Site plan rendering for the Cowessess Circular Food Sovereignty Project (image submitted by Cowessess/Lerat)

By NC Raine

Rapid Biofertilizer

$450,000 investment launches Cowessess plan to turn waste into gardens, jobs and sustainability

Aug 21, 2026 | 4:03 PM

Leaders at Cowessess First Nation aren’t just aspiring to advance the wellbeing of their own community. They want to influence a healthier nation.

“We want to change the lifestyles of every First Nation in our territory, which will expand to every First Nation in Saskatchewan, and every First Nation in every province in Canada,” said Terry Lerat, band councillor at Cowessess First Nation and senior advisor at the National Circle for Indigenous Agriculture and Food (NCIAF).

“The door is open. We want to give each individual the opportunity to develop a sustainable, healthy lifestyle,” he said.

Cowessess First Nation and its economic arm, Cowessess Ventures LP, along with Saskatoon-based company B.Nature Biotech, were recently awarded $450,000 through the national HARVEST wasteCANcreate program.

The community has big plans with the investment.

Cowessess is helping advance a major sustainable organic waste and composting initiative, highlighted by Awasis Organics Ltd (majority owned by Cowessess First Nation) partnership with the City of Regina. The project will process green-bin waste into biochar, alongside a rapid-biofertilizer project using B-Nature Biotech technology.

By converting community and regional organic waste into pathogen-free, high-nutrient compost in as little as 20 days, the project establishes a closed-loop system that supports local agriculture and "asiskiy tech". (image submitted by Cowessess/Lerat)

Lerat said they’re using the $450,000 grant to build operational facilities, including a greenhouse and storage facility. Once the site is developed, Lerat said they’ll start producing compost, which will be shared with their community garden on Cowessess land.

“Our community garden is run by our seniors. We want them to encourage their children and grandchildren to come garden,” said Lerat. “We’re covering the base of all generations – every segment will be learning to garden, produce food, and about food sustainability.”

The garden project comes at a critical time, said Lerat. According to Stats Canada, grocery price growth has outpaced the overall national Consumer Price Index for 18 consecutive months.

Lerat said he’d like to see families grow around 40 percent of the food they consume.

“You don’t need to go into Walmart or Costco to buy everything you need,” he said. “We lost our way through technology, and now we’re trying to gain it back. We’re growing a healthy product that creates a healthy lifestyle.”

Diverting organic waste from landfills to use in the composting process is a big step towards responsible land stewardship, said Lerat.

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In Saskatchewan, each resident generates approximately 1,856 pounds of solid waste per year, which is the second highest rate per capita in Canada. Roughly 87 percent of this total volume ends up in local landfills, as the province maintains one of the lowest waste diversion and recycling rates in the country.

“That doesn’t do anything good for the environment,” said Lerat. “What we’re doing is taking food waste, putting it into our processing machines, making compost, and putting it into our community gardens.”

Lerat said the food grown on their First Nation is without synthetic fertilizer, herbicides, or chemicals.

With a site plan for the facility being developed, Lerat said he anticipates the project creating four to five jobs initially, with that number likely to grow as their operations expand. They also pan to create a large garden market that will run throughout the growing season and will be tended by youth from the community.

“We want to create employment opportunities for our young people throughout the summer. Young people can learn to grow food for themselves while putting money in their pocket,” he said.

If things go according to plan, Lerat said he anticipates seeing every First Nation in the province with a similar setup.

“The growth plan is as big as we want it to be,” said Lerat. “We have the land base, we have the climate, and we have the soil quality. The sky is the limit.”

by NC Raine

$450,000 investment launches Cowessess plan to turn waste into gardens, jobs and sustainability

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