Adam Torres and Marc Plinke discuss food production.
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Show Notes:
Ceres Greenhouse Solutions is a company devoted to designing and engineering energy-efficient growing systems. In this episode, Adam Torres and Marc Plinke, Founder, Chief Innovation Officer at Ceres Greenhouse Solutions, explore Ceres Greenhouse and the future of food production.
About Marc Plinke
Marc Plinke wanted to enable people to grow their own food sustainably and year-round. Marc is an inventor-innovator who began his career as a chemical and process engineer working for Gore Technologies. When he landed in Boulder, CO, he retrofitted his family’s 1950’s ranch house into a “beyond-net-zero-energy home.”
That experience led him into his second career in greenhouse building design. He has spent the past decade applying his engineering mindset and expertise to building better and more energy-efficient greenhouses. After helping build a state-of-the-art commercial greenhouse funded by the Colorado Department of Agriculture, Ceres was born.
About Ceres Greenhouse Solutions
Ceres designs and builds advanced, energy-efficient greenhouses that grow year-round while saving energy and water. Ceres specializes in energy-efficient greenhouse design and technologies, aquaponic greenhouses, cannabis greenhouses, residential and back-yard greenhouses. Our greenhouses enable individuals, schools, communities and commercial growers to grow fresh, local crops year-round without depending on fossil fuels.
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres, and if you’d like to apply to be a guest in the show, just head on over to missionmatters. com and click on be our guest to apply. All right. So today’s guest is Mark Plinka, and he’s a founder and chief innovation officer over at Ceres Greenhouse Solutions.
Mark, welcome to the show. Adam, thank you very much. Happy to be here. So, Mark, we got a lot to talk about today. Of course, I want to get into series greenhouse solutions and your, your approach to greenhouses, but not only to greenhouses, but also to really plants and just the fundamental of your, process and approach.
and I think just to get us started, I want to go back in time a bit here. And , I know you , as an inventor, as a designer, , like, where did all that start for you? Like, were you always an inventor? Well, where’d that start? Actually, I wasn’t Adam, I took a class in college.
Somebody says colleges are not valuable. No, they are actually a class that was taught by somebody who was an inventor. And he said, You need to look at the world in different ways. You need to look at every single problem that exists and that you want to solve and think about what are the fundamental Problems that occur in this process.
And while this is not about greenhouses, I think it’s a great way to, exemplify what I’m talking about. She said, okay, we’re making wine. How do you make wine? Well, you’d had in the old days, you had somebody, , in a big barrel of, of wine. Grapes and then they stamp on it and have somebody standing in it and they just squish the grapes until you have grape juice And he said so what happens there, right?
So you look at the grape and you look at the grape and you see it gets squished and it gets sheared So your feet kind of smear them and so that makes the juice. So what if we can make a A machine that does that, not only squish it as a press, but also squeeze it sideways. And so there, there’s a company, it’s a machine that does that to make actually our modern wine.
Now in greenhouses, just to apply to this, I was thinking, what is the main problem in greenhouses? Well, we have a plant and most people. Most of the people that I work with and organic farmers and all that, they look at the plant as an entity and I am a chemical engineer. I have a PhD in chemical engineering.
I look at the plant as a chemical reactor. It actually takes certain basic nutrients and CO2 and water, et cetera, and we’re making a plant. A wonderful plant out of that that has nutrients. And in order for that to happen, you have chemical reactions and they create the taste, the color, the nutrients, everything that we enjoy about those plants, then we eat them, or that we like to look at.
Right? And so I’m looking at plants. As a chemical reactor that I can influence and I can get them the right temperature and I can get the right light spectrum and all of that. And then when we do that, we can create amazing plants. And so then I thought about where our food comes from, like, , it comes from the farm, obviously.
Right. But we just live with wherever we live and we have to deal with in Colorado in this case, let’s say six months of winter where you can’t grow anything. So how can we get fresh local food all year long? And the obvious reason is you go with a greenhouse, right? And so let’s Create greenhouses that optimize for the nutrients and the health effects of those plants.
And so what’s different in our greenhouses or what we, what I’ve been trying to do all along is to create a new way of thinking about plants and how to grow them. And that’s what really I’ve been on a mission on for the last 15 years, and it has been an amazing journey so far. Did you start like , when you first, whether it was in college or afterwards or whenever this, when did you start getting interested in this idea, like, or this fascination or leaning into plants and just your approach to it with, did you start there and have always been hooked?
I know you mentioned 15 years, or was it like, like, how did that happen? Oh, yeah, no, absolutely not. Started as and really scientists on the air filtration side. So I built filters to clean the air out of incinerators and power plants. That was my first job. Absolutely incredible. Loved it.
The company is WL Gore, , the Gore Tex people. We’ve created amazing. Amazing filters to remove dioxins, furans, and other poisons out of the, the flue gas streams. And then I got married, traveled for a year then started my own company together with my family to create equipment for the chemical industry.
, the big clients, DuPont and Dow, et cetera. And did that for, for 10, 12 years and we sold that company and then I built myself a Net Zero Energy House and it was amazing. I always wanted to do that. This is my dream. Let me make sure I have the time period right Mark. So you worked. , you work pretty hard.
First, you started in corporate America. Then , , you built a company up yourself with the entrepreneurship side of that. I’m sure that was nothing’s ever easy. Right? So you went through the ups and downs of what that took. You eventually exit that. And now am I hearing this correctly?
It was time to treat yourself a little bit and buy and build your dream. Yeah. Yep, that’s exactly what it is. So, how did that go? That’s an amazing story. It’s great. So, how did that go? And where did it lead to, like, okay, it started from the dream and then it turned into a business. You just couldn’t step away, could you, Mark?
Yeah, well, somebody came into my house, right, and said, Oh, Mark, , it, it, he helped me design the right windows, right? I wanted different windows on the south to the east, to the west. In Colorado, you have different climates. You want different properties on your windows to make it net zero. And actually the house is probably one of the 10 most energy efficient houses in the us at least it was then and it’s way net positive.
We’re making way more energy than we use. But somebody came in and said, so Mark, you have a net zero house. You have a plug in car. Where does your food come from? And I was an ignorant. I was like for my whole life. I looked at energy only and I didn’t think of plants being and the whole food world being such an important factor in influencing our climate and So this guy kind of says, where’s your food come from?
And I said, supermarket, which was, of course, the wrong answer. I mean, it’s the right answer, but it’s not the right answer. Mark, that’s what I was thinking. Go ahead, man. I’m laughing at me, not you, because I already knew it was the wrong answer, but that’s what came to my head. And everybody driving in the car right now are listening.
Don’t judge us, because you thought the same thing. Go ahead, Mark. Yeah, it has. I hopefully have learned since that, obviously, the farmers are the ones. That create all this magic for us , , and so he said, do you want to help me build a greenhouse? I have some money from the USDA to build an experimental greenhouse that is beyond net zero, right?
I want a greenhouse that is as good as your house. And so we did. And so that happened in 2009. And then, , we decided that the very best, most energy efficient only way to build is not really to success. You need to make compromises. You need to, , make compromises on price. You, you need to go.
As fast as the market is willing to go. You can’t just leapfrog everybody at least in the greenhouse world where price matters of your produce, right? It’s it. You have to be improving things on the scale that people can go and walk with you. And so that’s what we’re doing. We’re improving every single day.
Every single greenhouse of hundreds of greenhouses we have built, every new one is better than the the last one we built. And it’s amazing. , who are greenhouses appropriate for, like, give me a little bit of a scope because , this is new and it’s highly interesting. I’m just curious, like, , who purchased the greenhouse?
And how did the, how does that conversation normally begin when somebody wants to start? Maybe obviously building the greenhouse. That’s, that’s straightforward. But like, even just this concept, you’re talking about producing food, like, how does that conversation start? How do people come to you? Well, I think the easiest part, there’s always a, a world of people that want to grow their own food that do that in the summer garden.
And then they want to say, Hey, this is not enough. I want to do it in the winter. And so they, they build little or small greenhouses in the backyard. And that. It’s super good. And we help people to do that. , and that’s how we started the company. It was little eight by tens and 10 by 12. and those good things.
And these are feet for , international listeners that would be maybe three by four meters or something, , these are small and then The cannabis world came along and they were very familiar with profit loss calculations. And so when I gave them ideas of how they can save energy and produce more, they were very open to that.
suggestion. And so they jumped into, Oh, we want these green houses in big. So we started growing in places that had thousands of square feet or square meters in this case. And then you go, , and , it went from there, right. And, it got more and more Reputation of being the most sustainable growing in way environment that you can get to and that’s what we’re really selling.
It’s, , we, we trying to make them as sustainable as people can afford. That’s that’s amazing mark. And as you’re, as you’re telling the story to total tangent side note here. During the pandemic, I have this big balcony in my downtown LA. So I had this big balcony and I was like, I’m going to grow some food.
So I think, and it did not happen. It did not work. I couldn’t even grow mint. Come on, Mark. It’s not, I’m not the person that was terrible. Everything died real quick. So , not to get off subject here, but I just had to tell you that I can resonate with that internal want to grow something I’m from the Midwest originally.
And we always had like pretty big gardens, actually, even though I was in the city in the Midwest. But we, we always had gardens, pretty big gardens in our backyard. And like, we, we always had like, vegetables and stuff from our garden and backyard. So I kind of grew up in that environment.
Not, not a farm or anything like that. Anything that fun, but. So I know what you’re talking about, and I think it’s interesting, and I find it interesting to see this trend, if you will, or , maybe trend’s the wrong word, but to see this affinity and people gravitating back towards that in other areas and even thinking about, like, , taking it up a notch with the greenhouse.
I think it’s really cool. , what geographies are you mostly building these in? I know you said hundreds or over a hundred, whatever, so I know there’s probably a lot of different areas, but just to give us a feel, a feel or a flavor, like what geographies? You touched on something that I want to address before I get to that and I was like you said you wanted to grow on Your balcony, right?
Yeah, and There is you are part of a new trend and that’s always a good or a bad thing. You were an early adopter to that Hold on. Don’t don’t what was I an early adopter to let me start taking notes here. Give me some more mark Yeah, you’re beautiful change my branding up. I was an early adopter in what?
Yes, so we are getting now in the whole world, there’s this movement of biophilic design, which means a houses or buildings being designed to grow things that bring people closer to nature, urban Amazing climate. And you have warmth and you have the ability of sunshine.
You can grow. Right. And so more and more buildings now take into account that they are just not built for being, , a cheap concrete box, but they are built so that people feel safe. Welcome and warm inside. And how do you do that best by having plants there, right? So you were the early adopter to bringing plants to you.
And so this is happening on a worldwide scale that people want more and more of an architecture change towards plants and people together. So when I started this conversation, right, when I talked about how I I feel plants are a chemical reactor, which is true if I want a specific outcome, a flavor or a taste or a smell, there is a whole different value to all of us that we all want to feel close to being close to plants that makes us feel good.
And this whole. Architectural change is happening at an accelerated pace all over the world. Just went to Singapore, amazing buildings. If you have a chance to look, , at Singapore and look at biophilic designs, you will see amazing places. You can also see it on our website. We’ll get to that later.
But you can have this happen in every city in the world that I’m traveling to. I make a point to see these kind of buildings and they exist everywhere, of course, in every botanical garden. But that’s kind of cheating. Because that’s what their job is, right? I’m talking about agriculture agriculture coming to the urban environment.
And that is an amazing change that really will make the cities better. Cooler, more more friendly people will be happier in them, right? And so this is where you, where I was saying you were one of those early adapters because you were pushing in that direction already. And so for , you mentioned, I mean, you kind of answered my question, but I just want to make sure I got it.
As well as that, you’re seeing these, these changes happen worldwide, but for for serious greenhouse solutions specifically, like, are you building internationally in the United States or like, give me a feel for that? Yeah. So we are, yeah. Primarily as a company, we’re not metal vendors, which most greenhouse companies are.
We are, we are selling knowledge. So we know how to make plants happy and plants together with people happy. So we do consulting. Jobs all over the world. Literally, I mean, it goes, it goes, goes for anywhere from the last places of Australia to Alaska. And I’m looking at a, at a map right now. It’s just arbitrarily cut between Alaska on one side, Australia on the other, and then anywhere in between and Africa and all over Europe and South America.
It’s everywhere, right? So, and so we do that. Everywhere and it’s it is fun because knowledge is easy to export. It is not hard. It’s it’s not expensive. And the materials can be bought locally, which helps the local economy and and all of that. So we don’t need to deliver a greenhouse from the US to Australia.
That’s just makes no sense. Mm hmm. Yeah. Mark, final question. What’s your, what’s your vision for this down the line? Like, like, as you, as you continue to grow, as you continue to build these greenhouses, what’s your vision? My vision is that I can inspire, hopefully, People and they can inspire me to, , to work on making this place a better place for mine and all of our children, right?
To make it more livable, to make it healthier, to make it more energy efficient and sustainable. Right? And I cannot do that myself. The more people I can touch, like you are doing it right now, the more people hopefully feel on a day to day. level on a day to day basis, they feel encouraged to change something about their lives, hopefully in the food sector or anywhere else where it’s like, okay, we can do something more sustainable.
Let’s figure out how and, , it came out of one guy coming and asking the question. So where does your food come from? And here we’re running a company that operates worldwide. And it wasn’t hard from there to here, right? It’s just anybody can do that. And I’m happy to talk to anybody about it. Just like, Hey, how can we help you?
How can we coordinate? How can we do things differently? It’s in a great way. It’s a great possibility. And this whole us. Cooperation is together solving these problems is what makes us go further. Absolutely amazing. It’s amazing how, how, and it’s also to me, interesting how one question brings you out of retirement, Mark.
I love it, man. These are things how line, how life lines up sometimes it’s a great, it’s a great, great story. One, I’m happy to bring my audience. If somebody wants to follow up and learn more, by the way, what, what’s the website like, or how do people connect and follow up? Well, the easiest one is the website is series greenhouse solutions.com or series gs.com.
Gets you there. Series greenhouses as a whole will work and get you there. Energy efficient greenhouses, we have all the social media channels. We are on everything and you can. Post you can ask questions. You can always ask for Mark. I’m sure I’ll answer everybody. And I love to have conversations with people who are inspiring and want to be inspired and especially students, , the young generations are the ones that will take us to the next place.
We hope that that’s that’s my life mission. Right? Wonderful. And for everybody listening, just so , we’ll put I’ll put the links to in the show notes to Mark’s website. So you can go check it out. I’m serious. G. S. dot com and the other websites. So just click on the links head right on over. And speaking of the audience, if this is your first time with mission matters, and you haven’t done it yet, yeah.
Hit that subscribe or that follow button. This is a daily show. That means each and every day we are releasing new episodes, new content, and hopefully new inspiration directly to, to help you along in your journey. Again, if that sounds interesting, hit that subscribe or follow button. And guess what?
Tomorrow you’re going to get the notification. I guarantee you, we have another episode. Mark, again, thank you so much for taking some time out for us over at mission matters and we appreciate all you do. So thank you. Thank you.