PORTLAND, Ore. (March 6, 2024)—Resource Innovation Institute (RII), a not-for-profit, public-private partnership advancing community resilience, announced today it has appointed global CEA advisor George L. Carter III to the newly created position of Director of Decarbonization Partnerships.
In his role, Carter will develop partnerships with industry leaders, utilities and governments as RII continues to expand its network across disciplines to advance energy efficiency, water circularity, and decarbonization in the Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) sector. Carter’s initial duties are focused on recruiting working group members who will shape best practices guidance on a range of topics under RII’s CEA Accelerator partnership with the U.S. Dept. of Energy and Berkeley Labs.
“George has dedicated his career to supporting the operational success of a wide range of CEA operators and solution providers around the globe,” said Derek Smith, Executive Director of Resource Innovation Institute. “The knowledge, connections, and vision George brings to the table are critical to building the scale of partnerships needed to unlock the potential for CEA to be recognized as the climate-smart solution we all know it can be.”
Carter is a CEA advocate who has spent the vast majority of his career working to build sustainable food infrastructure in marginalized communities where food infrastructure historically has not existed. As the founder and CEO of Skout Strategy, he focused on pairing agriculture with technology to build resilient local and regional food infrastructure. During his time at Skout, Carter led a diverse team of CEA experts that helped companies and organizations around the globe navigate the process of designing, building, and operating CEA farms. Prior to forming Skout Strategy, Carter spent three years building global sales and marketing capacity in the categories of indoor vertical farming and horticultural lighting at Sananbio US. Most recently, Carter developed deep relationships with Sandia and Los Alamos National Labs in New Mexico and plans to expand these partnerships to drive continued innovation within CEA.
“One of the overarching goals of my career has been to develop a framework that drives operational efficiency and works to standardize the way CEA operations function,” Carter said. “As an industry, it is paramount that CEA begins to standardize the process and costs of building indoor farms and aligning those standards with production capacity. This requires an understanding of the design and construction process as well as developing operational efficiencies across the board. This approach is precisely the strategy RII has been pursuing, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to join their efforts.”
Carter is scheduled to represent RII at the 11th Annual Indoor Ag-Con show in Las Vegas on March 11-12. He will serve as moderator for “Blueprints to Profit: Navigating Greenhouse Building Success,” where a panel of industry-leading experts and greenhouse growers will discuss the intricacies of greenhouse building. In addition, he will participate in a panel discussion during, “Vivid Canopy At Indoor Ag-Con 2024” which will feature a panel of diverse CEA professionals followed by networking opportunities.
For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact Elyse Greenberg at elyse@resourceinnovation.org.
About Resource Innovation Institute: We Advance Community Resilience through the Integration of Controlled Environment Agriculture into our Farming Future
Resource Innovation Institute (RII) is a not-for-profit, public-private partnership advancing community resilience. RII provides resource efficiency education, training and data-driven verification, in collaboration with CEA producers, researchers, governments, utilities, and the design & construction sector. Visit our website at ResourceInnovation.org. Follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
