Aquaculture Ambassador: Steven Bourne
“I’m an environmentalist and everything I do, is in line with mitigating climate change. With that, aquaculture paired with ‘closed-loop’ systems (aquaponics) is extremely sustainable and will be a major factor in feeding a world,” Steven Bourne, Council for Emerging Leaders in Aquaculture.
By Samantha McLeod
SeaWestNews
Aquaculture in Canada
today generates $5.16 billion in economic activity and employs over 25,000
people. As one of the fastest growing food sectors in the world, the industry
in Canada has a younger-than-average domestic workforce with two-thirds of all
employees under the age of 35. Our new series, Aquaculture Ambassador, is about
14 Canadians who have come together to showcase the growing presence of young
people in the sustainable future of farming the oceans. In this segment, we
talk to Steven Bourne, Co-founder, Ripple Farms Inc., & Director of
Rafterra Global.
Tell us a little bit
about yourself?
As a co-founder of Ripple Farms Inc., and director of Rafterra
Global I take pride in being an entrepreneur and an environmentalist, I am continuously
seeking to make a positive impact in our communities and beyond. I’m also the co‐Founder
to the Toronto-born Social Enterprise,
which is dedicated to tackling food insecurity through its farming operations
with Aquaponics. We were recently awarded Social Enterprise of the Year Award
via Startup Canada, so that was rewarding in itself.
What drew you to
aquaculture?
I’m an
environmentalist and everything I do, from my daily choices to my business
activities, is in line with mitigating climate change. With that, aquaculture
paired with ‘closed-loop’ systems, aquaponics, is extremely sustainable and
will be a major factor in feeding a world that is overpopulated and strained on
natural resources.
I met my business
partner, Brandon Hebor, three years ago around a table at the Centre for Social
Innovation, which as it happens is our current shared office space now. We were
initially brought together by a mutual friend looking to start a consulting
firm in the Cap and Trade Industry, Brandon showed me a picture of a pilot
project he had built over the previous four years, it was a small-scale
aquaponics system. I, at the time already had a business proposal I had
developed a year prior. I slapped this proposal on the table at the beginning
of our next meeting and that turned out to be day one of our journey to the
present, and that is what Ripple Farms is today.
What’s your average
day in aquaculture like?
Well I’m more on the
business side of things, so my day is filled with meetings, financial models,
and business development, but it allows me to meet people that are just as
passionate about feeding the world. Our internal mission statement is “How
many can we feed?” – any way we can accomplish that mission is dictating
our everyday actions and interactions with like-minded people and businesses. The
rest of my team, on the other hand, has more of an exciting day-to-day, which
consists of growing food, feeding fish, and initiating global research studies.
How do you plan to
change the current narrative about aquaculture, in particular salmon farming in
Canada, from conflict to conversations about sustainability?
The way I see it,
there’s no question about it, aquaculture is a necessary industry to feed our
growing global population with a high value protein that is sustainably
produced, more so than cattle, poultry, pork, etc. That being said, we are
still in our infancy of Good Manufacturing Processes (GMP’s) and there is a lot
of work to do so that we can apply new innovations to ensure quality and
consistency of this industry for years to come.
There is still a huge
divide between the advocates of wild vs. farmed fish – this is a massive
barrier to growth and public perception. We need to be working together as a
collective to showcase the long-term benefits of the two silos as one. We need
to talk about how these two ecosystems are physically interacting in the wild
and finding solutions of how they can benefit symbiotically.
One key way for us to
change the narrative is through traceability. I call it an ‘open door’ policy.
When you dive deeper into the life of a farmer in the aquaculture industry
you’ll see much more than what the media might want to showcase to drive views
and click-through. There are some producers that aren’t producing sustainably
or ethically, which gives the whole industry a bad name. On the other hand,
there are so many more that are putting in the time and money into creating a
system to feed the future. These are coming in the form of global
collaborations, innovation, research and development, attracting top talent,
and so much more.
Moving forward, I
strongly believe the focus is not to win public perception, but rather go to
the source, the farmers, and help them succeed with opportunities of innovation
and technology that not only increase supply to compete with global markets,
but also develop a lasting framework of traceability.
What is the single
biggest project you are working on now?
I can’t disclose too
much at this time, but we have some substantial projects in the works that will
not only feed a lot of people with Aquaponics (fish and vegetables), but create
direct & indirect jobs, research and development for new
technologies/applications, and economic benefit to local communities – stay
tuned!
RELATED LINKS:
Meet the future of Canada’s sustainable aquaculture industry