08-07-2025
New partnership looking to boost Saskatchewan agri-food industry
A partnership between two Saskatchewan business incubators is looking to create more opportunities for ag-tech and food technology industries.
The Saskatchewan Food Industry Development Centre Inc., better known as Food Centre, and Conexus Credit Union's Cultivator signed a memorandum of understanding Tuesday, aiming to help entrepreneurs and agriculture startups navigate a complex ecosystem.
'For us to be able to bring founders here, to give exposure to the province, to really highlight Saskatchewan as a place where they can grow their company and be successful is a huge opportunity,' Cultivor's director Laura Mock said to reporters following the announcement.
The two companies say the partnership will help interested businesses in a number of ways, including referrals to one another, supporting upcycling and collaborating on programs and workshops.
'If we can help the companies to become more successful, produce more products, create more revenue and create more jobs, it'll be better for the province,' Food Centre President Mehmet Tulbek said.
Cultivator is the first credit union-led tech incubator in Canada, and describes itself as helping local startups start, grow, and scale their companies.
The program announced a goal earlier this year of getting 250 companies to achieve $1 million or more in revenue by 2050. Though Cultivator doesn't offer the capital itself, it helps connect budding entrepreneurs with the investment necessary to build industry-leading businesses.
Tuesday's partnership is another step toward helping these founders eliminate barriers and supporting Saskatchewan's ag-tech industry.
'We want people to know that it's attainable, that you can build ag-innovation in Saskatchewan — and not just you can, but Saskatchewan is the place to build ag-innovation,' Mock said. 'You don't have to come from a farm.'
Tulbek said the opportunity for Cultivator and the Food Centre was too great to ignore after a recent shift for more Canadian built, internal solutions for getting Saskatchewan products to new places.
Considering recent tariff threats from United States President Donald Trump, more people are calling for barriers to be reduced and for capacity on the prairies to expand.
'They are becoming more and more important with all these tariff discussions,' Tulbek said. 'So that's our job is really to support the manufacturing landscape, to increase the capacity and help the entrepreneurs and help the companies to manufacture and produce more products for Canadian consumers.'
Mock said the partnership will allow both companies to lean on each other and help stretch dollars.
'Rather than looking for new investment, we're actually just repurposing the investments and the programs and capabilities we have to have a greater impact,' she said.
