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About this episode
What do professional poker, angel investing in Ireland, and a vacant Italian restaurant in Iowa have in common? For Clayton Mooney, they’re all chapters in the same story — one that ends (for now) with him growing the world’s freshest salads inside former fast food buildings across the Midwest.
Clayton is the co-founder and Chief Farmer of Clayton Farms, a mission-driven company that builds farm-plus-restaurant concepts where the greens are grown onsite, year-round, just 15 feet from the customer’s plate. His path here was anything but linear, and that’s exactly what makes this conversation so worth your time.
Whether you’re a farmer trying to figure out your business model, an entrepreneur looking for proof that unconventional paths lead somewhere real, or someone quietly wondering if AI tools are worth learning — this episode is for you.
Key moments
0:00 Ask for Help First
0:17 Host Intro and Episode Context
4:06 Meet Clayton Mooney
5:04 Professional Poker and Ireland
6:28 Founding Clayton Farms
9:15 Leap of Faith and Timing
11:43 Poker Mindset Meets Investor Pitching
13:44 Why Indoor Farms Fail
18:42 100,000 Restaurants Closing
19:44 Turning a Restaurant into a Farm
20:50 Vertical Integration Explained
24:56 Sponsor Break and Host Updates
28:37 Sprint-Based Testing and Iteration
31:01 AI Tools and ChatGPT for Farmers
32:30 The Future Is Already Here
36:03 Find Mentors and Ask for Help
39:59 70 Million Years Back to Humanity
44:50 What Is a Transcendent Farmer
Resources Mentioned
- claytonfarms.com
- claytonmooney.com
- Clayton’s blog
- Mezclada newsletter
- Minnesota Women in AI
- North Dakota Women’s Business Center
- Brewhalla, Fargo — venue for an upcoming Mezclada social hour
- Clayton’s email — c@claytonfarms.com
The Backstory: From Family Farm to Poker Tables to Indoor Farming
Clayton grew up on a small family farm in southeast Iowa — corn, beans, and hay. In 2008, he left and told himself he was done with agriculture forever.
He enrolled at Iowa State, dropped out, and became a professional poker player. He lived between Iowa and Ireland, where he met poker players who had transitioned into angel investing in tech startups. That world cracked something open for him — the idea that you could solve real problems through technology.
By 2014, he was back in Iowa, co-founding his first company. Agriculture kept pulling him back. He co-founded Keno Salt, a solar-powered food dehydrator company that worked with farmers in Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, and Brazil. Then, in 2017, he and co-founder Dana Poole launched Clayton Farms.
“My resume definitely doesn’t make sense on paper.” — Clayton Mooney
And yet — eight years later — it makes perfect sense.
Why Most Indoor Farms Fail (And What Clayton Farms Does Differently)
Dana Poole, Clayton’s co-founder and chief engineer, brought a critical insight to the business early on: the average indoor farm takes seven years to turn a profit. Most either over-invest in technology (robots that take too long to pay for themselves) or under-invest in their business model (wholesaling their product and accepting the smallest margin in the supply chain).
Clayton Farms chose a third path: start small (1,000 sq ft), grow directly for consumers, and capture more of the margin by owning the supply chain.
This is vertical integration in practice. And it’s a lesson every farmer running a value-added or direct-to-consumer operation should hear.
Turning Vacant Restaurants into Farms
In late 2022, Clayton and his team came across a striking statistic: 100,000 restaurants were projected to shut down in the US in 2023. The pandemic had permanently changed dine-in behavior, and many brick-and-mortar spaces — especially in rural communities — were sitting empty.
Rather than seeing this as a crisis, they saw an opening.
“I walked into a vacant, previously a polis Italian restaurant, the smell of breadsticks still in the air, and I said — oh yeah, this is going to be a farm and we’re going to serve the world’s freshest salads from it.”
That pivot led to the Clayton Farm Salads brand: farm-plus-restaurant locations where all the leafy greens are grown onsite, the menu is built from customer feedback, and the supply chain goes from seed to salad — not seed to distributor to grocery store to your plate.
AI Tools Are Not Optional Anymore
This interview was recorded in March 2025, and even then Clayton was clear: AI tools are not a trend to watch. They’re a competitive advantage happening right now.
He talked about how Clayton Farms had been using AI as far back as 2020 — taking photos of their lettuce to analyze plant health and predict yields. Today, the applications go much further.
He also shared a quote that has stuck with him:
“The future is already here. It’s just not evenly distributed.”
His point: if 80% of law firms are using AI tools in two years, those who don’t will fall behind. The same is coming for food and agriculture. Learning these tools now — even imperfectly — is how you stay ahead.
The Case for Rural Communities
One of the most grounding parts of this conversation was Clayton’s perspective on small towns. He grew up in Blacksburg, Iowa — population 300. And he’s seen firsthand that food deserts aren’t a relic of the past. There are more of them now than ever.
His take on rural opportunity:
“Some of the best opportunities to fix something and improve something starts in rural communities. If you’re in a rural town with a low cost of living, could you get a remote job with a coastal company, build your skills, and use that stability to eventually pursue what you actually want to build?”
He also made a point that resonated deeply: ask for help. Find mentors. Join online communities. Post your questions. Borrow wisdom from people who’ve already made the mistakes you’re about to make.
“One of the biggest mistakes I see people make when starting a business is they are too afraid to ask for help.”
The Tombstone Vision
When asked about his long-term vision for Clayton Farms, Clayton didn’t give a revenue target. He gave a human one.
The average American loses two to five years of their life from eating fast food. Clayton’s goal: have enough Clayton Farm Salads locations — maybe 1,000 or 2,000 — that about 10% of the US population (roughly 35 million people) becomes a customer. If that gives each of them even two years of healthier life back.
The Bigger Takeaway
Clayton Mooney’s story isn’t just about indoor farming or salad restaurants. It’s about what happens when you stop asking “is this the right path?” and start asking “what am I learning right now, and how does it compound?”
Poker taught him variance and bankroll management. Ireland taught him to think in systems. Food dehydrators in Rwanda taught him supply chain. Delivery routes in Iowa taught him customer obsession. And a vacant Italian restaurant taught him that the future is already here — it just needed someone willing to walk in and smell the breadsticks.
If you’ve been on the sidelines of AI tools, waiting to see if they’re “really” worth it — this episode is your sign. And if you’ve been wondering whether your winding path makes sense — Clayton’s answer is yes. It’s all compounding.
Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe to the Transcendent Farmer Podcast and sign up for the Mezclada newsletter at mezcladaco.com to stay connected with Emily’s upcoming workshops, events, and one-on-one consultations this summer in Minnesota and North Dakota.
