Innovation

There are many benefits to the innovation at Re-Nuble which include helping farmers grow organically while helping the environment. It lowers their cost and helps them transition to this way of farming. They also use prophetic mineral salt from other countries which is cost competitive compared to synthetic mineral salts. Also, according to their website, their growing medium is recyclable and everything is grown in 60 days or less. They have many technological systems that they use which do not require a lot of money to operate, making them affordable. In addition, they reuse existing products, enabling the company to be cost-competitive. As a result, they are not only saving money on growing and producing products but also making sure that the product, although cheaper, is still of good quality. This creates fresh, healthy, and nutritious produce for people at a lower price point with less work required from farmers. Farmers and buyers benefit from this innovation.

Furthermore, Re-Nuble aims to make farms more resource efficient. According to the Re-Nuble website, they are helping to close the loop by helping to return the value of post-production byproducts. These include things like wastewater, roots, and produce trimmings. They aim to turn waste products into a valuable resource that will benefit the way farmers grow.

From Food Waste to Healthy Produce

Inspiration

The Founder and CEO of Re-Nuble is Tinia Pina. Before founding the company, she worked in finance while teaching SAT prep in Harlem. After lunch, she would notice that students were very tired, and it was harder for them to focus. Pina wanted to make food that was more nutritious while keeping it affordable. She realized that there was an underutilized resource: food waste. This was the catalyst for bringing these two ideas together.

Overall impact

The company has two main innovations. One is known as Away We Grow, an organic hydroponic nutrient; the other is known as Renu Terra, a fully compostable grow media. Hydroponic nutrients, which are water soluble and sterile, are sourced from vegetative food byproducts. Razalee Riyana, head of business development, said that “Indoor farms want to transition to a more organic option.” Re-Nuble helps indoor farmers grow organic food in indoor farming systems using organic hydroponic nutrients. As a result, closing the loop and obtaining a higher revenue margin with an organic-certifiable agriculture input becomes an option for indoor farms.

The advantage of this innovation is that it helps indoor farms grow organically and reduces the use of synthetic mineral salts from other countries. Because indoor farms want to move away from less organic growing methods, they are helping indoor farmers achieve that goal. It is cost-competitive, and it helps them transition and move away from using synthetic mineral salts. In addition, their grow media is 100% compostable within 20 days. Their manufacturing process follows their commitment to being closed-loop, and they have created creative ways to reuse resources, such as an osmosis water system at their facility.

Business benefit

They produce climate-friendly sustainable agriculture inputs, reduce food waste that could go into landfills, and provide sustainable growing options to cheaper indoor growers. By using food waste as a resource, they minimize the impact of mining that happens through the extraction of synthetic salt minerals. The reduction of landfill waste could lead to landscape changes which would be an ecological effect. In addition, Re-Nuble wants to provide equal opportunities to all their employees and applicants without regard to race, sexuality, gender, religion, nationality, identity, age, and disabilities.

Social and environmental benefit

Re-Nuble is pushing CEA, which stands for Controlled Environment Agriculture. This means they want the industry to become more sustainable while eliminating landfill waste and greenhouse gases. They are helping indoor farmers choose climate-friendly products and grow more organically.

Additionally, it gives people a new way of thinking. It helps them utilize products, such as food waste, that already exist. By helping indoor farms grow food organically, they can reduce the effects of climate change. Also, assisting customers outside the US eventually will allow the company and its products to be more accessible. Due to the localized production method, they achieve accessibility to healthy and organic food for people of many backgrounds in urban centers.

One issue with other products is that they can create algae in an indoor farming water tank, which can be dangerous. Re-Nuble helps urban centers and indoor farmers prove that their growing mechanism is organic and allows them to ensure their food is nutritious, healthy, and accessible to many people.

Interview

Riyana Razalee, Head of Business Development and Strategy