SPEAKERS
Lourdes Gant, JP Hastey
Lourdes Gant 00:05
As a business owner of an aquaculture company, how can you take the first step to be profitable and sustainable at the same time? That’s what we’re going to be talking about in these episodes. Hello, and welcome to the Business of Aquaculture podcast. This is the podcast for the sustainable business movement in the aquafarming and ocean ranching industries. This podcast aims to amplify the voices of entrepreneurs addressing the United Nations global goals, aka Sustainable Development Goals. Number 14.
To conserve and sustainably use the oceans and the seas, listening to fellow business aquaculturists in their journey in this new model of food production, of making their business sustainable, and help the ecology of the ocean, while also making a profit all at the same time. Get inspired to learn how even small to medium businesses can make an impact, save the seas, leave a legacy, and have a better quality of life. One of our goals is to take away a nugget of wisdom that will help your business move from the industrial revolution to business 5.0.
Our vision is that of collaboration in the aquaculture industry. I’m Lourdes Gant your host As an aquaculture business owner, how do you tackle the balance in being able to run a sustainable business and being profitable at the same time? That’s what we’re going to be talking about in this episode. Welcome to episode nine of the Business of Aquaculture.
In this episode I’m delighted to have Mr. JP Hastey, who is the president and founding member of Nova Harvest, founded in 2011, JP has been recognised by hatchery international magazine’s annual top 10 under 40, which is a programme designed to recognise leadership and innovation of the world’s most exceptional fish and shellfish hatchery professionals under the age of 40.
In 2019, Nova Harvest specialises in high-quality shellfish seed from the west coast. Welcome, JP, thank you very much. If you listen to our last episode, I interviewed Mr. Bill Taylor, and he discussed how their family business and five generations of agriculturist is doing the dance in terms of the environmental political, economical aspects of their organisation. But today, I have JP with me so we can get started. So tell me, how did you get into the agriculture industry, JP?
JP Hastey 02:32
It was very much an organic process for me, it was not something that I had originally set up to do when I was continuing my education after high school. But farming is it’s always been kind of a burning desire passion of mine. And I came out to the west coast to do a Master’s of Animal Science at UBC, University of British Columbia. And that’s where I was really introduced to agriculture or had an opportunity to do kind of hands-on work.
And that, I guess, was my initial introduction. And it really took off from there. So that was about 15 years ago now or more. And in that time, I’ve been started as I guess, an entrepreneur in aquaculture, from Nova Harvest with myself and Julian and Joel German. And we started the company and establish ourselves in Bamfield British Columbia on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
Lourdes Gant 03:26
Sounds great. When you say about like burning desire into farming. Was there some story there? Just because I normally ask my question in terms of Is there a personal thing that happened that got you excited into motion farming or something like that?
JP Hastey 03:43
I’ve always been like, just fascinated with fish, then that was really like probably my first passion in terms of the outdoors. And he has a passion for being outside. I love fishing growing up. And actually, my first job out of university was working in a dairy farm. And I love that I was just like an excellent experience and really just kind of highlighted for me like farming anything is something I wanted to do. And really, I think there’s been a lot of things I would be happy farming. But shellfish is a really unique opportunity. And I’m very fortunate that our paths crossed and it’s something that is really fulfilling and has been very enjoyable to be involved with.
Lourdes Gant 04:24
That sounds cool. And it’s also giving food supply to the whole world. So that’s in itself is worth the cost to do. So my second question is now that you’ve been into it almost two decades now, what are the pros and cons that you’ve seen in the aquaculture industry?
JP Hastey 04:42
One of the greatest aspects of shellfish aquaculture for me is just that it’s kind of like a frontier in it’s been around for generations, but it’s really just starting to get its legs under it in a lot of ways, especially in Canada as the industry like establishes and grows. And that’s something that is kind of a rare opportunity for these days as there’s a lot of things that have just been done already, or are, you know, in very mature states of development, but shellfish aquaculture has a lot of really like rare and cool opportunities to be kind of like the first to do something. And there’s just a lot of opportunity for growth and development. And I think that is just like, a really unique experience for people of my generation.
Lourdes Gant 05:26
Absolutely. I do agree with you. It’s such a young industry. And so there’s a lot of room for growth, I guess that especially in the coming digital decade is after COVID last year. Everybody’s finding ways on how to be more efficient and effective, especially in aquatic.
JP Hastey 05:42
Yeah, and I guess that also can be kind of like a con is that you do have to be prepared and that it is fairly undeveloped, and there’s a lot of challenges that come with that as well. And it’s something that you got to just kind of have that mindset and be ready for disruptions are things really take a lot longer to do than you anticipate just due to that undeveloped nature of the injury operating in and, and the small size. And so it’s a plus and a minus to it.
Lourdes Gant 06:11
I know we’re both new in the industry compared to what we call it old boys club here. But is there like a, like a favourite, I guess opportunity that you’ve bumped into. And also you’re like, most dislike this advantage. So just an example for me, I still don’t know much about rearing the animals and the production side and more on I call it like an armchair manager. But every day, it’s just new in this industry. It’s so dynamic. And so that’s one thing I like about it. And of course, the most dislike I have is I wish I can dive I wish I can go out more in the fieldwork and understand better the biology and what have you. But what about you?
JP Hastey 06:52
Yeah, I think, I guess my favourite aspect of it we’ve seen sounds quite simple. But it is actually just that the unlimited problem-solving potential is like you’re just constantly engaged by new challenges. And I just like to get so much enjoyment, overcoming like problems that we have, or that arise on a daily basis. That’s something that really drives me. And it really is kind of like I guess I can find enjoyment in the chaos. I don’t have like, I guess specific examples of that.
But just at a really high level, that is really what fuels me and keeps me going is just that enjoyment of solving one problem moving on to the next. And just also at the same time. It’s just seeing that progress that you are making and having a company and great people that we’ve got working with us that seeing you establish as a business and continuing and growing. And as we do we attract new people that bring new ideas and new aspects and capabilities to the company. And just seeing that develop in itself is something it’s just incredible. And I’ve been really fortunate to have this opportunity
Lourdes Gant 07:57
A true-blooded definition of entrepreneur enjoyment of curious. But problem-solving, it’s, I guess, problem-solving, that’s what gives value to people is your being able to solve problems for them. My last question to you is, what do you see are the top three trends in the industry that’s happening in the next 10 years, for example.
JP Hastey 08:20
I would probably say number one of being massive adoption of responsibly sourced protein, just like at a high level. And I think that’s a really excellent opportunity to for shellfish aquaculture is just how the incredibly low carbon footprint for a really high-quality protein that we’re able to produce and I think like globally, there’s it’s trending towards that where consumers are becoming more educated or responsible on what they’re purchasing and as shellfish aquaculture is we’ve got a great product to offer. And I just think that is something that will really help support our businesses and establish that product is more of a mainstream protein source. And another maybe being just efficiencies gained within the industry, I think we’re going to start adopting newer technologies and progressing in the sense of making the work easier for individuals on the water doing the work. So we should see kind of more of a trend to invest in technology and innovation. And I think that’s gonna be something really critical for shellfish farmers to get on top of and not sure actually.
Lourdes Gant 09:26
Not as good actually it’s along the same lines. We have a crystal ball here those two are pretty big in terms of what’s probably going to happen as you mentioned already Aqua tech and is coming into the pipeline with other tech industries like med-tech, finance-tech, and green-tech. Where we’re under and also a lot more into the since Earth week is this week and what you mentioned about the carbon footprint and the supply of protein being lesser carbon footprint. So maybe you can give our listeners where they can contact you your website and your social media handles.
JP Hastey 10:06
Where it can be found at novaharvest.com so we’re not overly involved in social media at this time. But if you start there we’ve got lots of information on what we do and how you can get a hold of us if you’re interested in seeing or just find yourself on the west coast of Vancouver Island or in Banfield definitely stop by and see us and you can get a closer view of what happens to produce shellfish eat and get out on a shellfish farm.
Lourdes Gant 10:32
Thanks again. JP, my biggest takeaway from this interview was you giving value by enjoying problem-solving enjoyment indicators. I love that really that to me is the True Blood definition of an entrepreneur. For the next episode, we’ll have Keith Reed who started stellar bass shellfish now one of the largest half shell producers in BC and indeed all of Canada. But thank you again, JP, for your time with me today, and I’ll see you again soon. Great, thank you very much.
Thank you for listening, and I hope you’re inspired by this episode. Do take a moment and share this with your friends and colleagues and rate and review the podcast wherever you get your podcasts. I’d love to know what your biggest takeaway from this conversation has been? What are you going to do differently? Please share thoughts across social media and tag us for links and Show Notes for this episode, visit our website www.sustainableaquaculture.ca/podcast. Thank you again. I hope you will join me on the next episode and together we can help create a better business in aquaculture.
