“Food is Medicine” is extremely popular right now, and a few facts suggest it might be more than just a trend. The U.S. alone spends something like $1.5 trillion annually on diet-related diseases, and key issues like diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and other diseases are on the rise around the world. There are certainly costly interventions to manage many of these problems, but an increasing body of research suggests that some of the least invasive (and most affordable) interventions don’t come in a pill or vial, but in a grocery basket. 

Agrifood tech is definitely not sitting on the sidelines. We’re seeing a new wave of startups emerging, building on the lessons of the food business past. To explore this trend, we spoke with one such founder– Brad McNamara, CEO and Founder at Morrissey Market, a “food is medicine” distribution startup. Brad was formerly at Freight Farms, a vertical farming company that strove to sell, not the produce, but the farm itself, in the form of a tech-enabled shipping container-sized farm.

Brad and Sarah discuss: 

• The lessons learned standing up Freight Farm during the very nascent days of the vertical farming sector, and why they pursued the “sell the farm” business model
• Brad’s journey to food distribution during the pandemic, and the opportunity he saw to connect wholesalers to healthcare
• What’s ahead for the “food is medicine” space, and how replacing prescriptions rather than groceries transforms the perspective and possibilities for food box distribution

Useful Links:

• Brad McNamara On Raising $50 Million To Grow And Deliver Fresh Farm Produce Grown In Freight Containers
• Tastemaker: Growing a Revolution with Brad McNamara
• Freight Farm Shuts Down, Files for Bankruptcy
• Morrissey Market Case Studies
• Is vertical farming dead? With Sebastien Eckersley-Maslin from Phyllome
• Tenacious Ventures’ Phyllome Investment Notes

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The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.

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