This episode is part of our “What Plants Crave” series, where Dr. Sabeh speaks with growers, researchers, and other experts in other engineers, growers, and manufacturers who work in controlled environment agriculture, to get their insights about the direction of the industry, and of course, what exactly it is that plants crave.

This week’s guest is Tyler Baras, the chief science officer and co-founder of Area 2 Farms in Arlington, Virginia. Tyler has a range of urban agricultural experience from homesteading to commercial hydroponics. While completing his B.S. in Horticultural Sciences at the University of Florida, he traveled overseas to study Organic Agriculture in Spain and Protected Agriculture (greenhouse production) in China. After graduation, he worked as a grower for 3 Boys Farm Inc., one of the first certified organic hydroponic farms in the United States. In 2013, Tyler moved to Denver, Colorado where he worked as the hydroponic farm manager at The GrowHaus. He managed a profitable urban farm while creating a successful hydroponic internship program with a 90% job placement rate for graduates.

While at The GrowHaus, Tyler started creating educational videos and blog posts about farm tech which are available on his website FarmerTyler.com. In 2015, Tyler moved to Dallas, Texas where he managed the Dallas Grown hydroponic greenhouse and worked as Special Projects Manager for Hort Americas, a commercial hydroponic equipment distributor.

While in Dallas, Tyler wrote one of the best-selling hobby hydroponic books, DIY Hydroponic Gardens: How to Design and Build an Inexpensive System for Growing Plants in Water. In 2017, Tyler wrote Roadmap to Growing Leafy Greens and Herbs, an educational book for new growers and investors interested in commercial hydroponic production of leafy greens in greenhouses and indoor farms. In 2018, Tyler moved to San Francisco, California where he worked as the New Product Development Senior Grower at the indoor vertical farming company Plenty. In 2021, Tyler wrote Home Hydroponics: Small-space DIY growing systems for the kitchen, dining room, living room, bedroom, and bath. For more on Tyler Baras please visit FarmerTyler.com.

03:00 From student to urban farmer

08:20 Becoming Farmer Tyler

12:30 The problem with large-scale indoor farms

15:00 Working in an indoor farm

20:00 Why go monoculture indoors?

21:45 What is the value proposition of indoor ag?

24:30 Collaboration through grower networks

27:00 Growing plants indoors vs. outdoors

33:30 Breeding vs screening for indoor conditions

37:30 The intricacies and efficiencies of horticultural lighting

45:00 Academic guidelines vs. boundaries

46:30 Growing under consistent indoor conditions vs. variable greenhouse conditions

50:50 Killing lettuce plants in 2 hours

53:20 Which is Tyler’s favorite and least favorite plant to grow?

58:40 What is the biggest difference of home-grown vs. commercial hydroponics?

1:00:00 Improving efficiency by reducing waste

1:02:20 Will automation replace human growers?

1:05:20 The role of education and connection to the success of indoor farming

1:10:00 How will the industry evolve in the near future?

1:12:00 Supply chain in farming and horticulture and why indoor lettuce farmers aren’t vertically integrated

1:17:00 Connoisseurs of lettuce and tomato

1:18:00 What do plants crave?