A cut above: Penokean Hills Farms wins big business award

Penokean Hills Farms, based in Bruce Mines, has earned a major award.

The company, which operates a state-of-the-art abattoir, has been named Entrepreneur of the Year by Community Futures Ontario.

Community Futures Ontario represents 60 Community Futures Development Corporations (CFDCs) — 36 in southern Ontario and 24 in the north — that offer free business counselling, loans for start-up and expansion of small business, strategic planning on local projects and community economic development in rural areas.

The awared was handed out a recent conference  in Sault Ste. Marie.

Below is the full news release from East Algoma Community Futures Development Corporation:

Community Futures Ontario announced Penokean Hills Farms as the winner of its Entrepreneur of the Year Award at its annual conference held in Sault Ste. Marie June 2-4, 2024. The Bruce Mines, Ont. company operates a state-of-the-art abattoir where it produces beef and pork products that it markets to restaurants, butcher shops and retail locations throughout Ontario. To ensure a constant supply of quality cattle and market hogs to keep the abattoir sustainable, Penokean Hills Farm established a value chain, the only one of its kind in Ontario. Penokean Hills Farms works with farmers from the Algoma, Sudbury, Manitoulin, New Liskeard and Cochrane regions who sell cattle and/or crops into the program. It is designed to benefit all who are involved in the process from crop farming and cattle producing to wholesale buying and retail. Through its value chain, Penokean Hills Farms delivers a consistent, all-natural quality product while remaining good stewards of the land and animal. 

The opening of the new abattoir in 2023 has resulted in the creation of 22 new full- and part-time jobs at the facility, and those numbers continue to grow. Additionally, the value chain has removed the ebbs and flows of cost cycles allowing for consistent pricing for each component of the value chain, benefitting beef, hog and crop farmers in the Algoma and Manitoulin Districts who have a steady market for their products. Support businesses, such as repair shops, fuel delivery services, farm machinery retailers, and building supply contractors, are also reporting increased business and/or sales. At last count, more than 40 cattle farmers and 24 crop farmers have supplied cattle or feed into the value chain since 2017.

An investment through East Algoma Community Futures Development Corporation was instrumental in helping the company complete the abattoir that encountered a few delays during construction due to the COVID-19 pandemic. One of 60 not-for-profit organizations in Ontario, East Algoma Community Futures Development Corporation offers free business counselling, loans for start-up and expansion of small business, strategic planning on local projects and community economic development in rural areas.