Founding board member John Hoekstra steps down
VANCOUVER, BC, SEPTEMBER 17, 2020 – CubicFarm® Systems Corp. (TSXV:CUB) (“CubicFarms” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has appointed Chris Papouras to the Board of Directors, effective immediately.
Mr. Papouras currently serves as strategic advisor at leading ag-tech investor Ospraie Ag Science, LLC (“Ospraie”) that holds an approximate 25.4% interest in the Company. He has a special focus on manufacturing best practices in the controlled-environment agriculture (CEA) space. Prior to joining Ospraie, he was President of Nabors Drilling Solutions, a technology provider in oil and gas, and President of Canrig Drilling Technology, a Nabors subsidiary. At Nabors, he was involved in automating the oil-well construction process with the drilling rig as the platform for automation. Mr. Papouras holds several patents in drilling technology and automation.
He currently serves on the boards of SEACOR Holdings – a publicly traded company providing transportation and logistics services to support a wide range of business sectors, and Freight Farms – an ag-tech company manufacturing and selling containerized hydroponic farming systems. He is a member of the Audit and Compensation board committees of SEACOR. Mr. Papouras serves on the Advisory Board of Avangard Innovative, a premier waste and recycling optimization company. He previously served on multiple boards of technology companies in the oil and gas industry.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University, and Master’s degrees in Management and Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
CubicFarms CEO Dave Dinesen commented: “We are delighted to bolster our board with Chris. His acumen and well-rounded expertise in manufacturing operations, finance, technology and automation will be instrumental in positioning CubicFarms for growth and strategic opportunities. With Ospraie’s board participation and Chris’ new role, CubicFarms continues to build out our roster of trusted advisors strategically to achieve our mission of providing technology to growers to feed a changing world,” said CubicFarms CEO Dave Dinesen.
Mr. Papouras commented: “The rapidly changing landscape of the food industry, driven by the Covid-19 pandemic and consumer demand for local, fresh, sustainably produced food, means that technologies such as automated vertical farming are now needed more than ever. The world can no longer grow and transport food the same, inefficient way. I’m honoured to be invited to join the board of a company that is at the forefront of transforming farming with its disruptive technologies.”
John Hoekstra, one of CubicFarms’ founding board members, has stepped down from his role after almost five years on the board.
“I am so grateful for John’s contribution to CubicFarms over the past five years. To start a great company, you need great people, and John is indeed one of the hardest working and talented people you could ever hope to build a business with. From board director, audit committee member, to CFO during our first few years, John has added so much value to CubicFarms. Our sincere thanks for the years of dedicated service and wise counsel,” added Mr. Dinesen.
Mr. Hoekstra commented: “As a founding board member of CubicFarms, it has been my privilege to watch the company advance from a start-up to a technology leader charting a path for worldwide expansion. I wish the board every success and will continue to be a strong CubicFarms advocate in the agriculture space.”
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About CubicFarm® Systems Corp.
CubicFarm Systems Corp. (“CubicFarms”) is a technology company developing and deploying technology to feed a changing world. Its proprietary technologies enable growers around the world to produce high quality, predictable crop yields. CubicFarms has two distinct technologies that address two distinct markets. The first technology is its patented CubicFarms™ system, which contains patented technology for growing leafy greens and other crops. Using its unique, undulating-path growing system, the Company addresses the main challenges within the indoor farming industry by significantly reducing the need for physical labour and energy, and maximizing yield per cubic foot. CubicFarms leverages its patented technology by operating its own R&D facility in Pitt Meadows, British Columbia, selling the system to growers, licensing its technology and providing vertical farming expertise to its customers.
The second technology is CubicFarms’ HydroGreen system for growing nutritious livestock feed. This system utilizes a unique process to sprout grains, such as barley and wheat, in a controlled environment with minimal use of land, labour and water. The HydroGreen system is fully automated and performs all growing functions including seeding, watering, lighting, harvesting, and re-seeding – all with the push of a button – to deliver nutritious livestock feed without the typical investment in fertilizer, chemicals, fuel, field equipment and transportation. The HydroGreen system not only provides superior nutritious feed to benefit the animal, but also enables significant environmental benefits to the farm.
About Ospraie Ag Science
Ospraie Ag Science LLC (“Ospraie”) an investment vehicle that supports productivity-enhancing companies in the agriculture technology space with a focus on sustainable solutions that improve the quality of life for farmers and society. Utilizing its extensive network and 25 years of experience investing in agriculture markets, Ospraie identifies solutions that help farmers “Do More With Less” and that increase profitability, reduce environmental impact and improve their quality-adjusted yield.
Information contact
Kimberly Lim
kimberly@cubicfarms-web.azurewebsites.net
Phone: +1-236-858-6491
www.cubicfarms.com
“Our family is dedicated to protecting the prairie. We strive to work smarter on our ranch by applying our business and consulting expertise and focusing on ranch innovation and sustainability. With climate change, technology advances and decreasing natural resources, we know we must operate our ranch differently. With the HydroGreen system, we can now produce better, faster, and stronger for ourselves and the planet.”
“My family is originally from Holland, I grew up on a dairy farm, and I’ve been in the industry all my life. Talking with my parent’s friends who are immersed in the veggie industry, they recommended Iinvestigateoptions to produce lettuce in a sustainable way. I looked into the greenhouse and indoor vertical warehouse systems, but they could not meet my needs. I needed to minimize my risk, space and lower my labor costs.
“After a significant drought and taking over my family ranch, I was looking for a more cost-effective way to produce our fodder. I knew there were better producer options out there, but most of the systems had too much manual labour and seed obligations that were not cost-effective. The HydroGreen system’s value proposition was compelling. The fodder’s nutritive value is exceptional for our herd and the system is time-efficient. I run one piece of machinery for 35 mins a day when in the past, it would have taken me a few hours a day and three machines using traditional equipment. In our neck of the woods, one six-rack HydroGreen system is the equivalent to 320 acres of South Dakota prairie sitting inside a 60 x 40 building. It is essentially drought resistant ‘Land on a Stand’ which produces grass every day, in any weather, in less than an hour.”