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SASKATOONEXPRESS - November 10-16, 2014 - Page 1
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Volume 11, Issue 44, Week of November 10, 2014
Saskatoonʼs REAL Community Newspaper
Three Farmers, one more award From left to right, Natasha Vandenhurk, Elysia Vandenhurk, Dan Vandenhurk, Ron Emde and Colin Rosengren (Photo Supplied)
Dragon’s Den appearance advances company’s growth
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atasha Vandenhurk does not seem to be fazed by much. Along with her partners, she has founded a company, appeared on CBC-TV’s Dragon’s Den, launched several products and doubled and tripled sales over the last two years. Yet the CEO of Three Farmers was somewhat amazed when the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce announced that her company was the winner of this year’s ABEX, or achievement in business excellence, environment award. “I was actually very surprised. I was not expecting that,” she said in a recent interview. “Obviously, that is one of the pillars of our brand, is our sustainable agriculture. “It was not one of the categories we (were) focused on. We thought we were more geared to the young entrepreneur side of things. The other companies we were up against . . . their entire company is based on the environment and being environmentally friendly, whereas that’s just one facet of who we are.”
Vandenhurk and her sister Elysia, COO of Three Farmers and a Red Seal chef, are the front-end management of Three Farmers. The farmers in the company name are the sisters’ father, Dan, and his neighbours Ron Emde and Colin Rosengren. Three Farmers’ first and flagship product is camelina oil, which is unique for its omega-3 content and stability. The Vandenhurk sisters achieved more than 15 minutes of fame when they appeared on Dragon’s Den two years ago, accepting an offer from Arlene Dickinson. While the deal ultimately did not close — Three Farmers decided it wasn’t willing to part with that much of the company — the exposure that resulted from the TV appearance was significant. Almost as important, says Vandenhurk, was the due diligence experience, which “leapfrogged” the company from the hopes and dreams phase to being focused on financials. The Vandenhurks will appear in an update episode on Nov. 26. “Obviously that national exposure does
Joanne Paulson
wonders for your brand,” said Vandenhurk. “We had worked hard; we did a lot of planning around that episode. We initially auditioned in 2010 and we actually made the cut. We had a tape date, but we phoned them and we cancelled because we just knew we weren’t ready. “We spent the next year adding flavours, so we had our original and our two flavours, and built our store listing across the country. Elysia and I just banged on doors from Ontario west. We gained about 150 retailers, so we weren’t just in 10 retailers; we were in 150 and had room to grow. “When we aired we were in the midst of partnering with a couple of distributors, so the timing couldn’t have been more perfect.” At the time, Three Farmers was operating out of Vandenhurk’s Saskatoon home, which was dominated by boxes of product that soon took over the garage. The company has since moved into the same building as InfraReady Foods. “We spend the majority of 2013 riding that wave, getting our product into as many stores as possible, and building really strong relationships with our distribu-
tors and retailers. “With our camelina oil it has always been a struggle, the education component of it. We were first to market with it in Canada, so it’s been a product that requires a ton of education, and that requires a very large marketing budget, something that we do not have.” The ABEX award was a great opportunity for Vandenhurk to expand on the education file. “I mentioned in my acceptance speech . . . that there’s a definite lack of understanding out there as to what sustainable agriculture actually is. It’s a huge problem – it’s a growing problem, because food is something that affects all of us each and every day of our lives. The people who are driving education behind agriculture seem to be retailers and distributors. They’re not on the front lines of growing. It should be the farmers driving that conversation and driving that education. “That’s not what we’re seeing. There is a growing disconnect between farming and urban centres and consumers. It’s creating large problems out there. (Continued on page 4)