This fundraiser now supports our legal fight to overturn FedNor's denial of our Regional Tariff Response Initiative (RTRI) application. In December 2025, FedNor denied our RTRI application; funding created specifically to help Canadian businesses hurt by tariffs, with agriculture as a priority sector, and we won't survive without the relief. We appealed twice, and FedNor upheld the denial both times, in February and June 2026. We allege that FedNor applied criteria beyond what the program prescribes and made errors in their financial analysis of our business, corroborated by the highest authorities in Canada, that were never corrected. In June, 2026, we filed for judicial review in Federal Court to challenge this decision. 100% of donations to this fundraiser go directly toward the cost of legal representation in this case.

AgriTech North is an indigenous-, disabled-, 2SLGBTQ-owned-and-operated indoor agriculture Benefit Corporation (B-Corp) with a mission to grow nutritious produce for Northwestern Ontario that is of a consistent quality, available year-round, and provided at a competitive price. Our social mission is to lower Far North Indigenous community fresh produce costs by 25% and increase access to fresh produce in communities that do not already have access year-round.

We have invented new technologies that have been academically validated to enable an end to Canadian and Indigenous food insecurity, once commercialized.

Simply sending food to meet immediate needs is only part of the solution to the food security crises in Far North Indigenous communities (Food Charity is Not Food Security); we need bold action to establish infrastructure that ensures a regular and sustainable supply of fresh produce year-round in Far North communities. That's the work this legal proceeding protects; without a fair resolution to this funding decision, that infrastructure, and the jobs and real food security it supports, are at risk.

Did you know that food in Far North Indigenous communities costs more than twice that of Toronto or Thunder Bay? In addition, Far North Indigenous communities spend more than half their income on food alone, and typically fresh produce is so expensive that it is unaffordable, leading to the only viable options being canned or boxed foods.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/10-for-bag-of-potatoes-northern-ont-aboriginals-spend-more-than-half-of-income-on-food-1.3068160

About Us:

My name is Benjamin Feagin Jr. (on left), and I moved back to Dryden, Ontario in 2021 with my fiancé Fabian Velez (on right). Fabian and I returned to be present for our family in town, while also combining our specialties to make meaningful impact on the community that raised me. I specialize in novel technology development and scaling manufacturing processes, and Fabian specializes in botany and has been growing since he was seven years old.