GRIT - Ed.05 - Magazine - Page 8
ST. JOHNS, NL
OH CANADA
PLANTING CANADA’S
SEEDS OF SUCCESS
By Emily Bland, Co-founder
of SucSeed; Next 36, 2018
G
Four years ago we became the
first certified BCorp in Newfoundland and Labrador. Myself and Andrea (Head of Operations) dove
into our operations, manufacturing,
suppliers and more to ensure at every level we were operating sustainably from an economic, social, and
environmental perspective. BCorp
is the gold standard of being a company that does good for the world.
Getting this certification after four
years of hard work was incredibly
meaningful to our whole team.
SOWING SEEDS
Going back to my agriculture
roots, I knew that a low-cost hydroponic garden could be a solution.
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We worked with expert botanists
and engineers and created our first
working garden. It wasn’t anything
fancy, but it could empower you to
grow fresh produce affordably. Our
goal at this point was to find a couple
sponsors and donate 15 of the gardens to rural remote communities.
To do so we put a small article in the
local newspaper and in 24 hours we
had 100+ emails from people across
teer team to let me try to turn it into
a sustainable social enterprise. With
their support the journey began!
HARVESTING RETURNS
Emily (third from right)
and the SucSeed team
on the Atlantic coast
rowing up as a third-generation farmer, the importance of agriculture and
knowing where our food
came from was instilled in me from
a young age. But growing up I never
pictured myself doing something in
the agriculture sector, I wanted to
be an accountant or a lawyer.
In university, I was a member
of the Enactus Memorial team. In
2015, I became the team’s president
and we started looking for a new
project to start that would have a
strong impact in our province of
Newfoundland and Labrador. One
of the biggest challenges we saw
then and continue to see today was
around food. Rural remote communities in our province were paying
$9 for a moldy pepper, some didn’t
have access to fresh produce at all
and overall, as a province we were
producing less than 10% of the fresh
fruits and vegetables we ate. Our
team was passionate and knew we
needed to do something about it.
AGRICULTURE
Canada and the USA wanting to
buy the gardens! We sat there, honestly in shock. This was supposed
to be a project, but maybe we were
on to something. We partnered with
Choices for Youth with a plan to
build 100 of these gardens over the
next year and built in a profit margin
so we could donate our original 15
to northern rural communities in our
province. A year later we had 500+
sold and were named the Enactus
World Cup Champion for being the
best student-run social enterprise
in the world.
At this point, I was getting ready
to graduate and start a job as an accountant. But something didn’t feel
right. I loved the work that we were
doing with SucSeed and I couldn’t
leave it. So, I pitched to the volun-
We’re also helping fill an education
and suitability gap in the educational market. 1/8 jobs in Canada are in
the agriculture sector, however, how
many kids do you hear of growing
up wanting to work in the sector?
SucSeed uses hydroponic technology in a learning environment to
teach youth about sustainable agriculture, healthy eating, and waste
reduction. We combine sustainable
living, agriculture, and curriculum
outcomes to empower teachers to
help grow the global citizens of the
future.
We as Canadians need to think
about where our food is coming
from. The ingredients in the average
three-course meal will travel further
than the distance around the world!
We need to support local producers and build a sustainable agriculture sector here in Canada. My vision for SucSeed is to make it one
of the many puzzle pieces needed
to make a sustainable agriculture
sector. The food we put into our
body is one of the most important
things to our overall well-being. We
need to invest into the sector and
come together to create something
sustainable, because what we have
today isn’t. We need to innovate to
find better ways to grow, we need
to educate people on their food,
and we need to expand the number of people in the industry. I hope
that in the future everyone around
the world has access to the freshest of ingredients no matter where
they are or their income level.
DEEP ROOTS
My grandfather immigrated from
the UK to Newfoundland and Labrador with his family and created three successful businesses, all
within the agriculture area. He was
dedicated to creating a sustainable sector here in the province. He
passed away just before I graduated, and there was something in my
heart that knew accounting wasn’t
the right path. The work I’ve done
with SucSeed has allowed me to
carry forward my grandfather’s
memory. My work has always made
me feel closer to him and that is
something he would have been
proud to watch me lead.
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