This week we’re featuring a post from AmHydro Senior VP Joe Swartz. Widely regarded as one of the industry’s foremost experts on CEA and hydroponic technologies, Joe amassed over 30 years of experience as a farmer prior to joining AmHydro. Now, he’s dedicated to sharing his expertise with our customers and helping farmers succeed both horticulturally and economically.
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Visionary leaders like Steve Jobs may have their names immortalized, but if you drill down into any successful operation, you’ll learn more about the teams of experts that enabled that success. Even solo entrepreneurs benefit by cultivating trusted resources, or carrying with them the mentorship and lessons of past work experience.
Farming and Controlled Environment Agriculture are no exception. You need to build a team.
It’s an incredible thing that we aim to do in our industry. Not only are CEA farmers growing and caring for living things, they’re defying the limits of nature to help plants grow more quickly, frequently, and bountifully than they are often able to in their native environment.
From seeding and genetics to manipulation of the physical environment via heating and humidity control; from water and nutrient management to the logistics of planting, harvesting, packing and shipping, CEA involves incredible complexity.
While a farmer or director of farm operations may appear to be a walking encyclopedia of all things CEA, you can ask any successful grower and they’ll tell you the names of at least a few people they consider essential in their ongoing success.
So who is on your team?
What do I mean when I talk about building a team?
I’m not just talking about hiring talent. Not everyone has the resources to do that anyway. I’m talking about the importance of having a “team” mindset when you’re putting together the vendors, contractors, and lenders who will be with you every step of the way as you begin planning, building, and operating your farm. It’s about getting to know experts who will answer the phone when you call.
Leaders of the most successful ventures know the value of building lasting relationships with vendors and consultants who can both PUT them on a track for success as well as KEEP them on it. Here are some things to keep in mind:
Build a team that increases your chances of short term success
One of my favorite sayings is “Success leaves clues.” Building and scaling a business is not like playing the lottery. There are things you can do to increase your odds, and involving people who have a track record of positive outcomes is probably the most crucial way to achieve this.
Build a team that increases your chances of long term success
It is possible to bootstrap an operation into initial success, only to run into trouble down the road. Some companies are set up to sell a high-quality product but then offer little to no ongoing support for its care and use. I recommend avoiding relationships of this nature.
It’s not just about getting a warranty, it’s about building a team. Whether down the road you run into trouble or find yourself ready to expand, it’s far easier to get the help you need if you can turn to people who are already familiar with your situation.
Build a team of experts that makes you look like an expert
To use ourselves as an example: AmHydro is regarded as an industry leader. Why? Is it just because of the quality of our products? Is it because of our unparalleled level of ongoing support?
This is part of the reason, but it’s not the full picture. In reality, the products we manufacture, as good as they may be, are just a small component in a complex system. The reason we enjoy such a strong reputation is because we know this, and so we connect customers to our own network of experts in order to ensure that every other aspect of our projects is executed at a high level.
We aren’t HVAC experts, but we know who is. We don’t build greenhouses, but we know who builds the best ones. We don’t just sell a product, we work hard to build an ecosystem of expertise around every project we touch, and the resulting team makes us and our customers look like geniuses. The same approach can work for you too.
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So, who is on your team?
Perhaps you already have a list of names springing to mind. Perhaps you’re realizing that your list has a few expertise gaps.
If you need to fill in those gaps, a great place to start is by asking the experts you already know.
Whether you’re a current customer of ours, or if you’ve never worked with us before, we’d love to help you build your team.
Have you learned any lessons about CEA team building? Let me know! I plan to return to this topic in the future with some more in-depth and practical advice.
Over the next several months, we’ll be sharing interviews with some of our favorite industry experts. Keep an eye out for that, and thanks for reading.
