Dragons’ Den | Three Farmers gets cash infusion following TV sales pitch
A Saskatchewan business has received national attention after a successful bid in the Dragons’ Den.
Natasha and Elysia Vandenhurk convinced Arlene Dickinson, a marketing and communications expert, to invest $150,000 in exchange for a 20 percent stake in Three Farmers, a camelina oil producing company.
The idea for producing camelina culinary oil in Saskatchewan began when Colin Rosengren was sitting in a meeting about biofuel put on by Ag-West Bio.
Rosengren said they were discussing genetically modifying camelina so it could be a better industrial oil platform, but when they started talking about the beneficial aspects of the ancient oilseed, he wondered why they didn’t just use the plant as it is.
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The project Rosengren was considering was bigger than he wanted to manage by himself, so he recruited two neighbouring farmers, Ron Emde and Dan Vandenhurk, to help.
“I guess they just happened to be in the curling rink complaining at the same time,” Rosengren said. “We have a good working relationship — we’ve all farmed here for multi-generations, so they were logical people to approach.”
In 2009, the company hired two of Vandenhurk’s daughters: Natasha, an economics graduate from the University of Saskatchewan, and Elysia, a Red Seal chef.
“When the girls got on board, that’s really when the business began to take off in terms of sales and marketing,” Rosengren said.
“The three of us are growers and we figured out the agronomy, how to grow a good quality product, manage fertility, and learn how to do many of the things that there wasn’t a lot of knowledge available for this area. But we didn’t have the knowledge or skill set for marketing the product.”
Soon after Natasha joined the company she started working on its brand, packaging and marketing.
She said the company got what it was looking for from the CBC television show: national exposure for its product and a deal with Dickinson, who has the knowledge and contacts that will help the company expand.
“Having a mentor like Arlene is invaluable,” Natasha said. “
Camelina oil is high in omega 3 and omega 6 polyunsaturates and has a smoke point of 475 F, which is high compared to other cold-pressed non-processed oils, except coconut oil.
The company is marketing the oil as a cooking, dressing and baking oil.
For more information, go to www.threefarmers.ca.
