Why We Built the CoolBot
When we invented the CoolBot, we needed to solve a problem on our farm – affordable cold storage. Once we were up and running, we knew that other small farmers could use our solution too, and Store It Cold was born as a company. What we didn’t know yet was just how many amazing folks we would get to meet and how many problems they could solve with affordable cold storage.
Post-harvest loss is a global food security issue. In many countries, as much as 40% – 50% of a harvest can spoil due to lack of proper cold storage. We are honored that people around the world have chosen CoolBot as part of the solution in fighting food security issues and hunger world wide.
We would like to share a few of the amazing projects that CoolBot has been involved in around the world – these are our inspirations.
UC Davis Horticultural Innovations Lab:
UC Davis is the world’s premier research institute on agricultural postharvest care and techniques for preventing postharvest loss. We are proud to work with them on a number of projects and are honored they recommend the CoolBot to small farmers across the world.
Friendship Donations Network – Food Bank:
Food security is both a local and a global issue – preventing poverty-caused hunger is a real challenge in our own backyard. Food Banks like the Friendship Donations Network in Ithaca, NY use CoolBots to help their communities.
Dr. Jane Ambuko – TEDxNairobi:
In Dr. Jane Ambuko’s native Kenya, postharvest losses cost billions of dollars and can range from 10% – 50% of a harvest. She is spearheading an effort to teach smallholder farmers about cold storage and install CoolBot-driven walk-in coolers in Kenya. Hear her story in her own words in her recent TEDxNairobi presentation.
Feed the Future Partnering for Innovation:
Feed the Future Partnering for Innovation is a USAID program that helps the private sector scale and market agricultural technologies for smallholder farmers through investing in technology commercialization and knowledge exchange. Through a grant award from Feed the Future Partnering for Innovation, we are opening an office in Honduras targeting agricultural sales of the CoolBot to help smallholder Honduran farmers.
ECHO – Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization:
ECHO works to help those teaching farmers around the world best agricultural practices. We are proud that they use CoolBots for seed storage both in the U.S. and Thailand.
