Like Jack, Eduardo has agreed to serve as an ambassador to other local farmers, helping bring them on board with us. We’re hoping to contract with four more farms in this area this year. We could bring on only one or two more, but then we will need to find farmers elsewhere who are as excited about what we can do. The goal is ten farms in the first half of the year. Bringing on five here and five in Sapphire Falls felt easy a day or so ago.
Sofia nods. “A couple of them. But the group he has lunch with is a larger group. At first, I thought maybe the others were jealous about not being asked to participate, but I think maybe they truly are concerned we’re getting in over our heads.” She looks from me to her dad, to Graham. “They just don’t understand the project.”
“That’s the point of partnering withyou,” I say to Eduardo. “We want someone who is widely respected in the community. Someone everyone knows is smart, a fantastic businessman, and an exceptional farmer. Someone who people look at as a community leader and a role model in agriculture. You don’tneedtheirapproval. They should be looking toyouand wanting to follow in your footsteps.”
Eduardo frowns.
Oops.
I thought appealing to his role as an icon in the community would work. He’s clearly successful and, I would think, proud of that. I didn’t do the background work on him, but when Sofia contacted IES, Graham and Everett did thorough research. They didn’t jump at partnering with just anyone who expressed interest. Eduardo’s family has been farming in this area for three generations, and he is well known and well liked in town. He’s served on the city council and several committees, and Sofia is following in his footsteps, currently serving in her second term as a city councilwoman.
“I trust my friends,” he says. “For years, we’ve worked side by side here. We share knowledge and ideas.”
“Of course,” I say. This is exactly why we want him working with us. I need to switch gears a bit. “And I’m sure they’re all exceptional businessmen and women as well. They must see how wonderful this will be for you and your community.”
I meet Graham’s eyes, and he gives me a look that says, ‘Go ahead. Good luck.’
Graham isn’t a cheerleader, nor is he effusive about anything other than a successful science experiment and, now, Margot. He’s more outgoing and warmer than our father, but he inherited the Riley trait of getting easily irritated when questioned. He doesn’t understand why people don’t just trust his knowledge about the topics he’s passionate about.
I wonder briefly what Everett would do in this moment.
I’m guessing he’d be very charming. He’d figure out what Eduardo really needs here and find a way to give it to him.
Everett is the other side of the coin, and that’s why he and Graham have been successful. Graham makes the actual project work, but Everett sells it.
Why isn’t he here?
He should be here.
Clearly, Eduardo agrees.
But he’s not. I am. And I can absolutely sell this project. I believe in it, in Graham and Everett, and I can make Eduardo trust them.
I turn to Jack. “Jack is going to be the first in our community to have a fully green indoor farm, and it’s going to be fantastic. Not just for our town and people—though certainly that—but for him and for agriculture widely. When someone brings something amazing to a community, people don’t forget who led the way.”
Eduardo focuses on Jack. “You’re doing the full-scale project?”
Jack nods. “I have a smaller farm than you do, so I’ll have four buildings, rather than six, but I’m doing them all at once. And I actually hope to expand.”
“And we hope to bring other farms into the project in Sapphire Falls, too,” I say. “But when the project is a huge success, and people in the middle of Nebraska are eating fresh-off-the-vines strawberries at the diner in January, and the market is able to supply super fresh lettuce and veggies year-round, and Jack is sipping coffee at the diner, not worried about drought conditions in the middle of July, everyone is going to want what he’s got.”
“We want to do it,” Sofia assures us. “We believe in the project.”
“Yes, but…” Eduardo says.
“Dad,” Sofia says with a sigh.
I look at Eduardo. “But something’s making you nervous now.”
“Not nervous.” He frowns. “I just want to be careful. Go slow. One building. One year to see how it goes.”
“One building and one year won’t tell you much,” I say. “It will get you familiar with the process, but it won’t be enough to really show you or the community what you can do.” I take a breath…and a chance. “If someone else steps up and does a full farm with us, they’ll see cost savings by the end of the year and make a name for themselves in the area.”
Is Eduardo competitive enough to want to be first? Will it matter to him that we might approach someone else?Willwe approach someone else if he backs out? I haven’t talked to Graham and Everett about the what if here.
“If I can say something?” Jack asks.
I know that Jack believes in this, so I’m happy to have him speak on this. We brought him along so he could see a nearly finished building, but he can also talk to Eduardo peer-to-peer.
