Andrew Blume's Agrifood Origin Story

I get asked all the time, how did you get involved in agrifood? Where does your motivation stem from? To help answer those questions, and to help folks get to know me better, I thought I'd share my story in this blog post.

My exposure to food and agriculture began at a very young age. My mom was a farmers market director in Southern California, so I spent many hours exploring the market tasting everything I could get my hands on. I would race up to the farmers booths, ask to sample their produce, and run along from there. At some point along the way, I realized talking with the friendly farmers was a pretty good way to pass the time.?

Conversing with the people who grew food inevitably led to discussion of how they grew it. At first it was the basics, which are fruits and which are vegetables? Which grow on trees, or bushes, or even underground. But I still had a lot of questions, and a lot to learn.?

One lesson I absorbed after a few years of running around the market was that farming is hard work. These farmers were getting up early, staying late, and were always busy loading, unloading, or talking to someone. Sometimes farmers would say to me something like, “If you help me unload this truck and set up my booth, I’ll give you a few dollars and you can buy whatever you want at the market.”? Only then did I truly begin to understand how much effort goes into distribution and merchandising of produce!

And as I spoke with more farmers, one day a lightning bolt struck me, and I realized I could grow my first plants for myself. What I thought would be easy and fun, resulted in mixed success. It turned out, selling produce at the market is just half the battle. Growing tasty plants comes with all sorts of challenges like soil content, water quality, temperature, sunlight, and pests. There was a lot more to learn!

Thankfully I had great teachers who encouraged me to cultivate my interests into some experimental learning. Getting hands brought a whole new dimension to my growing perspective. For many years, this was how I defined fun and I was full of smiles.

But the slow march of time brings change to us all. My years as a junior farmer gave way to the typical rebellious teenager period. All of a sudden my parents, childhood interests, and everything I used to think was awesome was now totally lame. I was determined to make room for new interests and opportunities, and applied my intellectual pursuits elsewhere for the next decade or so.

Luckily as seasons change, we find opportunities to rediscover ourselves every now and again. That happened for me in a big way when I graduated college and had no idea what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. It turned out, farming wasn’t so bad after all.

I applied myself back to my original passion and landed my first agrifood job since helping out around the farmer's market. This led to a string of jobs and projects across the agrifood industry including for a vertical farming trade association, urban ag consulting, robotic greenhouses, indoor vertical gardens, and many more sustainability focused projects.

As for what’s next, only time will tell! For now, I'm enjoying consulting for a number of great clients who you can learn more about here at my website .

PS - If you enjoyed this article, I encourage you to donate to Green Bronx Machine , a non profit who helps countless young people go on a similar journey of agrifood learning and discovery!