ABOUT US
About Us
Our Story
At Terra Bioindustries, we upcycle agri-food sidestreams into sustainable ingredients for a variety of food and chemical industries. Our unique upcycling platform was created in 2020 by Steve George and Ricardo Martinez.
From our humble beginnings that focused on upcycling brewers’ spent grains from local breweries in Toronto, Canada, our team is ready to help upcycle more and supply sustainable ingredients to businesses around the world.
Our Mission
Our mission is to decarbonize existing supply chains with upcycling. By re-directing sidestreams away from landfills, we are preventing unnecessary food waste and greenhouse gases. Instead of going to waste, those sidestreams are turned into a new, more sustainable source of ingredients.
OUR VISION FOR THE FUTURE
Innovation
We believe that upcycling spent grains into plant-based protein and fermentable sugars is just the beginning. While our sugars provide a useful, rich mixture for precision fermentation, we believe spent grains can be the answer for a sustainable source of sugar isolates and chemical precursors.
Sustainability
We are on a continuous journey to become zero-waste. As a part of our commitment to sustainability, we are exploring ways to use up all of our spent grain inputs while creating more environmentally-friendly products.
Waste not, want not.
Scalability
Brewers’ spent grains are abundant but so are other spent byproducts from industries. We plan to explore these feedstock options to unlock new products using the same upcycling platform. We have already begun preliminary trials that we plan to expand upon in the years to come.
Want to discuss how you can be a part of the circular economy?
The Terra Team
Our team of passionate and diverse individuals has helped to shape the mission and vision of Terra Bioindustries.
MEET OUR FOUNDERS
Steve George | CEO and Co-Founder
Originally born in Bombay, India, Steve now resides in Toronto, Canada with his wife and son. Steve describes becoming a father as a real turning point for him and feeling a responsibility to protect the planet for generations to come.
With years of hands-on experience with industrial process development, Steve is re-imagining how our supply chains work. Steve developed the Terra Bioindustries platform to turn existing production into the beginning of a circular economy. While the upcycling platform already produces two products, the potential to produce more and even use other types of spent grains leads Steve to believe this is just the beginning of an R&D jackpot.
“At heart, I am an environmentalist – I want to make sure that humanity does not wipe out the very ecosystem that supports it. At the same time, I am a realist – I know that “green” solutions will not be widely implemented unless there is a bulletproof business case for them – green solutions have to be profitable. Terra Bioindustries was born of a desire to make a meaningful contribution towards the circular economy of tomorrow.”
Ricardo Martinez | President and Co-Founder
Ricardo moved from Mexico City to Toronto, Canada for his graduate degree in Chemical Engineering. The contrast between North American abundance and the struggles he witnessed in Mexico is what made him want to tackle resource scarcity on a global scale. Ricardo believes there is a huge opportunity to maximize efficiency for production and lower waste.
Ricardo’s years of experience as a process engineer have helped him shape the future of Terra, especially while creating new, circular supply chains for agrifood byproducts. His combination of data science, strategy, and project management skills aid in optimizing Terra’s process. Ricardo believes the right collaborations will shift the paradigm of linear supply chains, benefiting the economy and the environment.
“I am always challenging conventional ways of creating things and how to make them more sustainable, efficient, and low waste. I want to see Terra Bioindustries collaborating and working with organizations to ensure food security, shorter supply chains, maximization as opposed to over-exploitation of resources and energy.”