In this episode of the podcast, we’re unlocking the power of mushrooms, powered by advancements in production automation, computer vision and artificial intelligence. Co-hosts Braden Kemp and Tracy Morningstar take you on a mycologically odyssey with Christopher Klich, Co-Founder & CEO of Mycro Harvest, a southern Ontario agtech startup building the AI-driven mushroom smart farms of the future.
Themes tackled during this episode of the Frontier Entrepreneurship Podcast include:
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Road trips, discovery tours, talking to mushroom farmers
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Finding scalable models for production optimization
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Mycro Harvest’s mission and vision
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Traditional versus advanced growing practices, standardization and automation
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Varieties of specialty mushrooms and market opportunities
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Cultivated versus wild-foraged native species, substrates
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Controlled environment agriculture
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From dried to fresh mushrooms, locally produced
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Mushroom production in Canada’s North, food security implications
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Lean startup thinking, iterative agriculture
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Output and scalability
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Shipping containers to control grow room dynamics
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Controlling timing of production
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Mushrooms as input into bioremediation
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Optimizing properties of mushrooms
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Mycro Harvest business model and target markets, ROI
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Importance of mentorship for small teams and start-ups
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Generational differences, traditional versus technologically transformed farming.
Acknowledgements
Mycro Harvest received $25,000 in performance-based seed funding from NCFDC’s thriveFORWARD initiative, with the support of FedDev Ontario and the Government of Canada.
The Executive Producer of the Frontier Entrepreneurship Podcast is Robert Washburn. Special thanks to NCFDC’s Victoria Pichler and John Hayden. This project is made possible with the support of FedDev Ontario and the Government of Canada.
Quick Links and References
- Mycro Harvest official website
- NCFDC’s thriveFORWARD initiative and portfolio
- Co-Founders Christopher and Justin are graduates of the Entrepreneur First venture program and were profiled by CTV News and the University of Waterloo. Mycro Harvest is a member of the Velocity Incubator.
- David Hunter – The Contrarian Investor Podcast (via contrarianpod)
- FedDev Ontario
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Bioenterprise if Canada’s Food and Agri-Tech Engine, a community of entrepreneurs, researchers, accelerators, and partners, committed to driving innovation across Canada in the agri-tech and food industry. To learn more, and discover opportunities for collaboration, head to bioenterprise.ca.
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