Growponics CEO shares story of company origins

By GINA B. GOOD
Pahrump Valley Times

Growponics Americas CEO Sam Bein attended a recent town board meeting unannounced and was not introduced until public comment was over. However, he heard the concerns of the valley’s residents about the large hydroponics project proposed for Pahrump.

“It’s the people’s right to have their questions answered,” said Bein. “To question authority is the American way. As citizens, we should have skepticism. We shouldn’t trust.

“I want people to know who I am. I’m not a multi-national corporation coming to town. I’m Sam.”

Sam Bein is an Oklahoma farmer with a small plot of land who has a vision and a purpose. He brought the most technologically advanced, proven, hydroponic technology to the United States from Israel because he believes in it.

Bein is approachable, offering a ready handshake along with a smile, and if you are interested, he’ll share his passion for agriculture and helping communities become self-reliant.

He was recently promoted to Chief Executive Officer of Growponics Americas, “after working hard for two years with no revenue and with just the belief in wanting to bring this technology to the United States. I did it. How American is that?”

Bein sounds like the operations and business development guy he’s been for years. “Oh yeah, I’m the CEO now,” he said as an afterthought during a PVT interview.

In 2008, Bein’s grandmother told him his uncle, Clarence Wagner, Jr., who has lived in Israel for more than 30 years, was in Australia introducing the Growponics system Bein sought. He helped his nephew bring the technology to the United States.

“My grandma believes it’s God’s work,” said Bein. He agrees.

Wagner stepped down as CEO but remains president of Growponics Americas.

Their company granted developer Jack Kashani the right to establish turn-key hydroponics businesses throughout Nevada and the West Coast.

Kashani is knee deep in the process of bringing the first of 10 semi-automated, remotely monitored, floating bed greenhouses to Pahrump. The partnership between Growponics Americas and Growponics Nevada follows a business model similar to a franchise. Kashani will be in charge of the Pahrump facility with technical help and mentoring from Bein’s team.

Bein is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma’s Price College of Business and is working towards his graduate degree at Nova Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

“I went into business because of the expense involved in being a farmer,” he said. “There’s land, labor, equipment and machinery. If you want to be an American farmer today, it’s just so expensive.”

Unpredictable weather also wreaks havoc for growers. “If I have a good season followed by two bad seasons and then maybe a good season, that’s not a lifestyle I want to live. You can’t make money that way,” he explained.

“You want to control variables such as consistency in yields.” Bein said that’s why he turned to hydroponics and the particular system invented by agriculture engineer Lior Hessel, who holds the US patent and is the chief engineer for Growponics Americas.

Hessel has worked closely with Pahrump’s Economic Development Director Al Balloqui for months on details to locate the facility in the valley.

“We can control the environment; we can have three times faster growth and yields where we can maximize production with a smaller footprint,” said Bein.

“I want my own facility in Oklahoma. I am here making my dream come true. I am why America is so great. Me and all the others like me. I respect the American farmers who came before me.”

The ongoing 11-year drought in Southern Nevada mirrors the global water crisis, according to Bein. He said water shortages with continued population growth will have dire consequences in 40 years that can be tempered by embracing technological advancements now and growing more food with less. Less water, less land, less chemicals and less backbreaking work.

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