Ashoka & SFU RADIUS Changemakers Presentation - Urban Stream Innovation
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How can we create a more resilient and transparent food system for an increasingly urbanized and food insecure world? We may need to grow food in different places and in radically different ways.
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Ashoka & SFU RADIUS Changemakers Presentation - Urban Stream Innovation
- 1. Colouring Outside The Lines Wes Regan SFU, RADIUS Launch Changemakers Showcase March 25th 2013
- 2. About Wes I’m all about change, baby…
- 3. And of course, proud alumnus
- 4. Why I want to change our food system Growing up in the arctic, food security and food access (affordability, quality) was a challenge and it’s worsening today for many communities. Moving down to the Okanagan after several years in the north I saw farmland and orchards transformed by suburban and recreational development. Both experiences really got me thinking about food, and about communities and about how we plan for both.
- 5. Eventually ended up here of course And it changed my life
- 6. SFU Co-op is where I met this strange fellow, and we fell in love (with aquaponics and urban farming that is) While working a co-op term I was given the task of researching the potential local economic impact of “green collar jobs” and more specifically urban agriculture in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. This is where I met Nick Hermes, cofounder of Urban Stream. BSc, Chemical Engineering, which I try not to hold against him
- 7. We saw the same problem but from different angles A wasteful, exploitative, carbon intensive industrial food system with a litany of negative externalities that still can’t get healthy food into everyone’s hands….
- 8. How can we create a more resilient and transparent food system for an increasingly urbanized and food insecure world?
- 9. Micro-Farms
- 10. Our Micro-Farm systems employ Biomimicry Closing the food-waste loop OrganicWaste Aquaponic System 450 MT/yr Growing Medium 2 MT/yr Nutrient Solution 1 .5 MT/yr 18 MT/yr HNR™ Bioreactor 1 MT/yr10
- 11. A peek inside the Micro-Farm Smells likeCascadianCedar and fresh herbs…
- 14. Where does colouring outside the lines come into all of this? • Regulatory barriers -permits, approved uses, we don’t exist • Financing an unproven concept • Growing food in a way that challenges cultural norms • Collaboration, partnerships and support
- 15. Strathcona BIA Resource Park October 2011- June 2012 • Development and Building Permit (City of Vancouver) • Composting Facility License (Metro Vancouver) • Organic Matter Recycling Regulation (Ministry of Environment)
- 16. We discovered that there’s a lot of room for social innovation in the food system and food economy And a lot of innovators currently working in this space 2011 Vancouver Urban Farming Forum, SFU Woodwards
- 17. Lenders and financiers trying to learn how to colour outside the lines too
- 18. The year ahead for USI
- 19. Something I believe • Solid and innovative business thinking combined with a passion to address the social, economic and environmental challenges we face will create the most successful and game-changing businesses of this century • Cultural norms must be challenged • Outdated Institutional frameworks will bend, break and rearrange under this pressure • Have courage, change is good!
- 20. THANK YOU! SEE YOU TOMORROW AT THE HiVE5:30 (social purpose business networking event) www.urbanstream.ca wes@urbanstream.ca
Editor's Notes
- Give intro to who I am
- Making the most of university talk about Co-op (the biggest game changer for me) talk about how important bridging the student experience to real world problem solving
- Talk about how I noticed food coming from so far away, barged in. expensive and not very good quality often. We would go south to Calgaray and I was fascinated by cities, these things have combined later on in my life. Changing our Food SystemAdd picture of arctic/western Canada (Born in Inuvik, raised in Okanagan been in Vancouver for x years etc) How did this influence my feelings on food security and lead to where I am todayBorn in the arctic, fascinated by big cities, also noticed the food issues up there at an early age
- The modern industrial Food System is one of many systems that were created in a different time, for a different reality and needs to be reworked in accordance with the emergent realities we face. Others may include the financial system, political or democratic systems or even education
- Our system reduces the requirements for energy and feed by reclaiming the value in organic waste via our Heat and Nutrient Recovery BioreactorsOur system grows year roundOur system is self contained, secure, modular and mobileOur system fills a key gap in urban food production- protein Our system can be separated by function to customize- focusing on just composting or composting and growingOur system is sexy
- No regulations or policies to enable this kind of concept (Metro and COV)Existing rules try to make us conform to old paradigm concepts of food system (Large scale industrial composting facility, “tipping site” building code, approve uses etc.)No business license to really allow us to legally exist (can get something, but it won’t really describe what we do)Traditional Financing difficult to obtain due to exotic or novel nature of the business
- Urban Stream a Founding MemberVUFS has held two major urban farming forums in Vancouver to examine issues of policy and regulatory barriers and best practices or emerging trends in urban agriculture and urban farming more specificallyLiaises with Vancouver Food Policy Council and with Social Planning (COV) and collaborates with numerous partners to build capacity and give professional development support as well as policy advocacy voice to urban food growers (of which there are more than you might think)
- Social Innovation is a field with a lot of potential, comes at problems from both the charitable sector and from the private sector. CrowdfundingCrowdsourcingSharing Economy Social Impact BondsSocial Innovation Funds Collaboration and leveraging,
- Why is it worth the trouble? Leave on an optimistic note