Venture capitalists urged to check out Alberta ag tech

Two Alberta companies — one making hemp products and the other recycling livestock manure — are among the most investable clean tech ventures in the country.

Hempalta Inc. and Livestock Water Recycling, both headquartered in Calgary, are two of eight ag-focused technology companies on the 2022 Foresight 50 list. The list is compiled annually by cleantech accelerator Foresight and is designed to attract investor attention for promising Canadian start-ups.

Hempalta is the smaller of the two in terms of sales, reporting 2022 revenues of $400,000.

In its pitch to be included on the list, the company pointed to strong and growing demand in North America for a wide range of industrial hemp products.

But most are imported, it said.

“At the heart of the problem is the lack of industrial hemp processing plants,” the company said. “While farmers are interested in growing the crop in many instances, specialized technologically advanced hemp processing facilities are needed to produce high-value products.”

Hempalta, which says it is one of only a few commercial-scale hemp processors in North America, makes consumer products such as hemp cat litter, animal bedding and HempZorb for cleaning up spills without chemicals. It also produces hurd, the woody inner parts of the hemp stalk, for hempcrete and is working on insulation made from hemp.

Livestock Water Recycling, which expected revenues to hit $16 million in 2022, has already attracted large-scale investment and bills itself as “the world’s leading provider of manure treatment technology.”

“LWR’s data-driven technology reduces manure volume and unlocks the exciting profit dynamics trapped inside storage lagoons by converting manure into two distinct, high-value fertilizers — concentrated biogas feedstock and recycled clean water,” the company said in its pitch to get on the Foresight list.

Its system employs both mechanical and chemical treatments to remove manure contaminants and separate fertilizer nutrients at large livestock operations. The company says its process produces potable water (manure is about three-quarters water) along with dry solids with high amounts of phosphorus and nitrogen, and “a concentrated stable ammonium and potassium liquid.”

The system can reduce a “manure footprint” by 75 per cent and eliminate odour at a feedlot or other livestock operation, it said.

Another ag company on the list is B.C.-based Farment BioSolutions, which uses naturally occurring bacteria with nitrogen-fixing capabilities along with fermentation to make nutrients, like manure, more efficient.

“We take organic wastes in different forms and by fermentation turn them into a biofertilizer,” said company official Ryan Klatt.

“We work with dairy farms and feedlots in B.C. and Alberta currently. But there are many different organic waste problems in need of a solution, like municipal wastes, for example.”

The company is also looking at ways it can help fish and insect farms deal with their organic waste streams like sludge in the bottom of fish tanks and frass, the manure produced by insects.

“Currently, fish waste is composted, so getting rid of it represents a cost to aquaculture businesses,” said Klatt. “Our long-term goal is not just to provide a better fertilizer that is rich in nitrogen, but we want to close the loop where we grow fish, and create a better fertilizer for land-based crops that provide feed for those fish. This would create a local supply chain.”

This is the second edition of the Foresight 50 list. Last year, companies named on the list went on to collectively raise almost $600 million in investment.

Other ag companies on the list are:

• B.C.-based Lucent Biosciences, developer of a smart micronutrient fertilizer called Soileos.
• Manitoba’s TheoryMesh that is building traceable and transparent food supply chains for sustainability and food safety.
• Psigryph Inc. from Guelph, Ont., that develops food tech for health, redefining how molecules with health benefits enter cells to improve plant and animal nutrition.
• Takachar of B.C. that turns crop and forest residue into higher value chemicals, biofuels and fertilizers in remote communities.
• Verdi from B.C., builder of a platform that lets growers build, manage and scale precision agriculture systems to deliver plant-level healthcare.

More about these companies and others on the Foresight 50 list is available online.