I want to start off and share with you
my new favorite word whoosh eerie keanu
I know it’s a mouthful it’s a mouthful
but once you get into this word it’s
it’s unforgettable
actually we should all just say it right
now what do you think you ready
Oh Ricky on Oh oh this is untamed come
on Oh sheee kion oh yeah it feels good
right remember this word because this
word can change everything so you come
from a family where food is a very
central gathering point and family
traditions we always have our family
gatherings where we’re stuffing dozens
of handmade raviolis all in preparation
for the family and friends to come over
and times have certainly changed since
then technology has really enabled us to
be hyper connected and yet in many ways
we’re more separated from each other
than we ever have been a day doesn’t go
by without reading headlines of new
emerging technologies that promise to
give us everything that we need at the
press of a button 3d printing and
driverless cars and even lab-grown meat
so in a world of all of these
innovations why is it that some people
still have problems accessing enough
food I mean the technology clearly
exists right so what is it that we’re
missing our food system has changed a
lot we are bonded by community food and
togetherness and traditionally what has
happened is large-scale industrialized
agriculture has really kind of pushed
aside the small family farm and with an
intensified focus on one single crop
production it’s really come with a lot
of challenges for our food system it
removes the natural checks and balances
that are
present in a healthy ecosystem and
instead we have to put in fertilizers
and pesticides and specialized seeds in
order to make sure that we’re
maintaining that production and all of
that puts a big strain on our natural
resources so when we’re talking about
global food production usually it’s
these big industrialized farms that get
all of the attention but it’s the little
guys that are the very backbone of our
food supply there are 500 million family
farmers in the world producing more than
half of the food that we consume but the
challenge is most of them are
subsistence farmers so they’re barely
producing enough for themselves and
their families let alone being able to
have a reliable livelihood without the
infrastructure to be able to really
support and stabilize their growth
they’re also the first to be hit with
economic and environmental shocks which
means they end up fleeing rural areas
and rushing into cities in search of
work or they go hungry so how is it that
we can revitalize rural communities and
really strengthen our local food
production several years ago my business
partner and I were working on a project
in Kenya when we had an idea we thought
what if we took a shipping container and
outfitted it with all of the tools and
components needed to be able to grow
food right there and this is what we
came up with farm from a box we like to
call it the Swiss Army knife of
sustainable farming now our intention
with this was to reunite production and
consumption at the community level by
providing the infrastructure to really
support it so each one of these units is
powered by renewable energy so you’re
not dependent on a grid access it has
drip irrigation to be able to save water
and sustain crops throughout drought
conditions internal cold storage unit
keeps those crops fresher longer while
reducing post-harvest losses by up to
80% Wi-Fi connectivity helps with
information access and exchange and a
cloud-based IOT system helps with
monitoring and tracking everything
that’s going on the farm now as much as
I love technology
we’ve found that there
something else to it so our first farm
Adam was on a school site in Sonoma and
I should tell you all right now too that
we like to have the farmers named the
farm so they have a little soul to them
and are really owned by the community so
when we landed Adam we were all fired up
about the technology we’re like oh I can
do this and it can do this and look at
the Wi-Fi connectivity and this
integrated sensor network can track
everything that you’re doing and it
wasn’t until the crops were planted and
started growing that we really saw the
other side of all of that yes the
technology is great and really efficient
and helped with productivity but it was
the wonder that was in the eyes of the
students that revitalized interest in
farming the thrill that we all got by
going down the aisles and picking up a
fresh tomato fresh off of the vine
taking that bite and literally having
our eyes roll back into our head
thinking my god this is what a tomato
supposed to taste like it was a
technologically enabled reunion with our
roots let me tell you how powerful this
can be we just launched another farm
with International Rescue Committee
supporting resettled refugees from
Bhutan and Nepal now as many of you
probably know the United States has a
very long tradition of offering refuge
to people that are fleeing war and
persecution and of the 20 million
refugees that we currently have in the
world less than one percent is actually
considered for resettlement so this is a
very fortunate few that we’re talking
about now the IRCs
new roots program is really brilliant
because it helps resettle refugees get
back on their feet through community
farming and business training and we’re
coming in to offer the infrastructure to
be able to support all of that and the
interesting thing too is not that this
is hard to imagine but for refugees that
are coming in from Bhutan and Nepal an
urban subdivision in West Sacramento
California isn’t exactly gonna feel like
home right so through nourishing
themselves and their surrounding
neighbors through farming they’re able
to rebuild their lives and really start
being self-sufficient again a
that’s where the transformation takes
place plus the surrounding community is
no longer looking at a vacant lot
instead they see this beautiful farm
where they can go and buy fresh crops
and local restaurants come in buy food
farm to fork and are able to try out new
flavors on their menu so it’s an
interesting way of being able to see
this connection of food and business in
farming and dignity returns as a result
an entire community can really be
strengthened by that but obviously this
isn’t just for refugees right this can
also be transformative for returning
veterans coming home after conflicts
like those that were working with in
Virginia it can be transformative for
urban food deserts and for vulnerable
communities or for connecting schools
with healthy food access it also creates
local jobs and helps build local
economies there’s a lot of different
potentials that are happening with this
now about two months ago my business
partner and i were in Tanzania we are
working with the United Nations World
Food Programme and Tanzania since the
1970s has actually housed refugees
coming in fleeing violence from the
Democratic Republic of the Congo and
Burundi so this particular refugee camp
is called Naya guru so and it’s the
third largest refugee camp in the world
housing one hundred and forty thousand
refugees which is actually three times
the amount that it was built to house so
quite literally this camp is bursting at
the seams
now the surrounding area around the camp
is also one of the most impoverished and
malnourished of the entire country and
while tanzania has a lot of agricultural
potential 80% of the population are
subsistence farmers so that can create a
lot of tensions between the camp and the
surrounding host community so we’re
coming in working with the World Food
Programme to deploy one of our units
just outside of the refugee camp so that
we can bridge that divide and serve both
populations collectively so the day
arrives when we’re having this big
meeting in the village of kalamoon Goma
and all of the local leaders are there
that World Vision is there and
Fama’s there and of course the refugee
leaders and the community leaders and
where they’re explaining the technology
and what can happen and what it can
enable and the moment in time comes when
we offer them the opportunity to name
the box so they gather around this table
and they deliberate for a little while
and then they walk over and they hand us
this kalamoon Goma who Sheedy keanu and
we stopped when we look up or so what
does it mean it’s Swahili for the spirit
of togetherness and it was in that
moment that I was stunned it wasn’t
about the farming it wasn’t about the
technology it was the togetherness that
they honored see technology can be
incredibly empowering it can increase
efficiencies it can help us do more with
less it can shatter previously held
paradigms of what we even think is
possible but I truly believe that if we
continue to approach things the way that
we are we will keep having societal and
environmental challenges unless we
approach things through the lens of
togetherness in our small way we’re
trying to bring in the infrastructure
that can support small holder farming
from the community level up and really
build that resilience but imagine what
we could all do if we collectively put
together our creativity in our ingenuity
to really solve some of the world’s most
pressing challenges technology is great
and there’s such a focus on it right now
and there’s a duality so rather than
focusing solely on exponential
technologies let’s pair that together
with exponential togetherness because
it’s the union of the two where we’re
altima League owing to transform the
world so tonight I invite you to bring
us UT Keanu this word that you’ve been
introduced to into your lives and into
your work look for the commonalities
that we all share honor the diversity
that we have because it makes us all
stronger together as a unit
technology is an enabling mechanism and
it can be a phenomenal tool
but it’s up to us to really decide how
it is that we want to create it and use
it for the good thank you very much
[Applause]
[Music]
my new favorite word whoosh eerie keanu
I know it’s a mouthful it’s a mouthful
but once you get into this word it’s
it’s unforgettable
actually we should all just say it right
now what do you think you ready
Oh Ricky on Oh oh this is untamed come
on Oh sheee kion oh yeah it feels good
right remember this word because this
word can change everything so you come
from a family where food is a very
central gathering point and family
traditions we always have our family
gatherings where we’re stuffing dozens
of handmade raviolis all in preparation
for the family and friends to come over
and times have certainly changed since
then technology has really enabled us to
be hyper connected and yet in many ways
we’re more separated from each other
than we ever have been a day doesn’t go
by without reading headlines of new
emerging technologies that promise to
give us everything that we need at the
press of a button 3d printing and
driverless cars and even lab-grown meat
so in a world of all of these
innovations why is it that some people
still have problems accessing enough
food I mean the technology clearly
exists right so what is it that we’re
missing our food system has changed a
lot we are bonded by community food and
togetherness and traditionally what has
happened is large-scale industrialized
agriculture has really kind of pushed
aside the small family farm and with an
intensified focus on one single crop
production it’s really come with a lot
of challenges for our food system it
removes the natural checks and balances
that are
present in a healthy ecosystem and
instead we have to put in fertilizers
and pesticides and specialized seeds in
order to make sure that we’re
maintaining that production and all of
that puts a big strain on our natural
resources so when we’re talking about
global food production usually it’s
these big industrialized farms that get
all of the attention but it’s the little
guys that are the very backbone of our
food supply there are 500 million family
farmers in the world producing more than
half of the food that we consume but the
challenge is most of them are
subsistence farmers so they’re barely
producing enough for themselves and
their families let alone being able to
have a reliable livelihood without the
infrastructure to be able to really
support and stabilize their growth
they’re also the first to be hit with
economic and environmental shocks which
means they end up fleeing rural areas
and rushing into cities in search of
work or they go hungry so how is it that
we can revitalize rural communities and
really strengthen our local food
production several years ago my business
partner and I were working on a project
in Kenya when we had an idea we thought
what if we took a shipping container and
outfitted it with all of the tools and
components needed to be able to grow
food right there and this is what we
came up with farm from a box we like to
call it the Swiss Army knife of
sustainable farming now our intention
with this was to reunite production and
consumption at the community level by
providing the infrastructure to really
support it so each one of these units is
powered by renewable energy so you’re
not dependent on a grid access it has
drip irrigation to be able to save water
and sustain crops throughout drought
conditions internal cold storage unit
keeps those crops fresher longer while
reducing post-harvest losses by up to
80% Wi-Fi connectivity helps with
information access and exchange and a
cloud-based IOT system helps with
monitoring and tracking everything
that’s going on the farm now as much as
I love technology
we’ve found that there
something else to it so our first farm
Adam was on a school site in Sonoma and
I should tell you all right now too that
we like to have the farmers named the
farm so they have a little soul to them
and are really owned by the community so
when we landed Adam we were all fired up
about the technology we’re like oh I can
do this and it can do this and look at
the Wi-Fi connectivity and this
integrated sensor network can track
everything that you’re doing and it
wasn’t until the crops were planted and
started growing that we really saw the
other side of all of that yes the
technology is great and really efficient
and helped with productivity but it was
the wonder that was in the eyes of the
students that revitalized interest in
farming the thrill that we all got by
going down the aisles and picking up a
fresh tomato fresh off of the vine
taking that bite and literally having
our eyes roll back into our head
thinking my god this is what a tomato
supposed to taste like it was a
technologically enabled reunion with our
roots let me tell you how powerful this
can be we just launched another farm
with International Rescue Committee
supporting resettled refugees from
Bhutan and Nepal now as many of you
probably know the United States has a
very long tradition of offering refuge
to people that are fleeing war and
persecution and of the 20 million
refugees that we currently have in the
world less than one percent is actually
considered for resettlement so this is a
very fortunate few that we’re talking
about now the IRCs
new roots program is really brilliant
because it helps resettle refugees get
back on their feet through community
farming and business training and we’re
coming in to offer the infrastructure to
be able to support all of that and the
interesting thing too is not that this
is hard to imagine but for refugees that
are coming in from Bhutan and Nepal an
urban subdivision in West Sacramento
California isn’t exactly gonna feel like
home right so through nourishing
themselves and their surrounding
neighbors through farming they’re able
to rebuild their lives and really start
being self-sufficient again a
that’s where the transformation takes
place plus the surrounding community is
no longer looking at a vacant lot
instead they see this beautiful farm
where they can go and buy fresh crops
and local restaurants come in buy food
farm to fork and are able to try out new
flavors on their menu so it’s an
interesting way of being able to see
this connection of food and business in
farming and dignity returns as a result
an entire community can really be
strengthened by that but obviously this
isn’t just for refugees right this can
also be transformative for returning
veterans coming home after conflicts
like those that were working with in
Virginia it can be transformative for
urban food deserts and for vulnerable
communities or for connecting schools
with healthy food access it also creates
local jobs and helps build local
economies there’s a lot of different
potentials that are happening with this
now about two months ago my business
partner and i were in Tanzania we are
working with the United Nations World
Food Programme and Tanzania since the
1970s has actually housed refugees
coming in fleeing violence from the
Democratic Republic of the Congo and
Burundi so this particular refugee camp
is called Naya guru so and it’s the
third largest refugee camp in the world
housing one hundred and forty thousand
refugees which is actually three times
the amount that it was built to house so
quite literally this camp is bursting at
the seams
now the surrounding area around the camp
is also one of the most impoverished and
malnourished of the entire country and
while tanzania has a lot of agricultural
potential 80% of the population are
subsistence farmers so that can create a
lot of tensions between the camp and the
surrounding host community so we’re
coming in working with the World Food
Programme to deploy one of our units
just outside of the refugee camp so that
we can bridge that divide and serve both
populations collectively so the day
arrives when we’re having this big
meeting in the village of kalamoon Goma
and all of the local leaders are there
that World Vision is there and
Fama’s there and of course the refugee
leaders and the community leaders and
where they’re explaining the technology
and what can happen and what it can
enable and the moment in time comes when
we offer them the opportunity to name
the box so they gather around this table
and they deliberate for a little while
and then they walk over and they hand us
this kalamoon Goma who Sheedy keanu and
we stopped when we look up or so what
does it mean it’s Swahili for the spirit
of togetherness and it was in that
moment that I was stunned it wasn’t
about the farming it wasn’t about the
technology it was the togetherness that
they honored see technology can be
incredibly empowering it can increase
efficiencies it can help us do more with
less it can shatter previously held
paradigms of what we even think is
possible but I truly believe that if we
continue to approach things the way that
we are we will keep having societal and
environmental challenges unless we
approach things through the lens of
togetherness in our small way we’re
trying to bring in the infrastructure
that can support small holder farming
from the community level up and really
build that resilience but imagine what
we could all do if we collectively put
together our creativity in our ingenuity
to really solve some of the world’s most
pressing challenges technology is great
and there’s such a focus on it right now
and there’s a duality so rather than
focusing solely on exponential
technologies let’s pair that together
with exponential togetherness because
it’s the union of the two where we’re
altima League owing to transform the
world so tonight I invite you to bring
us UT Keanu this word that you’ve been
introduced to into your lives and into
your work look for the commonalities
that we all share honor the diversity
that we have because it makes us all
stronger together as a unit
technology is an enabling mechanism and
it can be a phenomenal tool
but it’s up to us to really decide how
it is that we want to create it and use
it for the good thank you very much
[Applause]
[Music]
Please follow and like us: