S7E83: Henry Ernst / Control Union - Continuous improvement & Driving Sustainable Initiatives

Episode Summary

Henry Ernst currently occupies the role of Assessment Manager at Control Union UK Ltd, an organization that specializes in sustainability in agriculture, fisheries, textiles, plastics, timber, biofuels, and food safety. He is the Team Lead for MSC Fisheries Assessments and is passionate about sustainable food production. Today, Henry and Harry discuss plant protection, renewable energy use, sustainability, and the importance of educating consumers on vertical farming.

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Key Takeaways

07:13 – Henry Ernst joins the show to share his passion for travel, how he ended up in Bilbao, Spain, and his background in Marine Biology

13:04 – Food and sustainability

18:02 – The origins of vertical farming at Control Union

22:21 – Energy use, plant protection, and other vertical farming requirements

30:38 – Learning a completely new industry and the importance of educating consumers on vertical farming

34:49 – Upcoming projects for Control Union

38:30 – A specific ask Henry has for his colleagues in the vertical farming industry

39:24 – Harry thanks Henry for joining the show and lets listeners know where they can go to connect with him and learn more about Control Union

Tweetable Quotes

“It’s what vertical farming allows, right? It’s this plasticity that you can find where you have to adapt to all these external realities and that kind of informs the production realities. I couldn’t agree with you more. I find that to be one of the most fascinating parts of this whole sector.” (12:50) (Henry)

“I’ve found that things just work better when people are all pulling in the same direction and people are all pushing for the same thing.” (14:51) (Henry)

“This was absolutely hammered into us that plant protection is an essential part of sustainability when it comes to vertical farming.” (24:34) (Henry)

“In order for us to begin that work, we need to start from a point of data collection and continuous improvement to drive sustainable initiatives and practices.” (26:29) (Henry)

“The goal really is to just push this forward as much as we possibly can. The feedback that we’ve had is that this has been needed and that this has a place within the industry. We’ve tried our very best to create something that reflects the needs and wants of a wide range of stakeholders. So the job now is to actually implement it, see how it works in action, tweak it as necessary, and grow the program with the industry.” (34:57) (Henry)