{"id":4529,"date":"2022-04-22T10:39:56","date_gmt":"2022-04-22T14:39:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/?p=4529"},"modified":"2026-03-26T15:15:52","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T19:15:52","slug":"promoting-healthy-living-with-indoor-vertical-farms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/startups\/promoting-healthy-living-with-indoor-vertical-farms\/","title":{"rendered":"Promoting Healthy Living with Indoor Vertical Farms"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"embed-megaphone\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/playlist.megaphone.fm\/?e=TLFIE2029305170\" width=\"100%\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><!-- Megaphone -->\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Vilij<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Eating healthy was much easier and more affordable just a few decades ago because most people lived on fertile farms where they could grow some of their food. However, all that has changed thanks to climate change, increased demand, and the high cost of inputs, among others. One of the solutions to this problem is using indoor vertical farms to increase the production of healthy food ingredients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today, our host Kevin Blevins talks to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vilij.life\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Vilij<\/a>&nbsp;co-founders, Terry Carr and Brandon Smith. Terry is an experienced designer and Brandon is a mechanical engineer.&nbsp; Their company is creating a technology-embedded aeroponic system that allows you to grow food indoors. They\u2019ll share with us the impact that they expect their product to have and the progress they made so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this episode, you\u2019ll learn about the innovative strategies that the company employs to monitor the plants\u2019 growth process. You\u2019ll also hear about the challenges that they\u2019ve faced along the way and how they were able to overcome them. Additionally, they\u2019ll share some of the lessons that they have learned on their entrepreneurial journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Siemens Startup Program<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Join the Siemens startups program to grow your startup to its full potential with the right software solution:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sw.siemens.com\/en-US\/digital-transformation\/xcelerator-startup-solutions\/design-simulation-startups\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Siemens Startups Program: from idea to market leader with the right tools<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep up to date with Vilij&#8217;s journey at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vilij.life\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">vilij.life<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Also, you can access this podcast via&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/hardware-startups-digitalization-to-realization-podcast\/id1527528898\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">iTunes<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/26s0XADllRzIzmVf3aUS5q\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Spotify<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/tunein.com\/podcasts\/Technology-Podcasts\/Hardware-Startups-Digitalization-to-Realization-P-p1357195\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">TuneIn<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/feeds.acast.com\/public\/shows\/5f1ed522ab65d03a95452ff6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">RSS<\/a>, and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.stitcher.com\/podcast\/hardware-startups-digitalization-to-realization-podcast\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Stitcher.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"bio-block row\">\n    <div class=\"col-3 order-first bio-pic\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/32\/2022\/04\/Brandon.jpg\" alt=\"Guest: Brandon Smith - Co Founder of Vilij\" \/>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"col-9 bio-info\">\n        <div class=\"bio-header\">\n            <h4 class=\"speakerintro\">Guest: Brandon Smith &#8211; Co Founder of Vilij<\/h4>\n        <\/div>\n        <div class=\"bio-biography\">\n            <p>Brandon is an experienced leader and mechanical engineer with a penchant for invention, and a passion for improving lives through purposeful design. He has been a part of teams that have introduced products ranging from satellites flying in space, and multiple generations of Apple computers, to DC fast chargers. In 2020 he co-founded Vilij with the mission to empower everyone to grow, and share their harvest.<\/p>        <\/div>\n        <div class=\"bio-contact\">\n            <p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/brandon-s-75b070b\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Connect with Brandon on LinkedIn<\/a><\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"bio-block row\">\n    <div class=\"col-3 order-first bio-pic\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/32\/2022\/04\/Terry.jpg\" alt=\"Guest: Terry Car - Co Founder of Vilij\" \/>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"col-9 bio-info\">\n        <div class=\"bio-header\">\n            <h4 class=\"speakerintro\">Guest: Terry Car &#8211; Co Founder of Vilij<\/h4>\n        <\/div>\n        <div class=\"bio-biography\">\n            <p>Terry&#8217;s passion is to bring design to everyday products that we don&#8217;t normally think about. Terry began his journey in design and engineering in car design school in Detroit.\u00a0 He than began a career in design at Poly, where he spent years as a Senior Industrial Designer before co-founding Vilij in 2020.<\/p>        <\/div>\n        <div class=\"bio-contact\">\n            <p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/terry-carr-57b13723\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Connect with Terry on LinkedIn<\/a><\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"bio-block row\">\n    <div class=\"col-3 order-last bio-pic\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/32\/2022\/04\/Kevin-Blevins.jpg\" alt=\"Host: Kevin Blevins -  Portfolio Development Executive\" \/>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"col-9 bio-info\">\n        <div class=\"bio-header\">\n            <h4 class=\"speakerintro\">Host: Kevin Blevins &#8211;  Portfolio Development Executive<\/h4>\n        <\/div>\n        <div class=\"bio-biography\">\n            <p>Kevin Blevins is the Portfolio Development Executive for SMB and Startup Companies and manages the Siemens DISW Startup Program. He works with the Siemens sales organizations as well as Siemens Partners to engage and evangelize the Siemens Startup Program in the Americas. Kevin has spent more than 35 years in the Engineering and Manufacturing software industry. Prior to this he spent seven years in the automotive design industry. Kevin has been with Siemens for 33 years. During this time, he has held positions in Technical Support, Technical Sales Support Leadership, Sales Director for the Automotive Region, Partner Sales Executive, and his current position. Kevin has a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Technology from Lawrence Technological University in Southfield, MI.<\/p>        <\/div>\n        <div class=\"bio-contact\">\n            <p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/kevin-blevins-a325079\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Connect with Kevin on LinkedIn<\/a><\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Vilij Eating healthy was much easier and more affordable just a few decades ago because most people lived on fertile&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":77663,"featured_media":4530,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spanish_translation":"","french_translation":"","german_translation":"","italian_translation":"","polish_translation":"","japanese_translation":"","chinese_translation":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[324],"tags":[371,482],"industry":[32,37],"product":[],"coauthors":[405],"class_list":["post-4529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-startups","tag-digital-future","tag-startup","industry-consumer-products-retail","industry-food-beverage"],"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/32\/2022\/04\/Vilij-Mana.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/77663"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4529"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4529\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11586,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4529\/revisions\/11586"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4529"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=4529"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=4529"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=4529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}