HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2018-01-25, Page 10PAGE 10. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2018.
Blyth event encourages Natural Interest founders
An ambitious plan
Blyth Memorial Hall and the Canadian Centre for Rural Creativity helped connect Chelsie Hunt
and Phoebe Stephens, co-founders of Natural Interest, to members of the Huron County
community earlier this month. The two women have aimed to create a company that makes
sustainable food a viable industry in Ontario. The event attracted a good number of locals
looking to learn more. (Denny Scott photo)
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
With feedback from community
stakeholders, Natural Interest, a
fledgling company hoping to
provide investment solutions for
sustainable farming in Ontario,
has some momentum behind it
after a special event held in Blyth
last week.
Co-founders Chelsie Hunt and
Phoebe Stephens explained that
Natural Interest is a group in its early
stages that's aiming to make
sustainable food viable in Ontario
through investment opportunities.
"Currently, there are no funds
available for people looking to get
into the sector," Stephens said,
adding that other provinces have
such organizations. "There appears
to be a need for it."
The Canadian Centre for Rural
Creativity, part of Blyth Arts and
Culture Initiative 14/19 Inc., hosted
a special rural investment workshop
on Jan. 11 at Blyth Memorial
Community Hall focusing on
Natural Interest as well as
opportunities and challenges of
investing in sustainable food system
in Ontario.
The day -long meeting brought
over 20 people with a variety of
backgrounds including finance,
bureaucracy, consultancy networks
and small businesses.
Following the meeting, Hunt and
Stephens, alongside 14/19 Project
Director Peter Smith, sat down with
The Citizen to talk about Natural
Interest and what was accomplished
that day.
Stephens, who has been interested
in food production for years, has
studied the governance of food
systems and is very interested in
how food production connects with
other networks.
Hunt worked in investment for 10
years, with the last four focusing on
investments with positive social and
environmental spin-off. She said her
heart is in agriculture, having family
that works in the field, and wants to
make sustainable food a mainstay in
the province.
Stephens said the workshop
brought together different
sustainable food stakeholders so
they could connect with each other
and talk about what kind of structure
Natural Interest would need to take
to succeed.
"We wanted to get different
perspectives on how we could
succeed," Stephens said.
Smith said there was a lot of
interesting feedback provided
throughout the day and he felt that
Natural Interest would have some
good action items going forward.
"It was great to break down silos,"
Stephens said, attributing the term to
Hard-fought
The Novice Rep Crusaders of the Blyth Brussels Minor Hockey Association (BBMHA)
welcomed the Drayton Defenders to the Brussels, Morris and Grey Community Centre on
Saturday. Despite a good effort at both ends of the ice, the Crusaders were downed 6-3 by the
Defenders. Here, Rodney Ansley of Blyth, was able to slip one past the Drayton goalie and
find the back of the net with his backhand, albeit in a losing cause. (Denny Scott photo)
Smith in an earlier meeting. "We
don't usually get the opportunity to
reach out to these different
stakeholders like this and share
knowledge."
Smith agreed, saying there was a
lot of information and stories shared,
as well language barriers broken
down. He explained that not all the
stakeholders would understand the
same message from presentations or
even from some basic terms. For
example, some immediately
assumed that a return on investment
was a financial aspect, while others
understood investments could go
beyond finance and provide a social
benefit.
"Getting everyone on the same
page was interesting," Smith said.
Hunt agreed, saying there was a
good energy at the event and that
identifying the intersections between
finance and agriculture was
interesting and worthwhile.
"There were some people in the
same generation or field that were
able to communicate with each
other," she said. "Through that, we
were able to find a page for everyone
to be on"
Stephens said that talking to
people from different walks of life
made her aware of assumptions she
made that weren't necessarily held
across all groups.
"It really highlighted the need for
a different frame of mind," she said.
"There were a lot of important
voices to hear."
Going forward, the duo plan to
create a summary of the event that
they hope will inspire people to
participate in a working group to
further talk about their initiative.
Smith said the plan was well
thought out and would show what
Natural Interest would need to
succeed, which would be a benefit
for people throughout the province.
Stephens and Hunt connected with
Smith through the Rural Talks to
Rural (R2R) conference hosted in
Blyth last year.
Linda Best, a presenter at R2R, is
a founding director of an investment
co-operative called FarmWorks in
Nova Scotia which has a similar
model to what Hunt and Stephens
are pursuing.
Smith, at the R2R conference,
wondered why a similar project
wasn't happening in Ontario, and,
some time later, Best directed him to
contact Hunt and Stephens.
Best was also a part of the
workshop last week via
teleconference.
For more information on the
Canadian Centre for Rural Creativity
and its projects, visit
ruralcreativity.org
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