(EMAILWIRE.COM, February 07, 2012 ) Los Angeles, CA -- A growing crop of agricultural entrepreneurs is beginning to sprout in Southern California. Compelled by a desire to meet the food and energy demands of a world population forecast to peak at 9 billion by 2050, these entrepreneurs are endeavoring to re-imagine a more sustainable, healthy and profitable future for agriculture – from the development of high tech farms that utilize the latest hydroponic and aquaponic technology to grow food cleanly, efficiently and without chemicals to urban farming models that seek to bring scalable food production back to cities.
To explore this flight to innovation in agriculture, please join Seedstock, a sustainable agriculture media company, in association with the Entrepreneur Association and the Harold and Pauline Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies on March 7, from 6pm – 9pm at the UCLA Anderson School of Management for the event, Re-Imagining Agriculture: Sustainable Agriculture Entrepreneurship in Southern California.
The event will feature networking opportunities as well as a moderated panel made up of several sustainable agriculture entrepreneurs discussing their companies, their perceptions of the marketplace opportunity, challenges that they face and more.
Complimentary food and beverages will be provided by sponsor Whole Foods Market, Westwood.
Confirmed Sustainable Agriculture Companies and panelists include:
Colin and Karen Archipley: CEO and Co-founder/Vice President, respectively, of ArchiÂ’s Acres and the Veterans Sustainable Agriculture Training (VSAT) program. ArchiÂ’s Acres is a small-scale organic farm in Southern California established in 2007 by decorated Marine Sergeant Colin Archipley and his wife Karen. At ArchiÂ’s Acres the couple has created the Veterans Sustainable Agriculture Training (VSAT) program to offer combat veterans meaningful opportunities in the high-growth industry of sustainable farming.
Jesse DuBois and Dan Allen: CEO and CFO, respectively, of Farmscape Gardens, a Los Feliz, Los Angeles-based organic gardening social enterprise that empowers individuals to take control of their food supply by providing them with the necessary organic and sustainable tools to create a network of thriving, small-scale urban farms. Since its founding, Farmscape Gardens, an organic garden installation and maintenance company, has become the largest urban farming venture in Southern California.
David Rosenstein: Founder of EVO Farm, an urban farming organization working to produce high yields of fresh produce that exceed organic standards within walking distance of any neighborhood. EVO Farm operates the only commercial aquapoincs farm in Los Angeles. David is Chair of the Aquaponics Association- Western Region. He also serves on the Los Angeles Food Policy Council.
Pierre Sleiman: Founder and CEO of Go Green Agriculture, a company whose overall goal is to accelerate the movement towards decentralizing agricultural production and distribution in the United States and other countries. Go Green Agriculture believes that its role is to further integrate information systems technology with greenhouse automation to develop an effective system that will allow farming to be heavily integrated into urban living.
_____________________________
About the Entrepreneur Association (EA)
The Entrepreneur Association (EA) is the largest student organization at the UCLA Anderson School of Management and offers its more than 800 members a wide range of extracurricular activities, from networking events to experiential learning opportunities. As the largest-student run organization on campus, the EA takes advantage of its vast resources to put on 100+ events per year – or an average of more than three events per week. These include speaker series on entrepreneurship, hands-on workshops, intimate networking events with successful entrepreneurs, a world-class business plan competition, and a conference at the end of the year. In addition, the EA works closely with the Harold and Pauline Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies. The Price Center provides curriculum, research, and experiential learning programs that prepare MBA candidates for the challenges of management in entrepreneurial environments.
About the Harold and Pauline Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies
The Harold and Pauline Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, a recognized leader in entrepreneurial education and research, oversees all teaching, research, extracurricular, and community activities related to entrepreneurship at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Working closely with its Board of Advisors, the Price CenterÂ’s goal is to provide a set of academic and extracurricular experiences that advance both the theory and practice of entrepreneurship.
About Seedstock
Seedstock is the sustainable agriculture blog focusing on startup companies, university research, urban agriculture, innovative farmers, aquaculture and news. Through information aggregation and propagation (both online and off), Seedstock strives to play a role in connecting innovators and investors toward the end of encouraging the growth of the sustainable agriculture market ecosystem.
(EMAILWIRE.COM, February 07, 2012 ) Los Angeles, CA -- A growing crop of agricultural entrepreneurs is beginning to sprout in Southern California. Compelled by a desire to meet the food and energy demands of a world population forecast to peak at 9 billion by 2050, these entrepreneurs are endeavoring to re-imagine a more sustainable, healthy and profitable future for agriculture – from the development of high tech farms that utilize the latest hydroponic and aquaponic technology to grow food cleanly, efficiently and without chemicals to urban farming models that seek to bring scalable food production back to cities.
