Roundtable 5: What is innovation as it relates to our food system?

February 2, 2013 > Session III: Innovation > Roundtable 5

Panelists:

Mason Arnold – Cookie Monster, Greenling.com

Mason Arnold has been an Organics pioneer and serial entrepreneur since graduating college with a degree in Chemical Engineering. Mason founded Greenling.com, an online local & Organic food delivery service, in 2005 to help rebuild local food systems and move them towards Sustainability. Greenling & Mason have been recognized in over 20 different awards and featured in the New York Times & Forbes for their technology, environmental stewardship, business model, & community involvement. Mason has also sat on the board of the Sustainable Food Center & helped form Slow Money Texas. He is also active in public policy having drafted legislation supporting Organic agriculture in Texas in 2007 and working on multiple policy groups.

Scott Jensen – Entrepreneur – CEO, Rhythm Superfoods

Scott Jensen is the co-founder and CEO of Rhythm Superfoods; manufacturer of organic plant-based superfood snacks.  He started Rhythm in October, 2009.  He is the former CEO & President of One World Foods (Stubb’s Bar-B-Q), which he co-founded 20 years ago with C.B. Stubblefield, and two close friends. He continues to help lead Stubb’s on its board of directors and serves on its Audit Committee.  Scott led Stubb’s in its national and international expansion to be the largest Super-Premium Bar-B-Q and Marinade brand in the country.  Scott has led several rounds of funding for both Stubb’s and Rhythm Superfoods, structuring and raising several million dollars from professional and angel investors for both companies.  He also co-founded, and sits on the board of Stubb’s Austin Restaurant Company, the famous Bar-B-Q and Live Music Venue in Austin, Texas.  Scott graduated with a BS in Psychology and a BA in Business from SMU and received his MBA from NYU.

Brenton Johnson – Founder, Johnson’s Backyard Gardens

Brenton Johnson is the founder of Johnson’s Backyard Garden, a certified organic vegetable farm located a few miles east of Austin, TX. JBG was started by Brenton in 2004 in his backyard and has since grown to an over 200 acre farm, growing over 60 different types of vegetables, herbs and flowers year round. Brenton has a degree in agricultural engineering from Auburn University and worked for 10 years for the Bureau of Reclamation, managing the agency’s water conservation program for the Wyoming/Nebraska and Texas/Oklahoma offices. This work experience, coupled with his engineering degree, has given him a strong background in water management, irrigation design, and business management, all of which are vital for his vegetable growing operation. Since making the jump to farming full time, Brenton has worked to make it possible for JBG to provide produce to it’s 1,000 member CSA, and most Austin area farmers markets, grocery stores and restaurants. Brenton’s ongoing goal is to provide high quality organic produce to more members of the Austin community.

Lloyd Minick – CEO and co-founder, and Michael Hanan – CMO/COO/co-founder, Ten Acre Organics

Ten Acre Organics, LLC is an urban farming company based in Austin, TX.  Their goal is to design and build the most sustainable and productive ten-acre farm in the world, as a model that can be adapted and replicated on the edges of cities everywhere, to provide the freshest, healthiest, most local, and most sustainable foods possible.  TAO’s ten-acre farm model is an integrated, diversified farming and food production system, which includes aquaponics greenhouses, an organic crop field, chicken coops, an apiary, mushroom production facilities, composting facilities, and a commercial kitchen.

Manuel Rosso – Founder and CEO, Food on the Table

Manuel Rosso is founder and CEO of Food on the Table, an online service that creates weekly recipe and grocery lists based on sales at nearby stores. After so many evenings of hearing “Spaghetti again?!?!” around the dinner table, all while his grocery bill increased, he was inspired to use technology to build a better way to save money and eat better. He entered the MBA program at MIT and switched to the world of technology by joining Dell. He caught the startup bug and was hired at IMVU as vice president of marketing. There, he had the opportunity to work with Will Harvey, Eric Ries and the rest of the IMVU team at the time the concept of the Lean Startup was taking shape. He took that culture to Food on the Table, the brainchild of his year as an Entrepreneur in Residence at Austin Ventures.

Daphne Richards – County Extension Agent – Horticulture

Daphne Richards received her BA in botany from The University of Texas at Austin and her MS in horticulture from Texas A&M.  Before joining the Travis County Extension team in 2009, she served as the CEA-Horticulture in El Paso County for nine years.  Her primary responsibilities include leading educational programming in the areas of home horticulture and urban agriculture, as well as for professionals in the green industry.  She also serves as coordinator of the local Master Gardener program, training and managing over 200 very active Master Gardener volunteers.  She may be seen each week on local PBS affiliate KLRU, and other subscribing PBS stations around the nation, in the award-winning television program “Central Texas Gardener.”

Moderator:

David Barrow – Multimedia Producer

David Barrow is a multimedia producer currently living and working in Austin.  Whether its video, photo, media education, or food styling, David looks for daily occurrences that inspire, and he creates learning and challenging environments from which to show his and others’ passions. David’s work and collaborations have been seen on broadcast TV, museums around the nation and distributed national and internationally via theatrical release. He is currently working on the documentary, Farm-City, State asking, ‘What if an entire city could feed itself?’ 

ONLINE REGISTRATION HERE

$75 per person, two-days, including lunch on both days.

Food, the City, and Innovation, a two-day roundtable conference at the E. A. Smith building, just west of the Blanton Museum in Austin, Texas. February 1 & 2, 2013

The Food Lab at UT and our co-host Boston University believe that the climate for innovation in the food industry could not be better. New food startups led by engineers, artists, scientists, and architects are responding to the challenge to re-invent our global food system. This conference will explore the opportunities for innovation and seek those that will benefit from the collaboration between universities, industry and our cities. Each session will include two round table discussions with a wide variety of speakers from academics, industry workers to local food entrepreneurs.

For complete information, visit our conference page HERE.