Sep 15, 2021
Editor’s Note: Get to know the amazing team at Agritecture! This interview features Nadim Atalla, Product Manager at Agritecture Consulting.
Pathway to Agritecture
Working out of Brooklyn, NY, Nadim has been part of Agritecture’s family since April 2021. With an admiration for Bill Mollison’s quote, “all the world’s problems can be solved in a garden,” Nadim has been interested in the role software can play in achieving greater sustainability in food systems for quite some time.
Prior to joining Agritecture, Nadim earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from Duke University, worked as an engineer in the solar industry, and gained three years of engineering and programming experience.
He shares that “starting with simple Python scripts, I hacked together a few simple tools which grew with my career and culminated in an automated solar estimate tool used to rank and filter thousands of leads by solar viability.”
During this time, he “always made it a point to have balcony and/or rooftop access so I could grow some of my own food. At first I had a container garden, but eventually started experimenting with outdoor hydroponic systems. My failures were frequent and catastrophic, and led me to learn more and more about the technology and the industry until I was hooked.” Pictured above is Nadim building a Johnson-Su bioreactor (compost pile) at his family’s farm in his home country of Jordan.
Agritecture’s Product Manager
In having gone through these challenges with urban farming systems himself, Nadim felt strongly about supporting other urban farmers and farming enthusiasts to set up successful and feasible farms. With this developing interest, he soon made the leap into urban agriculture, bringing his skills to Agritecture.
Nadim shares that, “CEA is about sustainability, food security, and resilience. In the battle against climate change, urban agriculture has a role to play both in prevention and in adaptation. I want to see these technologies used to transform our grey cities into the green cities of the future.”
Following this desire, Nadim has been responsible for improving and advancing Agritecture Designer, the world’s first digital platform for urban agriculture planning.
He comments that “Technology, R&D, and software are helping push the cutting edge of vertical farming. At Agritecture, we help people find the best solutions for their situations, and now we’re using software to reach an even wider audience.”
Nadim’s Favorite Project, Agritecture Designer
In less than 6 months working with Agritecture on advancing food security through software solutions, Nadim has helped build “a one-stop shop for planning, designing, and building urban farms.”
He shares that by “working with a diverse team of programmers from around the world, we are always building new features and growing the software and the user experience while building a community of users and urban agriculture fans.”
Nadim finds programming the vertical farm and greenhouse Python models to be the most fun. “Whenever a project is run in Designer, these models run in the background and calculate everything from crop yield to annual financials. In a way, it’s similar to the Python models I used in my previous job to set up the solar estimates tool. I enjoy programming such models, converting them from Excel to Python, and tweaking the assumptions and outputs as we increase the amount of data and experience that goes into them. Working with the consulting team to integrate the results of our latest projects into the models is an ongoing source of work and enjoyment, as we refine the models to continually increase their accuracy.”
In being bilingual, speaking both Arabic and English, Nadim has additionally supported Agritecture in expanding operations to the GCC-MENA region, and has created an Arabic tutorial for Agritecture’s audience. In the future, Nadim will be supporting the launch of new features specific to the GCC region, including Arabic closed captioning for our Commercial Urban Farming Course.
Watch Nadim’s tutorial of the Agritecture Designer software in Arabic
What Hopes Does Nadim Have For The Future Of CEA?
With his passion is in food systems, and his dream is to empower underserved communities to become food-secure and independent, Nadim hopes that:
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The industry continues to grow and thrive as it has been, and continues the exponential trajectory that it’s currently on
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Our cities are transformed and our food systems bolstered and decentralized
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More attention is given to using technology to feed people and build the green cities of tomorrow
As the new Product Manager, Nadim hopes to keep connecting with like-minded software and food systems sustainability enthusiasts that can help drive sustainable food production and out-of-the-box strategizing. Reach out to Nadim to discuss your urban farming plans today: nadim@agritecture.com
