Variable Rate done RIGHT with SWAT MAPS: https://swatmaps.com/
ProducePay: https://producepay.com/
Today's episode features ProducePay founder Pablo Borquez Schwarzbeck. Born and raised in a 4th generation farming family from Mexico, Pablo brings over 20 years of experience in the fresh produce industry. After growing up on the family farm – Campos Borquez, a premier supplier of fresh asparagus and grapes to the United States and Canada – Pablo went on to work for The Giumarra Companies, managing grower relations in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and the United States. Pablo returned to the family farm as Chief Financial Officer, then went on to complete his MBA at Cornell University, where the idea of ProducePay was started, founded and launched.
Last year the company announced that longtime board member and advisor Patrick McCullough would take over as CEO, and Pablo moved at that time into the role of Executive Director of the board. But as you’ll hear in this interview he is just as energized as ever about their mission and their future.
We talk about the challenges of the produce trade and why there is so much waste and so many intermediaries involved, why he thinks there in a position to create a better model, what role financial technology has in their ability to pull it off, how interest rates and investor sentiment impact companies like ProducePay, and how his transition has been from founder to CEO to board director.
There’s a lot to this story but a good place to start is acknowledging that we all want quality produce to be at the store every time we show up, whether its in season locally or not. For that to happen, there’s a lot of people involved around the world, and a lot of waste along the way. ProducePay may have started as a way to better capitalize farmers, but now they have their focus on how they can help those farmers manage price risk.
And the guy who started it all is today’s guest, Pablo Borquez.
FoA 381: Is There An Anti-Farming Agenda?
FoA 380: Equity Capital for Farmland with Ben Gordon and Kyle Mehmen
FoA 379: The Farm Entrepreneur Mindset with Evan Shout of Maverick Ag
FoA 378: Adventure Capitalism with Legendary Investor and Author Jim Rogers
FoA 377: Leveraging Data to Advance Cattle Genetics With Lee Leachman
FoA 376: Agroforestry on Commercial Midwest Farms with Kevin Wolz of Canopy FM
FoA 375: Soil Carbon Sequestration and Grazing Management with Paige Stanley, Ph.D.
FoA 374: The Potential for Perennial Grains with Peter Miller and Brandon Schlautman of Sustain-A-Grain
FoA 373: Soy Innovation with Meagan Kaiser of the United Soybean Board
FoA 372: [Startup Spotlight] Managing Farm Labor with Joshua Farray of FieldClock
FoA 371: Family Farms and Healthy Communities with Blake Alexandre of Alexandre Family Farm
FoA 370: [History of Agriculture] William J Morse, the Father of the US Soybean Industry
FoA 369: Farm Products, Performance and Perception with Randy Barker of INTENT
FoA 368: Corteva's Digital Transformation with Brian Lutz
FoA 367: Is Agriculture Ready to Collaborate on Data? Jeremy Wilson of AgGateway
FoA 366: Agriculture, Economics, and Data with Aaron Smith, Ph.D.
FoA 365: Sensing from Soil to Storage with Ehsan Soltan of Soiltech Wireless
FoA 364: Supporting Soil Health with Dr. Steve Rosenzweig and Dr. Abbey Wick [Soil Sense Crossover]
FoA 363: Automation Opens the Floodgates for Aquatic Plant Production with Jason Prapas of Fyto
FoA 362: Value Chain Data with Dr. Tye Perrett of Feedlot Health by TELUS Agriculture and Consumer Goods
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