Saskatchewan farm girl graduates high school by herself

Jun 23, 2017

Chelsea Kennedy is off to the University of Saskatchewan next year

By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com

A high school student from Hodgeville, Sask. has the unique honour of being the only person in her grade 12 graduating class.

Chelsea Kennedy lives on Thistlecroft Farms with her parents Dan and Karen. Hodgeville’s population is about 150 people and is located around 175 kilometres away from Regina.

Kennedy took the opportunity to make the graduation ceremony her own.

She chose the colour scheme of the venue and matched it with her dress. Kennedy made a speech as class valedictorian and displayed photos.

Chelsea Kennedy enters her graduation with her parents.
Photo: Chelsea Kennedy/CBC

About 70 people attended the graduation ceremony, which is far more guests than anyone is usually allowed to bring to such an event.

“Previous years, you’d only have a limited amount of invites to the banquet but, since it was just me, I got to invite all of my family,” she told CBC Radio’s The Morning Edition. “Good thing I have a big family.”

And the ceremony went off without a hitch, according to those in attendance.

“…hats off to the great community of Hodgeville for allowing Chelsea to carry on with a traditional graduation,” Carol Kennedy Culp, who identified herself as Kennedy’s aunt, wrote on Facebook. “The event was outstanding.”

Since there wasn’t competition, Kennedy received some of the awards for graduating students.

Kennedy will attend the University of Saskatoon in the fall.

Anthony Drake, the creator of Saskatchewan’s provincial flag, is also from Hodgeville.

Video: The Investment Opportunities of Industrial Hemp

The fledgling U.S. hemp industry is decades behind countries like Canada, France and China, but according to impact investor and this week’s podcast guest, Pierre Berard, it could flourish into a $2.2 billion industry by 2030 and create thousands of jobs.

To reach its potential, what the hemp industry needs most right now, Berard said, is capital investment.

Last month, Berard published a report titled “Seeing the U.S. Industrial Hemp Opportunity — A Pioneering Venture for Investors and Corporations Driven by Environmental, Social and Financial Concerns” in which he lays out the case for investment.

It’s as if Berard, with this report, is waving a giant flag, trying to attract the eyes of investors, saying, “Look over here. Look at all this opportunity.”

Berard likens the burgeoning American hemp industry to a developing country.

“There is no capital. People don’t want to finance. This is too risky. And I was like, OK, this sounds like something for me,” he said.

As an impact investor who manages funds specializing in agro-processing companies, Berard now has his sights set on the U.S. hemp industry, which he believes has great economic value as well as social and environmental benefits.

He spent many years developing investment in the agriculture infrastructure of developing countries in Latin America and Africa, and said the hemp industry feels similar.

“It is very nascent and it is a very fragmented sector. You have pioneers and trailblazers inventing or reinventing the field after 80 years of prohibition,” he said. “So I feel very familiar with this context.”

On this week’s hemp podcast, Berard talks about the report and the opportunities available to investors in the feed, fiber and food sectors of the hemp industry.

Building an industry around an agricultural commodity takes time, he said. According to the report, “The soybean industry took about 50 years to become firmly established, from the first USDA imports in 1898 to the U.S. being the top worldwide producer in the 1950s.”

Berard has a plan to accelerate the growth of the hemp industry and sees a four-pillar approach to attract investment.

First, he said, the foundation of the industry is the relationship between farmers and processors at the local level.

Second, he said the industry needs what he calls a “federating body” that will represent it, foster markets and innovations, and reduce risk for its members and investors.

The third pillar is “collaboration with corporations that aim to secure or diversify their supply chains with sustainable products and enhance their ESG credentials. This will be key to funding the industry and creating markets,” he said.

The fourth pillar is investment. Lots of it. Over $1.6 billion over seven years. This money will come from government, corporations, individual investors, and philanthropic donors.

The 75-page report goes into detail about the hemp industry, its environmental and social impact, and the opportunities available to investors.

Read the report here: Seeing the U.S. Industrial Hemp Opportunity

Also on this episode, we check in with hemp and bison farmer Herb Grove from Brush Mountain Bison in Centre County, PA, where he grew 50 acres of hemp grain. We’ll hear about harvest and dry down and crushing the seed for oil and cake.