any good or bad situation, life always presents you with an opportunity. It is up to you to see it and above all to know how to take advantage of it. We say: “If you cry because you do not see the sun, tears will prevent you from seeing the stars”. This is so great!
What does 2023 look like for you?
It is a year of many challenges, there is a changing situation in my country towards a better Venezuela, and as a society we must take advantage of it and above all do everything in the best possible way to achieve it.
What does 2023 look like for BioFarm C.A. Agricultura Urbana?
First, we had to solve many problems to start up our new headquarters and increase our vegetable production. Therefore, this year we have the great challenge of increasing our production, establishing our commercial distribution channels and reaching the economic profitability of our project… something we hope to achieve by the end of the year.
What do you look forward to at the end of the day?
At the end of the day after dinner, as we do here relatively late, I usually watch some series on Netflix.
What are you currently reading and/or listening to?
I am reading Neil Johnson's “Simply Complexity: A Clear Guide to Complexity Theory.” I like rock, especially British rock. Music of the Baroque; I am a fan of the music of Johan Sebastian Bach, who was born on the same March 21 as me. I also love traditional and modern Venezuelan music. We are a musical country, well, except me!