For Nick Halmos, CEO and farmer-in-chief of Santa Cruz-based Cityblooms, urban agriculture has meant a passionate pursuit of innovation.
The native Floridian started his journey in Providence, Rhode Island in 2001 when he was an undergraduate at Brown University. Halmos can thank climate change for spurring his interest in urban agriculture well over a decade ago, when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report on global climate.
“Issues of climate change were permeating through all academic discussions,” Halmos says.
After deciding he wanted to do something to help the world be more sustainable, he went to Home Depot and purchased tomato plants and other equipment to set up a hydroponics operation in his campus dorm room. Later, Halmos was impressed with the end result.
“It was a very eye-opening experience to see tomatoes in my bathtub, in New England, in January,” he says.
