Final Thoughts Canada’s new field of dreams We are building agri-technology and the world is coming By Robynne Anderson — Member of the Bioenterprise board of directors and president of Emerging Ag. C anada has always been an agricul-tural powerhouse, but these days it’s not just about selling prairie wheat, P.E.I. potatoes and maple syrup to the world. Now we’re also building bio-cars from ag-based fibres, compos-ites and foams. We’re creating naturally derived pharmaceuticals and functional foods that help fight disease. We’re cut-ting carbon emissions by finding valu-able uses for agricultural wastes, and we’re boosting agricultural productivity in all kinds of ways. “… One of the biggest hurdles facing start-ups and established companies alike is financing growth…” Recently, our prime minister issued a challenge to Canadian agriculture to grow our annual exports to $75 billion by 2025. This will only come through innovation and new technology. Bioen-terprise is a great example of a feder-al-provincial-private partnership to ac-celerate that innovation. Over the last 10 years, the organiza-tion’s clients (generally small start-ups) have launched more than 1,000 new products, services and technologies; cre-ated thousands of new jobs; and gener-ated over $268 million in revenues. Bio-enterprise has also worked closely with 30 companies in helping them secure more than $120 million in investment. Agri-technology is a sector with huge potential, but it needs scien-tific and technical expertise, indus-try knowledge, business services and global connections, to help start-ups commercialize innovations and grow successful businesses. For example, Energrow enables farm-ers to process their own oilseeds on farm into fresh, high-quality meal and oil through one of the most reliable, effi-cient and user-friendly pressing systems on the market. But innovation alone doesn’t guaran-tee commercial success. You also need business savvy, industry knowledge, and financial resources to navigate the path to market. At several points throughout the entrepreneurial journey, Enegrow turned to Bioenter-prise for support. The agri-busi-ness accelerator helped source market data, established indus-try connections and provided all-important reality checks. Today it is great to see the Ontario-based company has 15 dealers across North America and a customer base that Energrow expects to double in the coming year. Of course, one of the biggest hurdles facing start-ups and established com-panies alike is financing growth — it’s especially challenging for agri-tech in-novators in Canada. Seed funding and funding proposals, as well as connecting clients to investors, are a few ways Bio-enterprise is working to address this gap for early-stage companies. But agri-tech is still just a blip on investors’ radars. For one established Guelph, Ont., company, that seed financing helped them take their business to the next level. Rootham Gourmet Preserves turns On-tario produce into gourmet condiments, sold in local specialty markets and gift stores. Using a grant from Bioenterprise, they were able to expand processing capabilities and launch a highly targeted direct mail campaign engineered by one of Bioenterprise’s corporate partners. The results were immediate: Rootham gained more than two-dozen new cli-ents in just two months. That boost to business allowed them to expand pro-duction, hire more staff and increase the hours of current employees. The grant also helped support product develop-ment with Longo’s, a chain of grocery stores across the Greater Toronto Area, leading to a significant contract. The company not only hit their target of dou-bling gross sales, but they did it in just one year instead of the projected two. The fact is, Canada has no shortage of promising agri-tech ideas, technolo-gies and products but the big stumbling block is the lack of growth or venture capital. There are few investment firms out there who understand the sector, and even fewer angel investors. That’s why accelerators like Bioen-terprise are needed. There are great in-ventors, farmers, and food innovators in Canada, we can help them get investment and market ready by providing strategic advice. It’s an area where Canada really excels, creating a co-funded public-pri-vate programme, such as Bioenterprise, to help those innovators grow. Agri-food is a big sector in Canada that represents over 12 per cent of our employment and a big proportion of our trade — a growing proportion if we are to meet this new national target of $75 billion in exports. That goal, and the goal of healthy, diverse diets for Cana-dians, will be driven by innovation. So from super-clusters to agri-tech acceler-ators, it is a growing reality that the pub-lic and private sectors will be working together to reap the benefits. • MAY/JUNE 2018 30 Canadian BIOMASS
Canadian Biomass MayJune 2018: Page 30
