S4E40: Shannon O'Malley - Creating Your Neighborhood Farm

Episode SummaryJoin Harry Duran, host of Vertical Farming Podcast, as he welcomes to the show, co- founder & CEO at Brick Street Farms, Shannon O’Malley. Brick Street Farms is a hydroponic, indoor city farm that grows leafy greens year-round in technology based, climate controlled environments. Their mission is to grow the most nutritious produce at the heart of consumption.Today, Harry and Shannon talk about how Shannon became an ‘accidental co-founder’ within the Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) industry. Shannon discusses the key differentiating factor of Brick Street Farms and shares some of the amazing work they are doing to educate society on this growing segment. Harry and Shannon talk about the recent extreme weather, most notably the deep freeze in Texas, and how more of these climactic events are impacting how our food is grown, harvested and delivered to us. Finally, Shannon speaks to the initiatives Brick Street Farms is involved with, including combatting food deserts.Episode SponsorCULTIVATDKey Takeaways02:58 – Harry welcomes to the show Shannon O’Malley, who joins the show to discuss her engineering background and her passion for building and creating13:39 – An accidental co-founder17:18 – Extreme weather and vertical farming21:11 – Brick Street Farms’ origin story and a key differentiating factor about them25:51 – An amazing reaction from the community27:32 – Educating the masses on career opportunities within the vertical farming industry32:30 – Challenges that the Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) industry faces, including contamination35:57 – Taking on a leadership role at Brick Street Farms and facing new challenges such as COVID-1941:59 – Connecting with other CEA companies44:08 – What’s next for Brick Street Farms as the grow and expand their team and organization51:09 – Harry thanks Shannon for joining the show and let’s listeners know where they can learn more about Brick Street Farms and connect with ShannonTweetable Quotes“I definitely think my passion for science and engineering laid the foundation for me today to at least have the curiosity to try.” (13:08) (Shannon)“A key differentiating factor for Brick Street Farms is that our focus is wholesale hospitality and direct-to-consumer and not mass distribution through grocery stores or food supply companies.” (22:29) (Shannon)“We would not have been able to get where we are today if we didn’t have the amazing reaction and support of our community.” (26:25) (Shannon)“We like to use a phrase called, ‘Advanced Simplicity.’ We build our machines so that anyone can operate them because you have to be able to build this labor force and this workforce. And we get folks from all walks of life, former delivery drivers and warehouse workers to plumbers to science students. And so we want people to be able to come in and be effective right away.” (30:58) (Shannon)“Brick Street Farms is only as successful as we build our Thrive Containers. And Thrive Containers is our manufacturing brand. Brick Street Farms can only be as successful as good of a machine that we build. So, we work to build a machine with highest ROI with the lowest inputs.” (43:00) (Shannon)“We’re focused on expanding our brand, our marketing, our consumer outreach and governmental affairs.” (46:03) (Shannon)Links MentionedShannon’s LinkedInBrick Street Farms WebsiteBrick Street Farms TwitterBrick Street Farms InstagramBrick Street Farms FacebookThrive Containers WebsiteSponsor Info:Cultivatd WebsiteCultivatd InstagramCultivatd’s TwitterCultivatd’s Facebook🎙️🎙️🎙️Podcast Production and Marketing by FullCast: https://bit.ly/3sxZ34ySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.Mentioned in this episode:2025 Precision Ag Report by iGrowNews2025 Precision Ag Report2025 Precision Ag Report by iGrowNews2025 Precision Ag Report