Station One – BlueMorph Demonstration: Alex Farren, CEO & Co-Founder of BlueMorph will demo their UV sanitation technology that has been used by wineries like Dominus Estate and Cakebread Cellars to eliminate chemical and water use for tank cleaning.
Station Two – Water & Soil Health: Learn about the value of Irrigation Distribution Uniformity Assessments from Ben Mackie, Vineyard Program Manager for Napa Green; the interconnection of soil carbon and water retention and delivery from Adam Koeppel, CEO of Agrology; and how biochar can enhance soil moisture and plant availability from Eric Mayer, Co-Founder of Napachar.
Alex Farren is the Founder and Chief Science Officer of BlueMorph, Inc. a company that specializes in the design of UV light delivery systems to disinfect the interior surfaces of rooms, containers and other defined spaces. He has over 10 years experience and 19 patents issued on the delivery of targeted UVC dose to a surface irrespective of distance and material. He is now focused on the use of FarUV to provide people-friendly solutions that can be used more effectively in the battle against pathogenic microorganism. Ultraviolet light has the advantages of being a sustainable disinfectant, consuming no water and using no chemicals.
BlueMorph Waterless Tank Sanitation System is a UV-based technology that provides the first truly effective and environmentally-friendly method of sanitizing vessels and containers without the use of chemicals. Customers benefit from over 80% reduction in water use, no chemicals to dispose of, lower electricity use compared to other sanitizing methods and safe and easy operation.
For the past 15 years, Ben has been designing and implementing regenerative farming systems in a variety of ecosystems. A New Englander by birth, Ben fell in love with agriculture in the verdant fields of northern California in high school. Ever since, Ben has been managing farms, improving soils, and educating the next crop of environmental stewards with a holistic view of farming with natural systems. No stranger to Napa, he previously lived on Mt Veeder, where he fell in love with the oak and madrone woodlands and made friends with the local ravens. When Ben is not helping Napa’s vineyards adopt 21st century practices, he is spending time with his impressive wife and two wild children in the woods and on the water. Ben currently occupies Nisenan Territory and is a proud alumnus of Sterling College in Northeast Vermont, where he received a BA in Sustainable Agriculture.
Adam is the CEO of Agrology. His motivation is growing enough food to feed the future world. He focuses on discovering customer problems, developing products to solve them, and designing business models to get products in customers’ hands. While growing up in California, Adam enjoyed working in his godparents apple orchard and visiting many Central Valley farms during family road trips. He also experienced many droughts. This led to his interest in agricultural optimization and soil carbon respiration. Adam has experience at multiple early stage companies as well as corporate research labs. He worked on IoT connected cards at Capital One and has 48 granted patents and 69 applications under prosecution.
Wildfires, frost, heat waves, pest threats — know ahead of time.
Agrology lets you know when there’s a problem — now or in the near future. Our technology platform applies Machine Learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) technology. We monitor and predict the issues coming your way. Then we alert you when there’s a problem. On your phone, anytime, anywhere. It’s the power to enable your team to take action and plan for the future.
Eric Mayer earned a PhD in Environmental Engineering from Stanford, where he studied fluid
mechanics and hydrology and published research improving global climate simulations. After
graduating and desiring to have a more immediate effect on the climate crisis, Eric went to
work for LightWater, a Florida-based biotechnology company focused on developing a scalable
algal bioreactor to capture and store carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. However,
upon learning of biochar and the simple technologies already developed for its production, Eric
became convinced that biochar held more immediate promise for scalable carbon capture and
storage, and Napachar was born. Today, you can find Eric and Napachar in the vineyards and
forests of Napa and Sonoma, diverting pulled vines and forestry slash from burn piles to roast in
their customized biochar kilns, returning the carbon to the soil.
Founded in eastern Napa county, Napachar converts woody waste from vineyard management and local forest fuel-reduction efforts into Biochar, one of the richest soil amendments and most stable forms of carbon capture available today. By making our biochar with portable kilns on site in the vineyard and forest, we reduce transportation costs and emissions, and offer a drop-in replacement for burn-piling and wood-chipping. Additionally, our kilns are substantially lower polluting than these alternatives, producing almost no smoke and releasing a tenth of the CO2. Our resulting product is ready for incorporation into vineyard soil, where it serves as an organic tool for holding onto water and nutrients in the soil and encourages increased growth and crop production, with no detriment to the quality of the fruits.
On our final day of RISE 2025 we were fortunate to have an impactful conversation with @drreneelertzman & @finn.does concerning the mental & emotion cycles of the environmental work we all do. The how and why of what motivates our work is as important as the work itself.
If you missed this beautiful conversation please know that we have professionally recorded all sessions at RISE and will announce how to view them.
We offer a sincere and deeply felt thank you to both of these amazing speakers for joining us today.
In our current climate, RISE has meant more than ever. As we head into our final day today of Climate Action & Regenerative Farming, we want to take a moment to thank our visionary founders, @abrittain & @reyeswine.mw.
Thank you for the countless hours you’ve put in, the bravery to raise your voices, the vision to use your platforms meaningfully and for the beautiful community we’ve built together. Here’s to you! 🥂
We’ll see you all today at RISE Climate & Wine Symposium.
📸: @briana_marie
Incredible keynote from the one and only @realwolfofwine!
Catch him tonight at @statelineroad_smokehouse in Napa!
#wine #hiphop #wineandmusic #winestyle #winewinewine #winelife #winebar #winewriter #winespeak #wineandculture #dei #socialjustice
Who else has loved being greeted by these smiling faces the past week of RISE? 🙋♀️ Thank you @mp_egan39 & @marisataylorwines, you make our days a little brighter with your welcoming energy! ☀️
Thrilled to welcome you all to our Social Justice, Diversity & Inclusion Day! Still two more days to go after this. Be sure to grab your tickets!
Our final three events kick off tomorrow at 1:00pm AFTER the CIA Summit! Come hear from the @realwolfofwine, @nikki_silvestri and many more luminaries as we enter our first afternoon session! Stay for our first RISE Happy Hour & Snacks afterwards.
There are still tickets available at the link in our bio and you can use code RISE10 to join!
See you tomorrow 🥂
Stand out speakers and stand out quotes at RISE Proactive Farming, Soil Health & Diversity Day..
“Nature responds quickly if you let her” - @cainethompson
“25% of the population is enough to create a tipping point for regenerative agriculture.” - @profkimberlynicholas
“It starts with a single step!” - @cainethompson
“We have to connect with the problems we want to solve” - Dr. Jonathan Lundgren
“Farmers are stewards of not just land, but life!” - Dr. Jonathan Lundrgen
📸: @briana_marie
Today was moving. We had many inspiring & stunning moments at RISE. Yet this photo captures the soul of it perfectly. Nature, balance and the deeply riveting beauty in regenerative farming. Thanks for being with us today all for another full house.
THANK YOU to our incredible photographer @briana_marie for capturing this, and seeing our world in the thoughtful, informed and compassionate way that you do.
We are giving away very special prizes this year and we’re excited to congratulate our first winner: @mbvescovi!!
Don’t skip out on the chance to win at the Sponsor Scavenger Hunt today at Proactive Farming, Soil Health & Diversity Day!
Yesterday was a truly electric ⚡️day at RISE with great energy all around. Still 4 more events to go with Proactive Farming & Soil Health starting today!
Don’t miss out! We still have 5 more events for you to join starting with Energy Efficiency & Savings with our Keynote @rayisle tomorrow!
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