Elevate Farms has entered into an agreement for an initial build-out commitment of US$10,000,000 with North Star Agriculture Corp. to bring Elevate’s proprietary vertical farming, and cost-effective production of leafy green vegetables, to the Yukon and other isolated northern territories of Canada. Elevate and North Star have agreed to develop and construct a series of automated large-scale facilities dedicated to the mass production of leafy green plants implementing, among other techniques, the use of patented LED lighting, moving grow boxes and controlled growth environments.
The agreement contemplates the development of CEF Facilities for the production and supply of leafy green plants employing financing, as well as operations and retail expertise, from North Star and industrial and technical support of the CEF Technologies from Elevate. Each element of the process of development of the CEF Facilities are conditional upon the completion of supporting documentation including the settlement of definitive agreements including, but not limited to, shareholders’ agreement, reverse vesting agreement, licensing agreement and supply agreement. Each CEF Facility, once complete and operational, is expected to produce an estimated 10-tons (9,100 kilograms) of leafy green vegetables per week, which is the equivalent to in excess of 1,000,000 pounds (473,200 kilograms) of leafy green vegetables per year.
Amin Jadavji, Elevate Farm’s Founder and CEO, stated: “We are extremely excited to partner with North Star to bring food security and nutrition to a particularly isolated and vulnerable region of Canada. This is Elevate Farms’ second Canadian million-pound facility for which Elevate has secured financing commitments - with significantly larger faculties already financed in New Jersey, USA and in Hamilton, New Zealand. Elevate is making excellent progress in executing our plan on creating a global brand in the area of food security and local sustainability.”
Sonny Gray, CEO of North Star, stated: “North Star Agriculture is committed to #FeedtheNorth by developing a variety of food security based projects and initiatives. Our partnership with Elevate perfectly unites with our goal of developing agriculture ‘north of 60’ with the aid of modern technology and sustainable farming practices.”
Travis Kanellos, Elevate Farm’s Chief Strategy Officer stated: “Food security, as defined by the United Nations’ Committee on World Food Security, means that all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their food preferences and dietary needs for an active and healthy life. As we have become aware, broken links in supply chains, at home and abroad, have become all-too-real as communities implement travel and supply restrictions to combat COVID-19. The underlying causes of food insecurity are not only drought and conflict in far away lands, but also distribution and access concerns in the end user’s locality.”
Amin continued, “Our vertical farming solution provides fresh and healthy leafy green vegetables - the only vegetables that cannot be frozen for later consumption - by securing availability, access, use and utilization, as well as increased general stability with the potential for years-long self-sufficiency during uncertain times which may include events such as government mandated quarantine and self-isolation. Elevate’s patented food production solution goes a long way to solve the issues facing the North, and other dependant environments affected as they may be difficult to reach regions or fragile ecosystems.”
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