Highlights
- Dairy Farmers of Canada and Bioenterprise Canada have partnered on The Green Pursuit: A Sustainability & Innovation Challenge to award $50,000 in prizing.
- One winner and one runner-up have been selected
- Judging took place via a panel of industry experts on October 5, 2023
The Green Pursuit is a national business pitch competition that was created in partnership between Dairy Farmers of Canada and Bioenterprise, Canada’s Food & Agri-Tech Engine. The challenge is designed to find new innovative sustainability solutions for the agriculture and food & beverage sectors in Canada and includes $50,000 in prizes.
Dairy farmers understand the interconnectedness of sustainability efforts and how organizations can work across the sector in complementary ways that all contribute to our shared goal of a carbon-neutral future.
The program launched in May of 2023 and after reviewing all submissions, we’re excited to announce the winner of this year’s grand prize is Aruna Revolution Health Inc. with the runner up prize going to Advanced Agriscience.
First prize will receive a $45,000 cash prize and the runner up will receive a $5,000 cash prize. The applications were scored on the problem or opportunity they are addressing, their unique solution, the team’s experience, and the overall sustainability impact on the agriculture, food, and drink sector in Canada.
Meet The Winners
Revolutionizing menstrual health with compostable menstrual pads, locally manufactured using natural fibers from local food and crop waste. Better for the body and the planet.
The winner, Aruna Revolution of Nova Scotia, will receive the $45,000 grand prize for its unique approach to reducing some of Canada’s 35.5 million tonnes of food loss and waste. The company uses parts of plants that humans cannot digest to make 100% biodegradable, compostable, plastic-free menstrual pads.
The company’s proprietary “farm to fibre” process means a wide range of farm fibre by-products can be upcycled into sanitary pads, giving farmers new market opportunities for by-products that are often left on fields and women access to environmentally friendly, sustainable period products.
The world’s first bio-inputs for agricultural frost protection while addressing the imperatives of decarbonization and global food security in the face of climate change.
Advanced AgriScience from British Columbia was the runner-up of the competition, receiving $5,000 for their solution to the challenge of frost damage in the agriculture sector, particularly fruit and vegetable production.
The company has developed the world’s first frost protection tool for plants made of naturally occurring micro-organisms and protective proteins. The dry powder is mixed with water and spray-applied to prevent frost formation on plants, resulting in an up to 95% cost savings per acre without emitting greenhouse gasses or using large quantities of water. Currently, farmers in the horticulture sector in particular use a variety of tools, like sprinklers, frost fans, helicopters, and wood fires to minimize or prevent crop damage and loss due to frost.
Meet the nominees
A cloud based automated solution for product level carbon accounting to reduce both cost and time by over 90%.
A proprietary technology that efficiency converts plastic waste back into virgin-quality plastics and into advanced use in performance plastics, agricultural biostimulants, and others.
Eliminates weeds while minimizing impact on ecosystems by leveraging the data collected by satellite and farm equipment.
A patented, biological method for converting animal manure into plant bio-stimulants that reduce the need for chemical fertilizers while increasing crop production.
A patent pending biotechnology platform to develop and manufacture bioactives and micelle nanocarriers from renewable raw materials.
Creating an upcycling platform that turns agro-industrial byproducts into value added products, starting with brewers spent grain as a feedstock.
Tailors on-site systems to upcycle agri-food business waste. Systems eliminate the externalities of waste while re-introducing value through sustainable agri-food products.
Proposes to manufacture renewable fertilizers concentrated from manure slurry , and considerably reduce the carbon footprint of Canadian agriculture.
Revolutionizing menstrual health with compostable menstrual pads, locally manufactured using natural fibers from local food and crop waste. Better for the body and the planet.
The world’s first bio-inputs for agricultural frost protection while addressing the imperatives of decarbonization and global food security in the face of climate change.
Learm More about the Green Pursuit
Discover more about Bioenterprise Canada and innovations in agri-tech at Bioenterprise.ca
