Pacific Gro Notes

Company:

• URL: http://www.pacificgro.com/
• Transitioning ground to organic practices: http://www.pacificgro.com/oceanic-hydrolysate-with-biochar
• They also may use Zeolite: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeolite
• Their focus is crustacean harvest waste streams, they currently do not currently use mollusk shells.
• Main product is a liquid fertilizer that can be applied through a drip irrigation system.

Growing Pains

• Starting from Why
  • Realistic analysis of market position, potential, and capital requirements
  • Building on a mission-driven, bioethical basis
  • What’s it going to take to launch?
    • Though here is where we brainstorm on the low hanging fruit to pump up the revenue stream.
• Technical
  • Rapid ramp-up of green chem biorefinery processes, scaleable and using mostly off-the-shelf (used) equipment
  • Cost effective drying technology
    • They had a Zeolite based drying machine but it took way too much propane to run it, so they had to scrap it.
  • Odor control in processing and product
  • IP R&D, to patent and/or to keep in-house
  • Contracting and outsourcing, how to make the right decisions
• Corporate
  • A new LLC, to B Corp or not to B Corp?
    • Identifying key investors
  • Business development sequence
  • HR from the ground up
  • Building a realistic budget for all the above
  • Realistic scale-up timeline

Mike:
"I’m excited, as we are at a stage of growth where we really need some scientific and organizational guidance. We are principally manufacturers, and strategic alliances with other companies is part of the way forward, as it has been in the past, since the majority of our product goes into the marketplace under private label."

Our products, which are based on seafood waste, provide a strategic pathway to bring nutrients and micro-nutrients back from the sea in readily plant-available form. We are also very enthusiastic about biochar, and are working on synergistic combinations with this, with other ingredients and microbial cultures as well. Rebuilding and directing the carbon in our soils is one of the foundational elements of our mission. And I say “our” soils in the broad sense. We all depend on them, and if there is to be legacy passed forward to the next generations it is in the understanding and practice of these techniques.

We are used to spending lots of money on the day to day needs of running the business, but aren’t really used to bring consultants and investing in R&D, HR, etc. That time has come, and we hope you will understand that we are coming to this commitment to grow our business as a new LLC, separately financed from our existing mother company, but with their full blessings. We need to raise funds to grow this new business, and so need to develop the appropriate presentations.

People

Mike Maki

• CV: MM.rtf
• mike.maki5648@gmail.com
• 360-259-3962
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-maki-025b72a/
• What I’m most excited about as a biochar maven is the combination with biochar with chitin/chitosan. After lignocellulose, chitin is the second most common organic material on the planet, found in crab and shrimp shell, insect exoskeletons, and is the main component of fungal hyphae/mycelium. There’s where it gets interesting. Chitosan, a breakdown product of chitin, has a number of remarkable qualities, including a signaling function to plant immune systems for pest resistance. Anyway, we are looking at the combinations, application rates, and so forth. Chitosan is also being used extensively in waste water treatment and bioremediation. Creating synergistic teams of biochar, chitosan, and microbial cultures is what’s got us excited.

Larry Korn

• http://www.onestrawrevolution.net/One_Straw_Revolution/Larry_Korn.html
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masanobu_Fukuoka

Jenny Pell

• Aquanintence of Larry Korn, they often speak at the smae conferences.
  • She is willing to consult. She has a broad skillset in the area of permaculture, and forestry I think.
  • It sounds like she has experiance with where Biochar works and where it dosn't and the pitfalls. We should ask her about it.
  • jennyeverywhere@yahoo.com
  • 206-949-0496
• https://www.permacultureintl.com/jenny-pell
• http://jennypell.com/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenny-pell-00273046/

Micro-Biologist

• There was mention of a micro-biologist in Wisconsin that was working on a $2 M research project involving industrial dryers.

Ideas:

• Possible Customers
  • Stahlbush Island Farms: http://www.stahlbush.com/
    • Get introduction from Gijs

Retreat Notes

Mike would like to organize a retreat, it might happen in April?

"I see a dozen to fifteen key people, and with your facilitation following an established agenda I think we can really get rolling forward. In many ways, time is of the essence in 2018. There are quite a few moving parts and possibilities. Did I say we are excited about the prospects?"

• Probably located here: http://www.tokelandhotel.com/
  • Though it's closed this winter for remodeling

Papers

• See: https://www.eugeneweb.com/wiki/Sites/AppropriateTech#Papers