Partner Spotlight: Visionary Vegetables
At Nitricity, our mission to create products that are better for fields, farmers, and the environment, is not only possible, but practical. Few partners embody this shared vision better than Visionary Vegetables and its founder, Tim McAfee, who has been one of our strongest supporters since the early days.
A Shared Vision for Sustainable Agriculture
Tim founded Visionary Vegetables with a forward-looking approach to farming by prioritizing soil health, resource efficiency, and quality produce. He’s been deeply embedded in the produce world: after leadership roles at several companies, he founded Visionary Vegetables in 2019 as a grower, packer and shipper supporting major programs including Chipotle.
Based in the Salinas Valley, Visionary Vegetables is certified for organic and conventional production and handles a wide range of crops including cilantro, kale, spinach, celery and more. As a major supplier for Chipotle, the operation shares Chipotle’s deep commitment to sustainability, responsible sourcing and transparency.
Tim’s leadership extends beyond his farm operations. Through his involvement with Chipotle’s Cultivate Next Fund and other initiatives, he helps identify and advance technologies that support climate-friendly agriculture, bringing practical innovation into the field.
Nitricity’s partnership with Tim and Visionary Vegetables has grown alongside our collaboration with Cultivate Next, which first invested in Nitricity in 2023 and joined our Series B round in 2025. Together, these relationships have helped accelerate the development and deployment of our renewable, electricity-powered fertilizers, bringing climate-friendly nitrogen directly to the field.
As a valued partner, Tim McAfee (left) joined Nitricity at our Delhi, California facility groundbreaking ceremony in September. Seen with Tim, from left to right, Christian Gammill (GP, Cultivate Next/Chipotle), Jayesh Goyal (CCO, Nitricity), and Dr. Nicolas Pinkowski (CEO, Nitricity).
From Our Early Days to Organic Innovation
Our journey with Visionary Vegetables began with our first conventional calcium nitrate fertilizer. Tim believed in the project early, helping us test and refine performance under real-world conditions. As Nitricity transitioned toward fully organic solutions, Tim was again a key collaborator and strongly believed that our unique process offered a path for success in organic production systems.
Thanks to the trust and field knowledge of Tim and Visionary Vegetables, and their network of growers in the Salinas Valley and aligned partners, we gained access to important trial sites and peer growers who helped validate our solutions.
Field Trials with Visionary Vegetables
To date, we’ve conducted three significant field trials with Visionary Vegetables using our calcium-fortified Ash Tea organic fertilizer on cilantro, celery, and lettuce.
In the cilantro trial, Ash Tea achieved higher yields with less nitrogen applied compared to the grower’s standard. The trial also showed improved tissue nutrient content and better soil nutrient balance, reinforcing the dual benefits of efficiency and sustainability. In the lettuce trial, we achieved a higher yield, improved quality with better leaf crispness and color intensity, and a better soil to leaf nutrient balance.
A field trial in Hollister, California, growing cilantro with Nitricity’s fertilizer, showing healthy plant growth.
Follow-up trials, including the celery study, have echoed these positive results, demonstrating consistent value across crops and validating Nitricity’s ability to support high-quality, organic vegetable production at scale.
Our collaboration with Visionary Vegetables continues to shape how Nitricity brings sustainable fertilizer innovation to market. By combining Tim’s field expertise and grower network with Nitricity’s renewable nitrogen technology, we’re proving that climate-smart farming doesn’t have to mean compromise.
We’re grateful to Tim and the Visionary Vegetables team for their trust, insight, and partnership, and we’re excited to continue growing together toward a cleaner, more resilient agricultural future.
