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A new green technology may offer investors an ethical and profitable pathway to the future of alternative farming.
Affinor Growers Inc. (
CSE.AFI,
OTCMKTS: RSSFF,
Forum) is an innovative ag-tech company engaged in acquiring, patenting, and commercializing various agriculture technologies. Its focus is on
vertical farming technology for indoor-controlled environment and outdoor greenhouse agriculture industry. It produces strawberries and other crops, such as romaine lettuce, spinach, and herbs.
Vertical farming is a method of growing and harvesting various crops on vertically stacked shelves and towers, as opposed to the traditional horizontal farming layout. The vertical method of farming incorporates controlled-environment agriculture and soilless farming techniques like hydroponics, aquaponics, and aeroponics.
Stockhouse Media’s Dave Jackson was by Affinor Growers’ CEO Nick Brusatore to discuss the future of vertical farming, the investment opportunities this exciting, new green technology offers, and their different kind of business model.
TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
SH: To start off, Nick, for our Stockhouse investors who may be new to Affinor, can you tell us a bit about yourself, the company, and the business model?
NB: Sure. I'll keep it brief myself. I've been around for a long time in the vertical farming space. I've done so many different designs that have been tested for very many levels of farming for different reasons and different crops, biotech, sciences, extractions, this type of stuff is in my forte to maximize that in plants. Affinor Growers is a company that I founded many years ago and have given it a couple of tries. I could never seem to find my footing in the industry. But I made a couple of mistakes, you know, but you know what, I'm excited for the new technology, the patents and our growers moving into the space of growing and selling food and plants.
SH: The modern concept of vertical farming was proposed in 1999, so the technology is still relatively in its infancy. Can you walk us through its overall benefits, especially as an industry disruptor?
NB: Well, for food production, you can utilize environments in certain regions, but you're able to create food fresh high-quality food with several different processes. You mentioned aeroponics hydroponics, we’re soil growers, and I'll explain it to that a little bit later, but you know the idea of growing fresh food and not having to travel very far to get it, plus the, the small sustainable infrastructures that it creates, small ecosystems of people with jobs, education. And we've learned a lot from the COVID. We all learned how to work remotely. So education is being done remotely, information is power in this industry. Knowledge is power and the idea of remote regions, you know facilities all over Canada and Northern areas, is pretty awesome with the ability now that we have. And no water waste, soil remediation, many times per square foot usage. You know the capital costs and the economics, the gap is slowly decreasing since when I started vertical farming back in 1999.
SH: Can you update our investor audience and your shareholders on your latest news – the lease agreement for your new 15-thousand square foot greenhouse operation in Abbotsford, BC?
NB: Sure. Okay. So I own the farm. I spent $1,000,000 building that greenhouse, I always had Affinor in mind. I was trying to do it a number of different ways. It became very apparent to me that Affinor needed to get into production and into revenue. So what I've done in this lease agreement, the money that Affinor spends in this greenhouse in order to get it turned on, with the basics, all the lighting or anything they spend in there, other than the technology, they get all that cap costs back in free rent and revenue. They don't get any rents until Affinor is rocking, okay. And by the way, I might want to mention to everybody, especially the ones that are angry and have ill will towards me, and that's fine, and I'm ready to earn that back, that's not a problem, but I would like to remind everybody that I am taking no options. I am getting paid $1 a month to do this, and I'm getting no rent until that greenhouse is busy with revenue production for the Affinor shareholders.
SH: We mentioned in the intro about your vertical farming operations producing strawberries and other crops, such as romaine lettuce and herbs. What, if any, are the company’s plans pivoting into cannabis cultivation?
NB: Well, I'll be honest with you. We're in negotiations in a lot of different arenas. There's a lot of really neat things happening in that space, as it has its struggles, usually collapsed nation and issues economically creates new opportunities for newcomers and new ideas and new model. And I think the craft or the micro stuff is where Affinor is going to fit in extremely well. Just my own opinion because I give economic speeches to the universities regarding agriculture and water displacement and things like this. So I've always been a negative Nelly on the Canadian marijuana markets, and I've been crucified for it because nobody really wanted to believe me. The true economics are still tough, the erroneous exercise in order to get approved and all the legislative stuff that you got to go through, It's created a massive cost and we're in the most expensive land and water and electricity. And then of course, labor, our labor rates for minimum wage.
And anyway, so when it comes to the craft grower, it's more tighter, it's easier manageable. We're - I'm not gonna tip my hat here too much - but I would be looking at a high quality, and I think quality and being able to underdeliver the demand for the quality. I want them to be, want to leave them wanting more when you have a hot, amazing quality product, just like our romaine lettuce will be. And I, the pivot of going into that industry, I am looking at it harder than I've ever looked at it actually right now, because the opportunities for us, as we haven't blown a whole bunch of money in that industry, we're going to be going into revenue for food production soon.
And I would urge many of the cannabis LPs that are struggling right now, trying to produce marijuana or cannabis to look at producing food, because food we need, there's going to be so much cannabis. And as the laws lighten up and the exportation comes in and look at Aruba now, is just, they're getting ready, to produce cannabis. You know, I'm very close to the government there. I'm excited for that little country because they can do it, tiny but tough. And they got debt, and it's like a gift from God for them to supply places like us. Why does Canada not buy the bananas? Why don't we grow bananas in Canada? Because we buy them for two bucks a pound in Columbia. Economics will never change. If you knew how much people paid for a pound of tobacco, you wouldn't believe that either for the cigarette industry.
So I see the economics where they have to go, and that's the final end, but like the beer industry, quality for the connoisseur of people that really enjoy certain type of thing, the old hippie, if you will, you know there are still many, many people that appreciate the high quality, and I think that's where Affinor would fit in is in the craft, you know, industry and just set up 2200 square foot things, lease the whole thing and bolt, turn it on turnkey, automated under our systems with our soil and all of that stuff. We would be looking at being involved with the group in some fashion like that. We are not interested in selling cannabis directly as outdoor growers. But we are certainly interested in looking at getting behind an entity that we would support technology-wise knowledge wise, design soil wise, and make sure that we are licensing our stuff to every single facility and winning on the making sure that they succeed.
SH: The global macro demand for food and the need for a reliable food supply chain have never been more evident than today. Are vertical grow units a viable and sustainable answer to these problems and if so, how can companies like Affinor help alleviate them?
NB: Yes. Like Affinor and others that are out there trying hard, just a lot of great things going on now in this space, which is great for all of us, because it is a huge space. It's not going away. It's going to get bigger and Afffnor would love to be able to say that we're going to be able to play a part, whatever part that is and however big we can get in it. Yes. We would be one of the small wheels. That's digging away, the little train that's digging away, just like many other great guys and companies. And you know, we support them as well. But the, the, the conglomeration of groups of people that have come at me with my new attitudes, a little more humble, easier going, just want to get her done for everybody. That's it. I don't need any badges or any pat on the back.
I just want this thing done once and for all. So yeah, we're excited to watch other players too. And be more part of the, the, than trying to hide all of our IP and everything. We want to know expose it now that it's protected and start putting it to work and helping out other players and other people and just grow food for remote communities. We're working very closely with chief Jacob from, he's not, he's not on council anymore. The Squamish he's retired, but chief Jacob, and we have an indigenous group that's working very hard helping to create feasibility studies for remote regions for first nations and indigenous people. We're very excited about that. My heart lies and sustainability, somewhere down these years, I got lost in stock and that sort of stuff.
I'm a sustainable agriculture guy that cares about people. I care about the shareholders of Affinor, and that's why I came back to fix this, whatever you want to call it and get it on the rails and get her done, give them the greenhouse, disclose whatever you got to disclose. Nick's not taking anything, okay. I'm getting murdered on this deal, but I'm happy about it because the shareholders are going to win. And it's obviously, you know, my change of attitude and the negotiations we’re in, it's obviously resonating a little bit in our market as well.
SH: How do you envision A-F-I positioning itself to become a market leader and what does the road to profitability look like?
NB: This greenhouse here will be turned on. We're now obviously we're in the midst of getting her going. We, when this first one is turned on and people see it in operations and our lettuces on the shelf, when they taste our lettuce, you see not only for 20, some odd years I've been working on designs to produce this stuff, but that's soil and sun and organic tablets for flowering and things like this. I'm all about running water through our lines and growing a high-end product. I focused on the product first. So when you eat our lettuce or you taste our strawberry, nobody will tell you that I didn't grow beautiful quality stuff, the question was always, how does he make it big now? And how does he get that going? And you know, so I have a great board that people have really been, the people we have are really phenomenal for what we're doing now.
And I think to become a market leader, you need to start with the best quality food on the shelf, because, you know, at the end of the day, you can look and be fancy and all the hype you want, but if your product falls apart on the shelf or it starts to rot really quickly when they get it home, I don't care what farm you're using, it's the product that people care about at the end of the day. And that's where we focused on, our high-quality production of tissue development through - we don't do hydroponic because we're going to be in greenhouses - I gave up on the warehouse idea, unless you absolutely have to, but greenhouses, sun radiation with soil doesn't allow for cell along nation. And I won't bother everybody or bore everybody with all my scientific BS, but it's an issue. That's why we're soil, sun and water. And we don't have fertilizers. We don't, we don't use fertilizers in our stuff, even in the cannabis. It's only water fed through our lines. And that's why the, the, the, sorry to get back to the cannabis, but now that you've opened up Pandora's box, you have to deal with it, I'm all about the quality. I don't want to get into the cannabis game unless we're going to be known for the best flower bud that a hippie can have.
SH: Value and opportunity are catchphrases that really get the attention of small cap investors? What can you tell them that makes your company so intriguing and attractive?
NB: Well, I can tell you that we have a number of patents, so we have a good angle. We have a greenhouse that's been designed for vertical farming for the air volume, not the air flow, for expansion. And that's other scientific stuff I'm not going to bore you with. We have great people. We have our own design soil composites that I've worked on for many, many years for tomatoes, strawberries, lettuce, spinach, arugula and cannabis, especially cannabis. When I left, I went away licking my wounds, developing and learning and taking this further. Affinor is about to gain and be the beneficiary of the last two years of my work and research. And so between the patents, the high-quality production and the process, never mind the machines, it's the process, what happens to that lettuce after it gets off the shelf, we have things, our lettuce is going to have a 35-day shelf life. And on Day 34, it's going to be crispy and sweet. And that's why Affinor should become in the forefront. And I, I think people are probably going right now. They're going, oh yeah, you have said this before. Oh yeah. We've heard this BS before, another Nick show. Not this time, folks, I can assure you that we mean business this time.
SH: Can you discuss the long-term strategy for the company moving into 2021 and beyond, and what your shareholders and potential investors should be looking out for?
NB: They should be looking for licensing deals around the world, because the knowledge that we have now - and we have more stuff coming - I will, I will tip my hat there a bit. We're all being, I'm always designing new things. Okay. Let's just get that on the table. But licensing to other parts of the world for the knowledge and being able to help other countries. And also after we licensed them, integrating all of the universities together with all of the agriculture students, I'm working online to assist other students, creating one world. The knowledge is so easily transmitted now, there's no need for anybody not to know how to do this. And if it's cheaper to build our equipment in India or China, where we're going to build stuff where they need it, and they’ve got huge populaces, then we'll build it. It'll be part of the licensing arrangement, but they're coming at us now. They want the knowledge and the designs, and they need somebody to champion it, or at least appoint a champion in other countries, that's going to take the lead role and make sure that this transformation of technology and knowledge is done appropriately.
And after that, across Canada, we plan to own and buy land and own everything across Canada and here. Yeah. And that's, sorry, I'm a little excited sometimes. Yeah. So we have a plan. This property here will be the only property that we lease to get the showcase going. They do have an option to purchase it off me if they wish, they have first right refusal. So Affinor is very protected, but we're going to grow across Canada and we're going to license to other countries. And our knowledge, our knowledge will be power for them. And our ability to assist as Canadians, proud Canadians with good technology, good business people. We expect to help a lot of communities and countries, not only in Canada, Canada is a hell of a place to start. We got a lot of our own issues right here with remote indigenous communities. You know, that's a real sore spot for me watching how, how we've, we're, we're, we're spending trillions of dollars on a pandemic and people are starving in the North.
SH: Finally, Nick, if there’s anything I’ve overlooked, please feel free to share it with our Stockhouse audience.
NB: As far as me as a person and the people that have known me for a long time in the microcap markets and being a bit of a belligerent bully at times, and, and arrogant and, oh my God, there's all kinds of words, they even get worse than that, but I'd like to apologize to them for anything that I may have or may have not gotten done. And I'd like to express my sincere gratitude for their continued support if they're continuing to support. And I can tell you that our management team and our board of directors, we're all under an audit committee that we've installed. I don't even get, I don't, I can't even approve a cup of coffee. Okay. So we're in really good shape and I really want to do a good job for everybody. And I promise you that's what's going to happen here.
For more information, visit
https://www.affinorgrowers.com/en
FULL DISCLOSURE: This is a paid article produced by Stockhouse Publishing.