About Us
Growing Food.
Growing People.
Growing Community.
Commitment Statements
As an organization and as individual members of Vermillion Growers, we are committed to…
- Strengthening communities by providing a locally produced, sustainable food source.
- Being accountable to our consumers and investors while ensuring traceability of our produce
- Utilizing industry-leading technology to operate in an efficient and environmentally sustainable manner
- Ensuring that the triple bottom line of protecting people, planet, and profit is our priority
Mission
To grow high quality produce, healthy people, and sustainable communities.
Meet the team!
Mark Kohan
Mark is a developer and well respected property owner in the town of Dauphin, Manitoba. Growing up in rural Manitoba he has learned the work ethic necessary to be successful in business as well as his personal life.
Having an education in Business Administration he used his knowledge to develop strategies for working with groups of investors in the development of subdivisions of land, condos and commercial properties. His comprehensive understanding of money and people management have allowed him to earn the trust and respect of bankers, investors and community members.
Over the past 15 years Mark has raised and managed over 35 Million dollars in funding making him an invaluable asset to any team. With a recent introduction to the commercial greenhouse world he has been invited to participate in the funding and financial management of the Vermillion Grower’s facility in Dauphin.
Maria Deschauer
Maria is a seasoned entrepreneur with a passion for economic growth and job creation in rural Manitoba. She has a highly successful background in property development / management and will be transferring those skills to Vermillion Growers as Managing Director.
Lucky Deschauer
John is an entrepreneur/philanthropist who has spent the past 35 years in construction and property development. Dauphin, Manitoba became his home in 2013 when he began building residential rental apartments to help ease the housing demand in the community. As a master carpenter, he has mentored apprentices until his retirement recently from construction to spend full time on his greatest passion, Commercial greenhouses.
Growing up in rural southern Manitoba he was exposed to varying types of agriculture, spending time as a young man working on farms for experience. At the age of 15 he began building experimental greenhouses with his father including a 20 foot high glass greenhouse to grow vegetables in the winter. Since that time growing and providing healthy high quality produce for family and friends has been a burning ember in his soul. With recent improvements to high-tech greenhouses his passion has soared and now has committed all his time and resources to bringing the best team of greenhouse builders and growers together.
Cormac Foster
Cormac Foster was born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba and graduated as a Biosystems Engineer with a specialization in Environmental Engineering. Cormac is also a credentialed LEED Green Associate. He completed his degree at the University of Manitoba while also working as a carpenter and site supervisor on commercial construction sites and a supervisor in the retail industry. Prior to his work at Vermillion Growers, Cormac has worked as the co-lead on a prototype cold-climate energy production greenhouse facility project, as well as conducted ground-breaking type II diabetes research at the John Buhler Research Centre. In addition to his technical background, Cormac has spent time as a motivational speaker, delivering presentations to a wide range of audiences of up to 200 people on many different platforms based on his experience as a contestant of “The Amazing Race Canada".
As the Vice President of Engineering and Development for Vermillion Growers, Cormac brings a wealth of knowledge and passion to the team, utilizing his strong communication skills along with his technical engineering background to manage and provide strategic oversight for development, planning, and engineering. Cormac investigates the latest advancements in the industry to identify emerging opportunities, enabling Vermillion Growers to be at the forefront of innovation.
Jason Chartrand
Jason is local to Winnipeg Manitoba and a graduate of the University of Manitoba's Mechanical Engineering program. Starting in 2022 Jason has been working with Vermillion Growers as an EIT, growing in his capacity as a project engineer as he supports the growing engineering department. Jason has a passion for efficiency and sustainability and has been able to focus these skills as he helps Vermillion Growers to build greenhouses and grow tomatoes.
Wim Nuyens
Wim is from Belgium and was born in a greenhouse. He has worked since his youth in his family’s greenhouse. He completed high school, then after 5 years of working in the industrial industry, he took over the family business at the age of 24, together with his brother. After 18 years in the family business Wim decided to move on and look for new challenges and worked throughout Europe as a consultant, sharing his wealth of knowledge to assist in the start up of new facilities in the greenhouse business. Wim enjoys coaching and sharing his knowledge with new teams that want to learn everything about growing in high tech greenhouses. Vermillion Growers is fortunate to have this experience and knowledge to help guide and support our team and our crop.
Erin Brasch
Erin has a work history in administration and has a family history of agriculture and greenhouses. She grew up on a Rural Manitoba farm and spent her extra time working in her parent’s family-owned greenhouses. Her university degree in psychology and passion for people has led her to the position of Chief Administrative Officer. This position allows her to use her strengths to contribute to building a strong team which is essential for the success of the greenhouse.