They are producers of upcycled wool and fibre products that are grown and made in Canada. Their mission is to initiate sustainability and support farmers by upcycling wool and fibre waste into valuable products. By converting organic materials into usable products, they aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support a thriving circular economy.

However, their inquisitiveness and hunger for continued education is what brought them to reach out to the Horticultural and Environmental Sciences Innovation Centre (HESIC) to understand if sheep’s wool pellets could be applicable to the greenhouse industry. (Wool pellets are formed from the raw wool sheared from sheep that is not usable as fleece, and would therefore be discarded.)

When they reached out to HESIC, there had been no greenhouse trials in North America on wool pellets as a slow-release nutrient, or as a peat moss replacement.

The primary goal of HESIC’s study was to assess the effectiveness of EcoWool’s pellets, a novel sheep wool media amendment, as a fertilizer/supplement in greenhouse crops within a controlled indoor agricultural setting. The study aimed to establish the commercial viability of the EcoWool pellet product by evaluating its impact on plant growth, yield, and fruit quality.

“Working with HESIC was a fascinating experience. We had never done any kind of research on our product to this scale before this and so we didn’t really have expectations, and we came in wanting to just ask lots of questions and absorb all the answers from the experts,” said Jennifer.

What they found was that due to the high salinity and pH properties, EcoWool pellets are not suited as a direct peat moss substitute, but more so as a media amendment. While EcoWool pellets showed potential as an organic supplement for plant growth, they are unlikely to be a complete replacement for a typical fertilizer regime. As commercial greenhouse crop production requires precise dosage of nutrients and sterile media, raw sheep wool has limited suitability in this sector. It does, however, possess potential as an amendment to be used concurrent to that of other fertilizers in either sustainable or organic field or nursery production, and backyard gardening.

The results of the trial taught these entrepreneurs a lot about the direction of where and what industries would be most appropriate for their product. And while it may have been a bit surprising, it wasn’t in greenhouses.

“Learning that greenhouses probably weren’t where our product was going to be used was actually good information to learn. While a small-scale greenhouse might use our product, it certainly would be a tough sell industry wide as it’s just so controlled, and that’s ok. It just clarified what we needed to do next,” said Jennifer. Having this knowledge allowed Jennifer and Tim to adjust their business plans and look at other good applications and industries for their product.

HESIC suggested that further research should be conducted to develop crop-specific application rates and fertilizer recipes for commercial viability, both in greenhouse and outdoors.

The BCIC team supported them in two ways. First, they provided research on the horticultural and agricultural industries, the size of the market, and how they make purchase decisions. Secondly, they supported the development of their current B2C operations, increasing their sales, which directly support the cash flow of the business, supporting the funding of additional research for the commercial applications.

This included a detailed analysis of competitors, a look at the impact of Covid-19 on the attitudes of consumers and the regulations for businesses and an exploration of market constraints. Reviewing everything allowed for the development of the target audiences and recommendations of their key pain points to develop targeted campaigns.

The promotions strategy focused on personal selling as a B2B tool for EcoWool to pursue entry into retail distributors, combined with B2C promotional tools to drive consumer demand and support EcoWool’s e-commerce strategy.

Understanding how to tell the story of how the product can best fit into the needs and requirements of each target audience allows for cohesive promotions. Recommendations were made for media assets for content and website design. A social media and direct marketing strategy were outlined for EcoWool to reach more niche target audiences and advertisement strategy was outlined to further supplement B2C distribution. Finally, an SEO strategy was outlined to supplement EcoWool’s Amazon strategy and website performance.