On November 25, 2020, EarthRenew Inc. announced its first major sale of organic fertilizer for environmental restoration work. The company sold 25 tons of its organic fertilizer product to NorthWind Land Resources Inc., a land reclamation company.
The fertilizer is being used by NorthWind at an oil wellsite reclamation project near Red Deer, Alberta.
NorthWind’s Robbie Price commented, “The GrowER fertilizer product has proven to be very helpful in reclaiming soil by improving soil fertility and chemistry and promoting root medium development, while ameliorating compaction through paratilling during pellet injection to repair soil structure. This type of product and process can help accelerate soil development in heavily compacted soils and it provides us with another tool to address the negative environmental impact that remains once an oil wellsite is closed.”
One of over 450,000 oil wells contaminating and visually blighting the landscape of Alberta.
The size of the reclaimed site is 3 acres, and NorthWind used specialty equipment to apply 7.69 tons per acre of EarthRenew’s GrowER fertilizer product in a sub-soil application. The site currently faces serious soil compaction and aeration issues that limit crop growth as proponents return the site to equivalent land capability.
Agrologists, biologists, geologists and forestry professionals comprise NorthWind’s diverse team of environmental professionals. Since its inception in 1999, NorthWind has grown to approximately 40 employees.
The company specializes in reclamation and revegetation, soil classification, environmental site assessment and remediation, and provides cost effective and technically sound professional services for its clients.
Applying EarthRenew’s GrowER fertilizer to the soil subsurface at the site is expected to enhance natural microbial activity, improve soil health and facilitate vegetation growth. This type of work has been completed historically at other sites and has proven to greatly improve vegetation performance.
Image courtesy of EarthRenew, Inc.
EarthRenew’s CEO, Keith Driver, commented, “We are very excited to kick-off sales in 2020 and to see our product used in reclamation projects. There is a huge opportunity within the province of Alberta as there is an urgent need to reclaim numerous sites as a result of oil and gas development. We are proud that we are able to provide a natural, Alberta-based solution that can contribute to these efforts.”
EarthRenew also announced the appointment of Kerri Lee McGovern as Chief Operating Officer, effectively immediately. McGovern has over 20 years of operations experience in the technology and venture financing industries. She has held a variety of senior level positions in business and market development with responsibility for key customer acquisition.
Prior to joining EarthRenew, Kerri held the roles of VP of Partnerships and VP of Business Development at Tynt Multimedia, which was acquired by 33 Across. As a member of the Executive Leadership Team at EarthRenew, Kerri is responsible for the development and implementation of EarthRenew’s business and market strategy, leading growth and scaling the company’s operations. Kerri holds a degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Alberta and an MBA from the University of Victoria.
EarthRenew’s mission is to support a farm system that puts healthy soils and grower profitability back on the table. EarthRenew transforms livestock waste into a high-performance organic fertilizer to be used by organic and traditional growers in Canada and the United States. Located on a 25,000 head cattle feedlot, their flagship Strathmore plant is capable of producing up to four MW per hour of low-cost electricity powered by a natural gas fired turbine. The exhausted heat from the turbine is used to convert manure into certified organic fertilizer.
Photo of farm in Alberta is by David Mark from Pixabay.