Kainai Forage Welcomes Canada’s Ambassador to the United States, Ambassador Hillman

Stand Off, Alberta (July 21, 2022):  Kainai Forage, LP (“Kainai Forage” or the “Company”) located on the Kainai / Blood Tribe’s Reserve, is one of Canada’s preeminent premium hay producers and exporters.  Earlier today, Chief Roy Fox and the Kainai Forage team welcomed Canada’s Ambassador to the United States, Ambassador Hillman, and other officials to tour the operation and gain an understanding of how the partnership between the Kainai / Blood Tribe and Indigena Capital since 2019 has driven the company’s expansion and more than five (5) times quarterly export sales growth since the expansion began.

Despite having to execute the expansion during the Covid pandemic, the Company has managed to build four new storage sheds, increasing its storage capacity by 35,000 metric tonnes (“MT”), build a new processing plant that is outfitted with a hay press capable of pressing 100,000 MT of hay a year, and has nearly doubled its share of the overall Canadian Forage export market while concurrently growing the overall Canadian timothy hay export market share

Chief Fox shared with the Ambassador how the Kainai / Blood Tribe, like many Indigenous Communities in Canada, have vast rights and resources, but lack the fit-for-purpose capital to advance their commercial opportunities.  He also shared that the growth and expansion of Kainai Forage was possible because of the long-standing partnership between the Kainai / Blood Tribe and Indigena Capital, a pure-play fit-for-purpose capital provider to Indigenous Communities. 

“Like many Indigenous Communities, the Kainai / Blood Tribe has great people and opportunities, but we needed the proper business plan, and access to equity capital to capitalize on the opportunity, Indigena brought those aspects, and the result is a world-class business,” said Makiinima, Chief Roy Fox, Kainai / Blood Tribe.  “What we have been able to build here at Kainai Forage is changing lives in our community and we are still growing.  With access to equity capital and the right partners, anything is possible.”

Ambassador Hillman left the meeting understanding how Kainai Forage operates, how it has become the fastest growing premium hay producer and exporter in Canada, how its structure may be a model for other Indigenous Communities in North America to build their own commercial enterprises, particularly if the government can encourage the right partnerships between Indigenous Communities and equity providers.

 About Kainai Forage:

 Kainai Forage is a partnership between the Kainai/Blood Tribe and Indigena Capital providing quality forage exports to international markets. Kainai Forage enjoys unmatched supply certainty anchored by the Kainai/Blood Tribe’s 25,000-acre irrigation project, the largest in Canada. These lands, ideally suited for Timothy hay, are dedicated to growing forage for export, provide the foundation for security of supply to international markets. Kainai Forage partners with best-in-class forage growers from Southern Alberta on the lands and all forage is dedicated to Kainai Forage for processing and export.