Re:Arduino-based, urban aquaponics in Oakland
by ph0rque on Wednesday October 24, 2012 @11:59AM
(#4693487)
Thanks for suggestions. We're targeting gardeners as early and mid-term adopters, of whom there are quite a lot in the US. However, we certainly are keeping an eye on the commercial markets you mention. The biggest problem that I see is that for those markets, you need quite a lot of produce to start replacing a large percentage of their fresh plant offerings.
The two early-adopter markets I would explore first are: (1) restaurants/hotels, who are always interested in "fresh produce at 10% of the cost" and are always looking for ways to differentiate from competitors ("our produce is fresher because it's grown in-house with hydroponics"); and (2) large grocery stores in urban areas, who will have the space and staff to install and manage AutoMicroFram and are also always interested in fresher produce at a lower cost.
I suspect that if AutoMicroFarm is packaged as a standard product (e.g., the same modular box for everyone) that truly delivers value from day one (e.g., the box is delivered with grown plants of the buyer's choosing) to these two market segments, you would get much faster adoption.
PS. Obviously this would require a meaningful amount of venture capital.