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 262: Specialty Crops and Agtech with Allan Fetters
FoA 261: The Digital Dairy with Jordan Lambert of VAS
FoA 260: The Lentil Underground with Dave Oien of Timeless Seeds
FoA 259: [Tech-Enabled Advisor Series] Shannon Winny, Owner and Senior Agronomist at GroWest Ag Ventures
FoA 258: The Power of Peptides with Anna Rath and Ben Cicora from Vestaron
FoA 257: Bringing Ag Innovation to the Desert with HE Dr. Tariq bin Hendi
FoA 256: Agtech Collaboration and Data-Driven Decision Agriculture with Jim Ethington of Arable
FoA 255: [Tech-Enabled Advisor Series] Matt Larson, Agronomy Sales Manager at CHS
FoA 254: The Digitization of Global Agribusiness with Syngenta Chief Information Officer Greg Meyers
FoA 253: Social E-commerce and Gamifying Groceries with Xin Yi Lim of Pinduoduo
FoA 252: Local Meat Processing, Marketing and Logistics with Adam Parks
[Bonus] Ag Labor and the Farm Workforce Modernization Act with Shay Myers and Representative Cliff Bentz
FoA 251: Agtech Opportunities in Developing Markets with Igor Buchatskiy
FoA 250: Helping Smallholder Farmers Manage Risk with Sonu Agrawal of Weather Risk Management Services
FoA 249: A Global Perspective on Tree Nuts with The Almond Doctor
FoA 248: Regrow Merges Agronomic Insights with Sustainability Metrics
FoA 247: How to Stop Herbicide-Resistant Weeds
FoA 246: Unlocking Grazing Potential with Virtual Fencing
FoA 245: Agtech Product Strategy with Climate Corp Chief Product Officer Ranjeeta Singh
FoA 244: Farm Data Analytics with Aaron Gault of Advanced Agrilytics
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