In the more urban confines of Ottawa’s business community, Stewart is best known not as the owner of a grain mill, but as an expert in communications. But her passion for the family business and the Canadian agriculture industry runs deep, and continues to grow every year.
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The decision to buy her family’s grain mill was an impulsive one for Jennifer Stewart.
“There’s four kids in my family and there was never an expectation that any of the kids entered into the family business,” Stewart recalled in an interview with OBJ. “But my dad was telling us over dinner that he thought he had a buyer for Ottawa Valley Grain Products. My mom had retired as a provincial court judge and he was looking forward to spending more time with her. So, I just blurted out, ‘We’re actually interested in buying the business.’”
And so, in 2017, Stewart and her husband went forward with the decision to carry on her family’s legacy, finalizing the purchase of Ottawa Valley Grain Products.
“We had a meeting and came to an agreement,” she said. “My husband shadowed my father for six months to make sure he and I both understood the business and liked it. And we really fell in love with it.”
Stewart's parents were third-generation owners of the operation, which was established in Carp in 1929. The business, which mills mostly barley and wheat, also owns a historic 100-acre farm on Appleton Side Road in Almonte, which is tended by local farmers who plant and harvest the crops that are then processed at the Ottawa Valley Grain Products facility.
In the more urban confines of Ottawa’s business community, Stewart is best known not as the owner of a grain mill, but as an expert in communications and public affairs. She is the founder and CEO of communications firm Syntax Strategic and co-founder of The Honest Talk, a multi-platform online community sharing stories about and for women.
But her passion for the family business and the Canadian agriculture industry runs deep, and continues to grow every year.
“As a kid, we never talked business around the dinner table, so I never quite understood what my dad did,” said Stewart. “It’s really eye-opening and from an entrepreneurial perspective really exciting to see what this business did and what it could do. My husband runs it operationally day-to-day and I’m incredibly involved as well. It’s been fascinating to see the potential of Canada’s agricultural sector.”
Of course, Stewart sees a lot of potential in the business itself. She hopes new funding from the federal government will put the company on the path to achieving its next big goal. Last month, the business received $3 million from the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, which supports the growth efforts of businesses in populous regions.
The money will go toward building a new state-of-the-art processing facility in Mississippi Mills. It’s a welcome boost for Stewart, who said they had to get scrappy and spend hours filling out funding applications to make the multimillion-dollar project a reality.
“In 2020, we had a vision of building a new mill to expand our footprint, diversify our product offering, and innovate the current process,” said Stewart. “We started that four years ago and we are now finally at the point of moving forward after a few years of discussions and assessing if this is the right way forward. It will allow us to support dozens more farmers and really put Ottawa Valley agriculture even more on the map than it is today.”
Current estimates predict that the new facility will allow the company to scale by 20 to 30 per cent and introduce new grain products, including several types of wheat, rye and oats as well as heritage grains such as red fife and spelt. It will also allow the business to expand distribution and explore new export markets.
While the grain milling process is relatively simple and traditional, there have been major innovations in technology that make the process more sustainable and energy efficient. Unlike the current mill, Stewart said the new facility will feature new, up-to-date equipment. The company is also considering other sustainable options such as solar panels and green heavy-duty freight vehicles for transport.
“We’ve only scratched the surface in terms of potential,” said Stewart. “One thing the pandemic taught us was the viability and resilience of products that come from Canadian farms. People want products that they know where they come from. They want products that have a shelf life. We’re very scalable.”
Stewart sees potential for Ottawa’s agricultural sector to grow and establish itself as a Canadian leader.
“I think we have one of the most innovative agricultural sectors across all of Canada and we’re starting to be louder, we’re starting to be bolder, and we’re starting to collaborate,” she said. “It’s really, really exciting. For me personally, I just love business. There’s a lot of synergy. I like growing things, I like seeing things come to fruition, and I like big ideas.”
In unexpected ways, her expertise in communications has been a key part of the growth process. Ottawa Valley Grain Products has worked with her firm, Syntax Strategic, on marketing strategies over the past few years to better establish the brand.
“We’ve really taken it from almost a white label company that no one really knows to a well-recognized business in the village of Carp and across the agricultural sector,” Stewart said. “That’s been largely in part by working with the Syntax team, understanding the importance of communication and proactive marketing. We’re stronger together.”
She added, “I’m really excited to put the Ottawa Valley on the map with respect to how it supports farmers and the agricultural ecosystem through increased communications and marketing. Obviously with the goal of promoting the company, but also just promoting agriculture and farming in general. I think the more we know where food comes from, the better off we are for it.”
