Accelerate Okanagan (AO) is best known for supporting the valley’s tech startups and growth-stage companies. Less well known is AO’s commitment to agri-tech: one of their key strategic pillars is to support the Okanagan’s oldest and largest industry, agriculture.
Already distributing LevelUp Local grants to help farmers augment their operations with digital projects, and with a seat at the table at the City of Gastronomy conversations, Accelerate Okanagan had its fingers in the soil, so to speak, of the local agriculture conversation. The question was this:
“How might we gather a clearer view of the ecosystem and its needs in Okanagan agriculture, to help foster innovation?”
The answer was, as it often is in matters of innovation: through listening.
The timing was right to open the door for some conversations: new signs of life were stirring towards collaborations in local agriculture. From the recent City of Gastronomy designation, to the Cross-Commodity Leadership Project, to the Okanagan Food Systems Collaborative, the message was clear: people are ready to work together. CEO of AO, Brea Lake, knew it was crucial to lean into the relationships that already existed, and come with humility and respect to the table. “I want to be conscious of the growers themselves; the seasons and realities,” said Brea. “We’re here to be partners, and start with listening.”
And so, AO asked Co.school if we could help create a plan for engaging with growers and leaders in the local agriculture world, towards building a better understanding of the current reality. Inspired by Co.school’s member engagement work with CQCC, we talked about an approach where one-on-one conversations came first, and the plan grew out of what people said.
Relying on Accelerate Okanagan’s network of connections and relationships, we sent out invitations to folks from across the sector, asking them to sign up for interviews and visits, to explore some key questions about the challenges and opportunities facing growers today in the Okanagan.
Listening first
Over the spring and summer of 2026, our process looked like this:
- Learning the landscape: Building on earlier conversations, we mapped who’s who in Okanagan agriculture (growers, associations, researchers, funders and community groups) and built a list of people to talk to across a wide mix of crops, farm sizes and roles.
- Conversations with growers: We held a number of conversations with farmers, industry leaders and agriculture advocates, wherever and whenever worked for them: FaceTime calls from the field, back-porch visits to farm offices, picnic tables at lunch. (“I’ll walk with you as you fix a tractor if I need to,” Kevan ended up saying to folks like Dan at Helen’s Acres. “You talk, I’ll take notes.”)
- Staying in step: We met regularly with Brea and the AO team, sharing what we were hearing as it came in, so AO could adjust its thinking along the way rather than wait for a final report.
- Making sense of it together: As patterns emerged, we shared them with AO’s board and staff.
What Brea Said
“Agriculture innovation is a strategic priority for AO. We had grants and partnerships underway, and our instinct was to build more. Kevan showed us the better move was to slow down, listen and let the opportunities surface. He brought clear thinking and real care to every conversation, with growers and with our team. That listening became Nobody Grows Alone, and a stronger bridge between the Okanagan’s tech and agriculture communities.”
Brea Lake, CEO, Accelerate Okanagan
From behind-the-scenes research to public launch
As the conversations came together, the work changed shape. It became clear that growers had perspective the whole region needed to hear. Energy shifted, and we started collaborating on turning the internal-facing research into a public, interactive report.
The report was launched with the title Nobody Grows Alone, a micro-site to share stories, quotes and themes from the conversations. The visual design and brand was overseen by AO’s team, with close collaboration with Co.school to ensure narrative and flow was faithful to the themes shared during the interviews.
A few ideas shaped it:
- Interdependence: As the title says, “nobody grows alone.” While farms themselves may be independently owned, they are dependent on a string of connected factors: the environment, community attitudes, regulation and more.
- More than produce: It’s more than what gets grown here. It’s how people find food, how work happens, even how mental health outcomes are supported. The “growth” in question is also the development of our society, and individuals within it.
- A call to innovation: There is not merely one idea, one solution or one intervention that will change the game here. There are many, many opportunities. We wondered, how might AO issue an invitation to other innovators?
Alongside the report, we supported by writing a blog series for AO’s site to help socialize the report, and helped behind-the-scenes as AO took a leading role in supporting the Region of Plenty Okanagan Food System Summit.
AO now has a grounded, public picture of what Okanagan growers need, built from their own words, and a clear invitation for farmers, developers, youth advocates and neighbours to help turn ideas into action. We’re excited to see where things go next!
