Re-Nuble

This interview details Re-Nuble, an agricultural technology company based in the United States. The interview is with Tinia Pina, Founder & CEO of Re-Nuble.

‍

‍

How was 2023 for Re-Nuble? What were some of the highlights of the year?

‍

If I had to describe 2023 for us with one word, it would be energetic. There's a lot of excitement for our mission. We're ultimately circular innovators, able to take multiple types of waste materials and use our Organic Cycling Science approach to identify and upcycle agriculture byproducts into higher value, secondary products.

‍

‍

The flexibility with the types of materials, form factors, the relative ease of offering customization and our future intention to scale up our distributed business model to agricultural communities around the world resonates with many. We've found this to especially be the case for our ReNu Terra horticultural substrate line which offers multiple form factors (e.g. mats, plugs, blocks, slabs, etc.) to help growers more affordably, quickly, and easily transition away from peat.

‍

‍

What are some of the biggest challenges facing Re-Nuble in the future? 

‍

We've remained a relatively agile but fast company and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Yes, we've raised $9M dollars to date, a majority of this being non-dilutive but that still doesn't remove the pressure to create outsized returns to shareholders. However, I'm a huge advocate and in support of our team building Re-Nuble with intentionality and a strong foundation. Similar to high-tech horticulture, manufacturing has many aspects of logistics and physical components moving at the same time. Finding a balance of not only production, and communication but even technical vernacular when describing a new product ("ReNu Terra") to the market.

‍

More importantly, ensuring that our customers use our products the way they have been optimized in design has been a challenge because the experience of our product is new. What does this entail exactly? Well, for example, we offer a product that doesn't get as saturated with water as rockwool but still reaches the ideal moisture content level of a horticulture substrate plug. Everyone has preferences but we need to remain focused on what the larger market is academically trained to grow, which is what we always use as a benchmark when developing new products and for internal testing.

‍

How does Re-Nuble technology compare to competitor solutions right now? 

‍

Our ReNu Terra product line is highly durable and compliant with home and industrial composting standards. It can be manufactured to a grower's needs (more or less water retention) in multiple form factors for cultivation of many crop varieties. We're able to offer our products as a more affordable replacement to peat and rockwool, with the flexibility of using different materials such as jute that can be regeneratively sourced from anywhere around the world. Furthermore, our manufacturing capabilities allow for customization to help growers optimize their irrigation efficiencies.

‍

To the grower's benefit, it can be supplied with an initial charge, microbial additives or as inert. while eliminating particulates from entering the system. We can replicate the production of ReNu Terra around the world to reduce supply chain risks, and shipping costs, and ensure that all growers have equal access to ReNu Terra to reduce their costs. It does not require significant water for cleaning purposes and is a crucial step in alleviating climate-related risks. 

We have all of our products tested for all major food pathogens, pesticides, herbicides, heavy metals, and PFAS contaminants.

There's a lot of benefits to using our plastic-free ReNu Terra product line. The time spent was worth every second and I'm incredibly proud of our team for helping us get here.

‍

‍

Any predictions for the CEA industry in 2024 and beyond? 

I'm not sure if you've ever heard of the adage, "riches are in the niches" but there's so much truth to that. Despite CEA being an emerging niche, we've always remained focused on serving this niche first because it will only be a matter of time until more large industry players diversify their operations in multiple geographic locations and bring their production indoors. We're eager to follow how the global production of varying crop varieties will soon shift to indoors due to climate change and how we address specific household ingredient shortages (e.g. Siracha) using CEA production as well.

As more open-field farms become more publicly vulnerable and transparent about how challenging it is to have predictable production these days, I hope their current owners and/or their successors realize that there's still an opportunity to continue to be the heroes that they are to society. We're starting to see more federal funding support to aid more CEA and hopefully encourage other so embrace this way of cultivating.

‍

Any other news regarding Re-Nuble you would like to share? 

We're incredibly grateful to be working with several committed commercial growers who have been instrumental in giving us feedback about our ReNu Terra Plugs and the multiple dimensions and form factors currently in demand. We aim to release these plugs to our current waiting list as soon as possible in 2024.

We're also very eager to finally work with the Glens Falls Vertical Farm project that we partnered on and announced almost two years ago. Admittedly, there have been substantial delays, outside of our control that we had to be patient with but our intentions with this project remain the same as long as its team has the capacity and resources.

‍

How can people connect with you or learn more about Re-Nuble?

People can learn more at: 

Twitter Facebook Instagram LinkedIn

Our Publications: https://www.re-nuble.com/blogs/re-nuble

Website: https://www.re-nuble.com

Contact Us at: https://www.re-nuble.com/pages/contact-us

‍

‍

‍