Samantha Hoddinott

Bennett Newhook is a mechanical engineering student at Memorial University. Bennett is the founder of Greenspace Urban Farms, a social venture he began in 2017. Greenspace Urban Farms aims to solve food insecurity in Newfoundland and Labrador by creating sustainable, custom, green houses. Bennett’s social enterprise has been widely praised, as the business won the Feeding 9 Billion Challenge in 2017 and the Social Innovation Challenge in 2018. Currently, Bennett is participating in the Thriving Regions Workshop to help bring food security, along with educational food programming, to Baie Verte.

"The goal is to provide systems that are standard, easy to use, and low cost. We try to utilize materials that are easily accessible, and waste resources are a big plus." - Bennett Newhook

Interview

Q1: Can you share a bit about Greenspace Urban Farms and share why you began your social enterprise?

We started in November of 2017. It began with the development of an idea for work within Sub-Saharan Africa, and expansion of food services in regions in which the climate was not ideal for food growth. After doing more work, research and development I found out that we encounter the same issues at home. Many people locally cannot find access to healthy, fresh, sustainably grown food. Since then this idea has grown into a social enterprise. We work in the development of custom farming solutions, especially those that work to be integrated within existing infrastructure and buildings to utilize their heat and other waste resources to lower the cost of their operation and to provide a sustainable and cheap method of providing the freshest, healthiest, and most densely grown vegetables you can.

Q2: What products/services does your social enterprise provide?

We provide the solutions themselves - the hydroponic system. The systems are soilless, as they use a mix of water and nutrient solution that feed plant roots, and allow plants to grow very quickly, with minimal resources, and in very, very tight spaces. This works perfectly with shipping containers, which is one of the mediums in which we work. Most commonly, we can provide very dense growth floor to ceiling that can provide the opportunity to have an operational farm implemented on site within minutes. The goal is to provide systems that are standard, easy to use, and low cost. We try to utilize materials that are easily accessible, and waste resources are a big plus. Used shipping containers are a medium we use commonly because they end up as waste material. Often time on job sites, contractors are actively trying to get rid of shipping containers, but they can be retrofitted easily and affordably. Everything from the materials used to build hydroponics to the pumps, we can utilize whatever materials are pre-existing on site, if it makes more economic sense, and build in an environmentally-friendly way that can create sustainable employment and food.

Q3: Who is your target audience for Greenspace Urban Farms?

Right now, we are working closely with communities and community groups, because this is where the systems have the most impact. Across Newfoundland and Labrador (which is our primary focus area) there are tons of infrastructure scattered across the province that is being underused, and is required to be maintained every day. Greenspace is trying to offer the people with these infrastructure resources ways to utilize their space more effectively. For example, if you have an industrial kitchen that is used for a few hours a day, it is an underused resource that could double as a processing space. The stainless steel countertops and other equipment that is used for cooking will save resources that would otherwise be required to put in a brand new farm.

Q4: You were a participant the Feeding9Billion Challenge, a student ideation event and the Social Innovation Challenge both organized by the CSE and its partners. Could you talk about the benefits of participating? Would you recommend these opportunities to others starting social ventures?

Yes absolutely! I actively recommend both challenges to most people I talk to about entrepreneurship of any kind, let alone social enterprise. Both have opportunities for any entrepreneur developing a business to integrate social enterprise into your business, or at least investigate whether or not it will be a good idea to. The benefit outside of the prizes, which were significant in the development of Greenspace, are the connections. In the Feeding9Billion Challenge, I was able to find like-minded people who eventually became employees within the organization that helped me to develop it from the start. They help get you involved, educated, and allows you to figure out what is beneficial for what you are doing. I can guarantee you’ll find something out of these challenges.

Q5: You are an engineering student. What does social enterprise mean from the perspective of an engineer?

Coming from a technology field, what are some of the things you have learned about delivering social impact? From the engineering standpoint, we are supposed to integrate global engineering into everything we do. Our work should be sustainable, it should be safe and it should be there to help people. We must follow rules and regulations to ensure that our work is done to a standard of safety, and a standard of sustainability. The standard of sustainability is hard to measure, for it is something that can be difficult to integrate. It is something you have to be actively thinking about beyond just the life of the product. As an engineer, what social enterprise means to me depends on your definition of social enterprise, but I believe that the responsibility within the technology field lies on everyone. It is very important to recognize we all hold that equal responsibility, whether it be in technology or elsewhere, but especially where you have potential for both short term and long term damage to life.

Q6: What support have you received from the Centre for Social Enterprise and how important are collaboration and partnerships for Greenspace Urban Farms?

The Centre for Social Enterprise has been there since day one. The centre has helped me to develop Greenspace from the ground up. Everything that we have done really can be credited back to the network that we have developed through the Centre and working with other social entrepreneurs to grow, not only Greenspace, but also the entrepreneurial ecosystem within the province. In terms of support, the Centre for Social Enterprise has been a big part of it.

Q7: How would you describe what success would look like for Greenspace Urban Farms?

Success can be counted in a mouth fed, it can be putting systems into facilities, but I would say the largest form of success, when I look at the work that we are doing, is the variety of programming that is being implemented. For example, in one of our projects that we are currently working on in Baie Verte, is a program that will be implemented into Copper Ridge Academy, which is a kindergarten to grade twelve school. The hydroponic system will be hooked up to the school and will be able to provide two full-time jobs, and it will be able to provide, what we are hoping will be twelve different types of community programming. That is everything from employment programming for individuals with autism spectrum disorder, all the way down to STEM programming for youth, to healthy cooking classes in collaboration with the foodbank. This will also provide the school with an opportunity to gain revenue, in which they can expand even more of the programs, and with Greenspace, or different programming in which they find value.

Q8: What advice would you share with new social entrepreneurs?

I would encourage that they reach out to the Centre for Social Enterprise and find every event in which they can network with entrepreneurs, not just social entrepreneurs. Many people are still learning and exploring what social entrepreneurship means, and through this, people are learning that they are actually interested and partaking in social entrepreneurship. Therefore, making those connections and building networks, especially in a place like Newfoundland where we have such a small ecosystem, is incredibly valuable to business development, and especially social enterprise development.

For more information about Greenspace, visit: https://www.greenspaceurbanfarms.com