The COVID pandemic has led us to seek a closer relationship with food. Increasingly, we want to know where our food comes from and maybe even grow a little of it ourselves. But, how do we do that when most of us live in smaller spaces in cities and have no farming knowledge?
Contain, Inc and ID Capital today announced the public launch of Rooted, a global urban farming micro-learning platform, to equip home growers with the tools and community they need to grow at home. Created by two agtech entrepreneurs, Rooted combines the founders’ extensive network of urban farming gurus with endless research into the best way to learn, to build a new tech-enabled way to get farming.
Rooted tells stories with a goal; creating your first lettuce, the perfect mushroom, ingredients for your next cocktail. It takes input from farming experts, such as Cornell University and SananBio, and reimagines it in non-technical language, creating stories that cultivators can navigate at their own pace. As co-founder Nicola Kerslake of Contain Inc describes it: “We realized people were weary of endless webinars and Zoom meetings, we wanted to create something bite sized and interactive.”
Its primary audience is corporate wellness programs that are looking to engage remote workforces with a fresh approach. It integrates seamlessly into corporate wellness and corporate sustainability (CSR) programs. “Farming is a fantastic way to bring together employees in a positive project. With Rooted we are pioneering new, social, ways of learning” adds co-founder Isabelle Decitre of ID Capital.
The platform has already been successfully piloted by Danone and Dole employees and will shortly be trialed by a tech major. “Rooted did a great job of engaging our employees and of helping us to tell our sustainability story in a fun and accessible way” said Pascal De Petrini, Non-Executive Chairman Asia of Danone. “It has allowed our employees to understand our sustainability focus in a hands on way, whilst getting a micro-level taste of the challenges that our farmers face every day” added Christian Wiegele, President of Dole Asia Fresh. The platform is now ready for roll out to additional clients across the world.
The team is aided by advice from Kerry Gumas, formerly President & Chief Executive Officer of Questex, a leading international event and media company, and by Julia Harrison, Executive Producer and Series Creator, food and lifestyle programming and digital content for PBS and Food Network.
For more information:
Rooted
www.rooted.global