This Eco-Friendly St. Stephen Farm Is Growing Cannabis And Fish
ST. STEPHEN – From a 100,000-square-foot facility that produces dried cannabis flowers, and makes cannabinoid-infused bath bombs in St. Stephen, Stewart Farms is also farming fish. It’s linking both the cannabis and fish farms through aquaponics.
“We’re actually an agriculture technology company that is working towards a regenerative agriculture future, and we’re selling things like bath bombs and cannabis to fund our technology endeavors,” said founder Tanner Stewart.
Aquaponics combines two agricultural techniques – land-based fish farming and indoor hydroponic plant farming.
In Stewart Farms’s case, the fish is tilapia that it hopes to sell in the Boston and New York markets in the future. The waste stream from the fish farm is channeled as fertilizer to the indoor vertical cannabis farm. Excess manure from the fish farm will also be pumped outside, for outdoor cannabis cultivation.
The company aims to contribute to soil regeneration, and create as little waste as possible.
“We’re going to be producing soil amendments from our indoor farm that we can use to replenish the life in the soil in the outdoor farm,” Stewart said, adding the 40-foot-tall facility has much room for expansion. “Long-term, over the next few phases, Stewart Farms will be ramping up our fish production and farm size alongside us ramping up our cannabis production.”
On the manufacturing side, Stewart Farms uses eco-friendly packaging on its cannabinoid-infused bath bombs.
Stewart Farms originally made bath bombs, soaps and teas to give away at the World Cannabis Congress in Saint John in 2019. The products used essential oils and are designed based on the terpene profiles of popular cannabis strains like Bubba Kush, Train Wreck and Blue Dream. Encouraging feedback solidified Stewart’s plan to manufacture more for sale.
“We realized that there’s barely any products on the market in the bath category, if any, and that we were really on to something here and I had to lean into this as our lead foot forward into the market,” Stewart said. “My concept was, if somebody takes a bath in something you give them, they’re probably going to remember your company.”
Additionally, Stewart said the scale up the manufacturing of these products would be much easier than dried flowers, as flower production is limited by the size of the farm.
“Our flower production is still so small. Even though we’re a fully licensed producer, we’re basically the size of micro cultivator on the flower production side right now,” he said.
The company got its cultivation license last April. Stewart plans to sell the first batches of dried flowers through online medical cannabis platform Shelter Market, with hopes to supply Cannabis NB later this year.
Stewart said the bath bombs that contain 50 milligrams each of CBD and THC have already proved popular, selling out at the dispensaries that carried them in Alberta. Stewart Farms also had to refill its stock at Cannabis NB over the holidays, shortly after fulfilling its first order.
With bath bombs “flying off the shelf,” Stewart said using 100-percent biodegradable packaging is important.
“That means zero microplastics will be left behind after our package degrades,” he said. “Truth be told, that cost us a lot more money in margin if we went the other route. We didn’t charge the consumer anything more, and we’re eating that choice…Long term, hopefully, we get enough votes from the consumers that will reinforce that choice that we made.”
Stewart said he knows that packaging is not at the top of the list of priorities for the general consumer. Price and quality are. But it’s important for him to make that long-term investment, in hopes packaging moves up that list for buyers.
“It’s important to us because we think it should be important for everybody. So we just want to walk the talk,” he said.
Stewart, who also owns construction firm Field Max Industrial in Alberta, understands that eco-friendly options need to be financially viable for businesses. Many sustainable options that are available are still too expensive to maintain a reasonable price for consumers, he said. But he’s working to ensure that those choices bode well for his company.
“The decision we made with the packaging, although it is is a financial impact for us right now in the short term, I know as my volumes get up and my efficiencies get better, that I’m going to be able to bring that sustainable choice very close to in line with a less sustainable choice. So it’s in the numbers,” he said.
“Sustainability is a journey, and you can’t be where you want to be on day one,” he added. “So just know where you’re at, understand the cost of the decisions that you’re going to make that are more sustainable, while at the same time, understanding your consumers shouldn’t have to pay for that choice.”
Sustainability and soil regeneration are very important to Stewart. He even produced and funded a 2018 documentary about living soil called The Need to Grow, which was narrated by Hollywood film star Rosario Dawson.
But he encountered agricultural technology about seven years ago, after being introduced to a startup called Nutriponics. He invested in the company that does indoor vertical aquaponic farming, combining tilapia with leafy greens.
He later realized cannabis was a more economically viable plant to produce. So that’s what the Miramichi native focused on when he decided to return to New Brunswick.
“I wanted to bring some of that Alberta economic prosperity back to New Brunswick in one way or another,” he said. “For indoor agriculture, New Brunswick has among the best electricity rates in Canada. I was looking for an affordable warehouse and land. New Brunswick has lots of that as well…and a trained labour force.”
Stewart Farms has gone from two to 16 staff members since April, and “rapidly growing,” he said.
Stewart believes it’s important for all businesses around the world to be more sustainable.
“To a certain extent, the consumers should, when they can, vote with their dollar, as in a vote for sustainability, to vote for an organic product, to vote for a local product, to vote for sustainable product,” he said.
“But at the end of the day, I believe that the true responsibility of making more environmentally friendly decisions is in the hands of the corporations because when we vote with our dollars, we make a big vote, and we give the consumer more sustainable options.”
Inda Intiar is a reporter for Huddle. Send her story suggestions: [email protected]