Life After Manitoba Harvest: Mike Fata Celebrates 25 Years of a Personal and Entrepreneurial Journey to Health

This article originally appeared on LetsTalkHemp.com

By Steven Hoffman

Mike Fata, founder and former Chair and CEO of Manitoba Harvest – and one of the original founders of the hemp food industry – is celebrating the 25th anniversary this month marking the beginning of his personal journey to health.

In 1995, Mike was, as he said, “an unhealthy and unhappy 18 year old who weighed 300 pounds. I became sick and tired of being sick and tired, and decided to do something about it.”

Along the way, Mike learned a lot about nutrition, a healthy diet and an active lifestyle. He lost 125 pounds, regained his health, and … “the journey to health got me to see the value of hemp seed,” he said.

Inspired by the superfood potential hidden in the hemp seed, Fata in 1998 founded Manitoba Harvest. Today, the award-winning company is a widely recognized global hemp food leader, with lifetime sales in 2020 surpassing $500 million.

After successfully selling Manitoba Harvest in 2019 to Tilray (NASDAQ:TLRY), a publicly traded, vertically integrated cannabis company based in Canada, for US$318 million, Mike is no longer involved on a day to day basis with the company. “It came to the point where the business was going that it was best to have a classically trained CEO leading the company,” he observed.

Yet, having carved out a significant entrepreneurial legacy in hemp and the natural and organic foods industry, Mike has future plans to mentor and invest in companies and brands that are committed to improving health, the environment and the quality of people’s lives.

“My passion is health and my purpose is to share it with the world,” Fata said. “I’m starting to diversify and help other founders fulfill their mission in the natural products space. I’ve made a couple of investments and got involved on the board level, and am involved actively in a couple of businesses.” Mike cites, for example that he’s become involved with Om Organic Mushrooms, an emerging natural supplements brand.

Mike also is committed to helping the hemp industry and natural products industry grow in Canada. “Giving back has been a big part of my work for my whole career; I’ve done 25 years of nonprofit board work,” he shared. Currently, Fata serves as Chair of the Canadian Health Food Association (CHFA), and during his tenure, the organization has been supportive of removing restrictions on CBD sales in Canada.

Currently, there are no legal means to bring non-prescription CBD health products to the Canadian marketplace, said CHFA in a statement. However, the association this past month released a report identifying CBD products as an opportunity for economic recovery in Canada that could create a niche market valued at more than C$1 billion.

“CHFA has been very outspoken in favor of hemp and CBD in the last couple of years,” said Fata. “Currently, to buy CBD in Canada you have to go to a licensed dispensary. We’re trying to change it so natural food retailers in Canada can sell these products.”

In applying what he’s learned leading the growth of Manitoba Harvest, Fata said, “At the end of the day, if you have a great product and you put the right capital and great people together, good things can happen. However, he noted, “The hemp industry is missing strong strategy and planning because it’s still a new industry. Also, more innovation has to happen,” he advised.

Fata also believes that “extracts aren’t the cure all and end all for the hemp industry. People rushed in; it will take years to work out.”

However, Mike notes that there is huge potential for hemp food and hemp fiber. “There is tremendous value in the seed and the fiber 10 to 20 times over where the industry is now,” he said. “For now, we have hemp hearts, but we need more innovation. Look at the advancements in soy protein, pea protein, for example. “Hemp is just scratching the surface. We’re just getting started on being a superfood.”

While Mike admits he is currently under a noncompete agreement in the hemp market as a result of the sale of Manitoba Harvest to Tilray, “I am a super hemp consumer and am super passionate about it, from genetics to market. So, stay tuned.”

The best way to reach out to Mike Fata is via LinkedIn.

USDA Proposal Seeks to Remove 3 Million Recipients from Food Stamps and Rescind School Lunch from Over 265,000 Children

Originally Appeared in Presence Marketing News, August 2019
By Steven Hoffman

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on July 23 proposed new rules to limit access to food stamps for households with savings and other assets, a measure that could cut benefits to 3.1 million people participating in the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP). According to USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue in a call with reporters, the proposed SNAP rules are aimed at ending automatic eligibility for those who are already receiving federal and state assistance. “What we’ve found is some states are taking advantage of loopholes. This proposal will save money and preserve the integrity of the program. SNAP should be a temporary safety net,” said Perdue. Secretary Perdue’s “rhetoric makes it sound like there are many households out there taking advantage of this so-called ‘loophole,’” reported H. Claire Brown in New Food Economy. However, Brown points out that the Congressional Research Office (CRO) found that only 4.2% of households that received SNAP benefits in 2016 were making more than the SNAP program income limit of 130 percent of the federal poverty line, or approximately $1,307 per month for an individual.

The majority of SNAP recipients—85%—fell below the poverty line. This suggests that the number of families that make a little more money and are grandfathered in by broad-based categorical eligibility is quite small, Brown asserts. The Trump administration estimates that the new rule will rescind food assistance from about 3 million of a total 36 million SNAP participants, or about 8% of the total. Based on CRO estimates, “this seems to indicate it’s possible that many of the people who stand to lose benefits are actually eligible for SNAP under the regular rules—they just haven’t gone through the process of filling out all the paperwork,” Brown writes. “This rule seems to be inserting another layer of red tape between people entitled to food assistance and their benefits,” she adds. In addition, Brown reports, USDA’s proposed changes could potentially take free school lunch away from 265,000 students. Students are automatically eligible for free lunch if they receive SNAP benefits. If automatic SNAP eligibility is uncoupled from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, children may lose their free lunch as a result. When asked about this on the press call, Brandon Lipps, administrator of the USDA Food and Nutrition Service, said, “USDA is estimating all the children who will no longer be directly certified for school meals if their parents are not categorically eligible would qualify for free or reduced price meals through the regular application process.” What this means, Brown reports, is more paperwork for parents.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons