FoA 328: Value Added Processing with Darren Bondar of Hempalta and Chris Theal of Phyto Organix

Future of Agriculture

Visit our presenting sponsor: http://www.CalgaryAgbusiness.com

HEMPALTA: https://www.hempalta.com/

Phyto Organix: https://phytoorganixfoods.com/

We often get excited about the future of agriculture being more diverse and distributed and differentiated, but this is not going to happen by just planting new crops. Entire value chains need to be created to facilitate rich and diverse crop rotations and food choices. A critical piece of this is processing. These are the entrepreneurs that tap directly into the demand, innovate on the operations side, and develop relationships with farmer suppliers. I’m excited to feature two of these entrepreneurs on today’s show.

First you’re going to hear from Darren Bondar, president and CEO of Hempalta, which is an agricultural technology company focused on innovative hemp processing and product creation. It is one of the only commercial-scale hemp processors in North America able to manufacture high-value hemp products.

After Darren, you’ll hear from Chris Theal, founder, president and CEO of Phyto Organix Foods, which is an independent Alberta-based innovator, processor, developer and distributor of conventional and organic plant-based protein for the food and beverage industry. Our project will source yellow peas to produce high purity, protein isolate from our wet fractionation facility in Strathmore Alberta.

I really enjoyed both of these conversations, and here are the three reasons these stories have my attention:

1. For all of the people talking about regenerative agriculture and sustainable practices, very few are actually creating real markets that can make those changes work for the average farmer. In my humble opinion, it’s more likely to be processors like these that facilitate change than it is the headline-grabbing carbon markets.
2. These companies want to buy directly from growers. They are bringing real opportunities to farmers rather than just the vague promises of future benefits that a lot of new ideas to agriculture seem to have.
3. This is not your typical silicon valley type capital I innovation. These are the real nuts and bolts advancements that I think agriculture needs.

What do you think about the future of value added processing? How do you like this narrative format compared to more of an interview format?