Silk Grass Farms 2020 Impact Report

Impact Report 2019-2020

Since incorporating Silk Grass Farms  in 2019, we've been fueled by a bold vision -one that still energizes us every day      Operationalizing our vision has not always been glamorous -- pulling tractors out of the mud, fighting back weeds without chemicals -but we've been humming with activity through the wins and the challenges.

These first years have been about rehabilitating, planning and documenting to build a strong foundation that's true to our values. As we take another leap of faith into 2021, we do so with the momentum of our past accomplishments.

March, 2019

Founded

Purchased Citrus & Cattle Ltd. and Belize Fruit Processors Ltd.

Incorporated and relaunched as  Silk Grass Farms and Silk Grass Enterprises

April-Dec 2019

Repaired, Rebuilt & rebranded

Took stock, rebuilt roads, removed old  structures, cleared abandoned orchards, planted nurseries; rebranded Glorious Belize

Jan. -Dec. 2020

structured business

Established key governance, human resource, operational, and environmental policies;  protected 4 key wa acres of tr

87,926+

Reimagining the way food is grown and proc

Mandy Cabot, co-founder, board chair

About Silk Grass Farms

Silk Grass Farms is a vertically integrated agribusiness in Southern Belize that's committed to positive environmental and social impact by reimagining the way food is grown and

Redefining Success

At Silk Grass Farms, we measure success by how well we serve our stakeholders.

To our team members, we offer access to a higher quality of life.

To our partners and service providers, we offer honest communication and mutually beneficial transactions.

To our customers, we offer delicious, healthy products that are responsibly grown, farmfresh, and fully traceable.

To our community, we offer investment in the local economy, clean production practices, and philanthropic support.

Ours is a journey of evolution from ownership to stewardship; from division to connection; from independence to interdependence.

Our Core Values:

Mission, Vision, action

From there, we drew direct correlations between the issues identified in our Materiality Matrix and 6 of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. We used this to develop our Theory of Change.

While our Materiality Matrix helps us establish the key issues we face, our Theory of Change outlines the specific actions and conditions needed to address these issues in a meaningful way.

Because the value of our mission and vision lies largely in our ability to realize it, we created clear definitions and accountability mechanisms to identify and measure what matters.

In 2020, we articulated our Mission and Vision, and illustrated our definition of sustainability with our People, Planet, Profit diagram.

This diagram informed our Materiality Matrix, which identifies and ranks the social, environmental, and financial issues that matter most to our business and to our stakeholders.

To bring all of these ambitious goals to the operational level, in 2021 we will establish key performance indicator (KPI) dashboards for managers to track their progress towards creating the conditions outlined in our Theory of Change.  Progress on our KPIs will be outlined in our 2021 impact report.

100%

80%

Enrolled             of workforce in health, safety and development trainings

Promoted           of our workforce (15 employees)

Enrolled 100% of employees in company-sponsored health insurance plans after 90-day probation period 50

Increased workforce by 80%, creating 53 new jobs. Total 119 employees on payroll as of December 2020 75% 13%

Replaced or repaired on-site worker housing for         farm workers

Offered transportation allowances to                  of employees

Provided a safe, clean, inclusive work environment to all employees

Created and implemented Employee and Manager Handbooks, including Code of Conduct and Whistleblower policies

Formed cross-departmental Health, Wellness and Safety committee

Created and filled Corporate Social Responsibility Officer position

Paid          above minimum wage to lowest earning employees

17% 6% 71%

32

Dispersed         no-interest loans to employees

Provided no-cost administrative support to assist           of workers in creating bank accounts

Created and implemented Silk Grass Farms Stakeholder Engagement policy, Materiality Matrix, and Theory of Change

Repainted buildings and landscaped with ornamental plants for visual appeal

Farm Preserve

Our farm has undergone a complete transformation over the past 2 years -from overgrown, abandoned orchards, to newly planted, lush fields; from rusted, defunct tractors to brand new farm equipment; from dilapidated shelters to newly constructed infrastructure. Here are some notable accomplishments in 2019 and 2020:

Created a working nursery for native hardwoods, grasses, vanilla, passionfruit and mali apple

Rehabilitated 800+ acres of previously neglected farmland

Planted 84,364 fruit trees

Reduced agrochemical use by 78.5%

24,700-acres of pristine rainforest were set aside to form the basis of the legally protected Silk Grass Farms Wildlife Preserve. This tract of land bridges two major nature preserves and is home to thousands of plant and animal species, a number of which are endangered. White-lipped peccary, jaguars, pumas, scarlet macaws, big-leaf mahoganies, and Baird's tapirs were all sighted on the farm and surrounding preserve.

Established 8 water table stations and 1 weather station

Set up 8 wildlife cameras and 6 no hunting signs

Protected 4 major watersheds

Product Traceability

2020 Harvest 2019 Harvest

The long term goal is for our farm to produce all of the products that we process and sell. In 2019, Silk Grass Farms produced more than 80% of all coconuts used in our single SKU: cold pressed coconut oil. We sourced a small percentage of coconuts from Silk Grass Farms' sister companies, Xibun River Enterprises' Hummingbird Citrus Ltd., and Greene Groves & Ranch Belize. The remainder were sourced from Texbel and SitCan, local suppliers who have recently signed our Supplier Code of Conduct.

Sources of Coconuts 2019

After acquiring the operation in 2019, we stopped applying herbicides and greatly reduced the use of conventional fertilizers and pesticides in our coconut groves.  This caused a slight but temporary decline in productivity. The 2020 harvest was also affected by drought, further reducing coconut development. Despite this, production increased from 2019 by 9%. Because consumer demand continues to outpace farm production, we continue to supplement our harvest with coconuts from other approved suppliers.

Sources of Coconuts 2020

Silk Grass Farms (81 7%) Texbel (17 03%)

SitCan (0 71%) Xibun River HCL (0 42%)

Xibun River Greene Groves (0 14%)

Silk Grass Farms (78 04%) Texbel (20 65%) ST & Sons Ltd (1 31%)

Capital Expenditures

Since incorporating, Silk Grass Farms has invested more than 29 million USD across all operations, including land, infrastructure, equipment, and rehabilitation. These investments are a testament to our commitment to build both our company and our local economy in Silk Grass, Belize.

Farm Investments

Factory

Investments

In 2019 and 2020, we made significant improvements to our existing factory and broke ground on a new state-of-the-art fruit processing facility to ensure that none of our harvests go to waste.

Designed and initiated construction of 100,000 sq ft processing plant

Set up and staffed product quality and product development laboratory

Constructed gate houses; sales depot; restrooms and offices; repainted buildings, purchased sales vehicles

Purchased 50 starter bee colonies and purchased 2,000 vanilla plants

Constructed new dehusking, deshelling, refrigeration, storage, gate house, and bike sheds

Purchased 4 tractors, 2 bush hogs, no-till attachments, and other farm machinery

Acquired old fruit processors facility, buildings, groves, and surrounding land

Constructed new commissary, restrooms, showers, and 50+ person worker housing complex & farm manager house

Challenges & Future Commitments

Current Challenges Future Commitments

As with any ambitious venture, there are still ongoing challenges that we're working to overcome.

Seasonal worker shortages due to Covid-19 restrictions

Limited coconut production on farm

Limited renewable energy solutions

No centralized recycling programs in Belize (nowhere to recycle plastic packaging)

Patchy, undernourished soil from decades of conventional farming

Establishing an effective integrated  pest management system

Managing product traceability of nonfarm grown coconuts during processing

Climate change: increasingly severe droughts during dry season; excessive and continuous rainfall during the rainy season; more frequent and severe weather events

Over the next 3 years, we plan to accomplish even bigger goals:

Endow Silk Grass Wildlife Preserve with shares of Silk Grass Farms & Enterprises

Achieve B Corp, Rainforest Alliance, SQF and HACCP certifications

Complete 100,000 sq. ft. processing facility

Install bio-reactor to convert bio-waste into heat energy, biochar, and wood vinegar

Complete worker housing construction

Install additional solar panels

Build commissary at workers’ camp

Finish planting ground covers and grasses; finish planting riparian buffers

Conduct soil testing

Set up pension plan for all employees

Set up employee blood bank

Increase participation in continuing education and professional development

Set up take-back program for used packaging/bottles

Formalize stakeholder engagement by collaborating with local educational institutions; facilitating volunteer opportunities in local communities; and conducting employee engagement assessments

Palm weevils destroy who coconut tree eating their s centers

from the sale of Silk Grass Farms products will be used for the Preserve's maintenance.

Our Board of Directors

Peter Kjellerup and Mandy Cabot have been leaders in social enterprise since founding the shoe company, Dansko, in 1990. 100% employee-owned, Dansko has won numerous awards including the Triple Bottom Line Award, Best Places to Work, Built to Last, and Best for the World, Workers awards. Mandy and Peter will remain on the Board of Directors, but day-to-day management will be Belizean.

Henry Canton, Executive Director of Silk Grass Farms and its sister companies, formerly served as Belize’s Minister of Works, and as the Managing Director of Citrus Products of Belize, Ltd. (CPBL). He currently chairs the Belize Agroproductive Sector Group (BAPS) and the Belize Agricultural Health Authority (BAHA).

Trish Rogers is a corporate finance attorney at the Denver, Colorado-based law firm of Moye White, LLP, which was one of the first law firms in the U.S. to certify as a B Corp. Trish has a passion for working with entrepreneurs, focusing on companies in a variety of industries that make environmental, social and governance (ESG ) metrics a priority.

Senior Counsel Andrew Marshalleck is a Managing Partner of Barrow & Co. LLP in Belize City. Andrew currently serves on the boards of Belize Electric Ltd, Grande Caribe Resort, RF&G Insurance and GA Roe & Sons, Ltd.

Measuring What Matters

Our corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts are designed to make sure that our policies and practices match our values every step of the way

We’re pleased to bring Minni Forman into the Silk Grass family of companies as CSR manager, reflecting our commitment to environmental and social responsibility

Minni has worked with social enterprises to promote sustainable agriculture and food security throughout her career in Belize and the USA. She brings unique insight to our CSR efforts as a creative leader in innovative food systems, from urban farming to large-scale agriculture.

About Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Instead of using short-sighted tactics to reach a single bottom line, the idea of longterm, shared stakeholder prosperity is growing, even among the world's largest corporations.

At Silk Grass Farms, we are joining the movement to use business as a means to improve quality of life for many, not just a few.

Corporate social responsibility is a business management approach that operates under a triple bottom line directive, prioritizing social, environmental and financial accountability with equal weight.

CSR efforts work to create systems that measure and report on value creation not only for a few shareholders, but for the many stakeholders that are affected by a business' operations. These CSR mechanisms make sure that workers, suppliers, customers, communities and even ecosystems have a seat at the stakeholder table.

, many thousands of companies that have made significant investments in CSR (people, planet and profits) are thriving, not in spite of these effor

Minni Forman Corporate Social Responsibility Manager minni forman@silkgrassfarms com