CO2 GRO Inc. Announces The Appointment of Rose Marie Gage To Its Board
TORONTO, ON – April 29, 2019 – Toronto based CO2 GRO Inc. (“GROW”) (TSX-V: GROW, OTCQB: BLONF, Frankfurt: 4021) is pleased to announce the appointment of Rose Marie Gage to its Board of Directors effective as of today subject to TSXV approval.
Rose was the CEO of Ag Energy Co-Operative Ltd. (www. agenergy.coop or “Ag Energy”) for nine years until her recent retirement. She is credited with strategically growing the Co-op with her team to its current level of 500 agriculture, agri-business and rural members of which over 200 are greenhouse owners.
She has advocated for progressive changes in the Energy Consumer Protection Act, the Ontario and Federal Carbon Programs, CHSOP and the Ontario Co-op Act and in other Agri-Food and Agri-Tech sectors.
She currently serves as:
Chair – Agri Technology Commercialization Centre,
Chair – Ontario Agri-Technologies Association,
Vice-Chair of the provincially appointed Agricultural Institute of Ontario
Director and Chair of the Corporate Governance Committee – University of Ottawa Heart Institute Foundation, and
Director Hadrian Inc.
She has also served as:
Vice–Chair, Women in Leadership Foundation,
Vice-Chair, Canadian Heritage Photography Foundation,
Chair – Guelph Energy Co-operative Inc.,
Treasurer and Director – FV Tel Co-operative Ltd., and
Director – Schneider Canada
Ms. Gage is a Chartered Director and has received the following honors: 2018 Outstanding Achievement in Governance Award (Directors’ College), Canadian Inspiring 50 2018 recipient (Canadian & Dutch Government) and the 2016 Diversity 50 (Canadian Board Diversity Counsel). She was also nominated for the Canadian Women’s Network (WXN’s) 2018 Top 100 Powerful Women.
Rose has attended Harvard Executive School and received her Lean-Six Sigma Quality Leader accreditation (General Electric). She is also a graduate of McMaster University with an Hons. Bach. Of Commerce. She is currently a member of the Directors’ College, Institute of Corporate Directors, National Association of Corporate Directors and the Women’s Executive Network.
John Archibald, CEO stated “Her deep relationships with greenhouse plant growers, agriculture industrial companies and Government agriculture organizations will be of great benefit to GROW’s Board, strengthening its Agri-Tech expertise and ability to successfully move GROW’s Strategy going forward.”
About CO2 GRO Inc.
GROW's mission is to accelerate all indoor and outdoor value plant growth naturally, safely, and economically using its patent pending CO2 Foliar Spray technology. GROW’s global target retail plant markets are food at $8 trillion per year (Plunkett Mar 2017), non-food at an estimated $1.2 trillion per year with retail tobacco at $760 billion (BA Tobacco 2017), floriculture at $100 billion by 2022 (MarketResearch.Biz estimate), legal cannabis at $52.5 billion per year by 2023 (Statista) and legal U.S. hemp CBD at $22B per year by 2022 (the Brightfield Group).
GROW's CO2 technologies are commercially proven, scalable and easily adopted into existing irrigation systems. They work by transferring CO2 gas into water and foliar spraying water across the entire plant leaf surface. The dissolved gas crosses the plant leaf’s cuticle and diffuses into the leaf’s tissues where the absorbed CO2 is used to make sugar to fuel plant metabolism. The process is similar to the way oxygen gas is transferred to human bloodstreams once oxygen enters human lungs.
Foliar spraying of water, dissolved nutrients and chemicals on plant leaves has been used for over 60 years by millions of indoor and outdoor growers. To date, outdoor growers have not had any way to enhance plant CO2 gas uptake for faster growth.
Indoor CO2 gassing has enhanced plant yields for over 60 years but 60% of the CO2 gas used is typically lost from ventilation. Current greenhouse CO2 gassing levels of up to 1500 PPM are also not ideal for worker health and safety. GROW’s safer infused CO2 Foliar Spray can be used by both indoor and outdoor plant growers with minimal dissolved CO2 gas lost and much greater CO2 plant bioavailability resulting in higher plant yields than both CO2 gassing and no gassing plant yields.
About Ag Energy Co-operative Ltd.
Ag Energy Co-operative Ltd. was founded by Ontario greenhouses in 1988. The Co-op is an independent, for profit, agriculturally focused co-op specializing in energy solutions for its membership. Its team of 15 staff members are focused on member and customer excellence. The Co-op creates approximately $50 million in revenue. The role of Ag Energy is to commercialize energy policy for the benefit of agriculture: producers, processors, agri-food, agri-tech and all; by minimizing costs and de-risking energy spend. Ag Energy currently has approximately 500 agricultural, agri-business and rural members; approximately 41% of its members are commercial greenhouse growers and 34% agri-processing. The broader reach of Ag Energy (its Members and their businesses) represents over 6,000 employees and in excess of $2 Billion CAD in revenues annually. The recycling of revenue is estimated to be 90% of members’ revenues back into the Ontario economy.
Forward-Looking Statements: This news release may contain forward-looking statements that are based on CO2 GRO's expectations, estimates and projections regarding its business and the economic environment in which it operates. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to control or predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements and readers should not place undue reliance on such statements. Statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update them publicly to reflect new information or the occurrence of future events or circumstances, unless otherwise required to do so by law.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
For more information, please visit www.co2gro.ca or contact Sam Kanes, VP Communications and IR at 416-315-7477.