In the middle of a hot and dry summer in Western Canada, Kainai Forage in Stand Off, Alta., reports a single-day harvest of 8,000 bales of premium timothy hay.
However, the scale of success for the business is no isolated phenomenon. The joint venture between Indigena Capital, a private equity firm, and the Kainai-Blood Tribe (or Blood Tribe, a First Nation in southern Alberta) has skilfully navigated uncharted territories of both challenge and achievement since its establishment in 2019.
Growth and sovereignty
Anchored by 25,000 acres of irrigated land, Kainai Forage exports premium timothy hay internationally. A processing plant and state-of-the-art hay press means Kainai Forage can process over 125,000 metric tonnes of hay per year and keep them on pace to continue to grow their export business.
For the Blood Tribe, the business’s success extends far beyond the boardroom.
“One of the most important principles our ancestors had was that we need to provide for our own as much as we can.”
“Sovereignty means different things to different people, different groups, and different nations, but true sovereignty can only be accomplished by greater financial sovereignty, so this is the direction that we are going with Kainai Forage,” explains Chief Roy Fox.
Ensuring a sustainable future for his community has always been at the core of Chief Fox’s career. Also known as Makiinima, he has been in a leadership role with the Blood Tribe for most of his adult life.
“One of the most important principles our ancestors had was that we need to provide for our own as much as we can – we have to be prepared to work and engage in partnerships with others and in that way, those endeavours will become more meaningful and we’ll be able to provide more,” he explains.
Grassroots agriculture
Situated south of Calgary, the Blood Tribe has the largest reserve in Canada, encompassing over 350,000 acres, and a membership of over 12,000. They were early agriculturalists, but their initial success in the industry was constricted.
“When big farming came about, they could not access the necessary capital to be engaged fully,” Chief Fox says. “But they continued – they did not give up, even though sometimes it seemed insurmountable barriers were in their way.”
In the 1980s, the tribe negotiated the irrigation project with Canada and Alberta and reached an agreement in the 1990s. However, in their forage business’s early days, they faced challenges.
“We knew that there were crops we could develop on our lands and be successful. We saw the opportunity to really expand but we couldn’t do it ourselves.”
World-class partnership
By partnering with Indigena Capital, which specializes in partnerships with Indigenous Nations, the Blood Tribe has taken that world-class opportunity and built a world-class business.
And that business growth is more than just business for the Blood Tribe. “It’s the degree of financial sovereignty a nation has that determines the true growth and promise of a nation,” Chief Fox explains. “The Kainai tribal government does not have the same resources as other governments – they have a tax base, we don’t. We have to strive much higher to provide different resources and services for our membership, so the most logical way to achieve that is to have long-term economic and business sustainability.”
“We have great opportunities within our land and through our resources and it is so important that we find good business partners who provide those things that we don’t have,” he says. “Private equity provides the dollars and the expertise; we provide the opportunity. We need each other.”
After a year and a half of collaboration with FCC, Indigena Capital and the Alberta government, the Blood Tribe turned the dream of Kainai Forage into reality and created one of the biggest ventures for their nation. For FCC and our Indigenous Finance team, this experience provided valuable lessons in understanding legal requirements and continues to guide us in amending policies and procedures for financing projects on-reserve land.
For more information and insights, visit www.fcc.ca/Indigenous
FCC is Canada’s leading agriculture and food lender, dedicated to the industry that feeds the world. FCC employees are committed to the long-standing success of those who produce and process Canadian food by providing flexible financing, AgExpert business management software, information and knowledge. FCC provides a complement of expertise and services designed to support the complex and evolving needs of food businesses. As a financial Crown corporation, FCC is a stable partner that reinvests profits back into the industry and communities it serves. For more information, visit fcc.ca.
This article is reprinted by permission of the author Emily Leeson and Farm Credit Canada. It was originally published in the March 2022 issue of FCC’s magazine, AgriSuccess. For subscription information about AgriSuccess, see https://www.fcc-fac.ca/en/about-fcc
