Business View Caribbean | Volume 8, Issue 7

29 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN VOLUME 8, ISSUE 7 The Nest Dubbed “The Nest”, the CB Group’s new home will be a place of rapid growth and development; an incubator of innovation. Through a single location, it will house three independent operations: Hill Run Farms: An R&D Farm for livestock, where they will grow 2.5 million+ chickens and 7500+ pigs annually Harvest Hub: A 500+ acre R&D Farm for the new crop division – Imagination Farms ROC, “Revolutionary Operations Centre”: A new, world class poultry processing plant While each operation will operate independently from a business point of view, they will rely on each other from an environmental perspective. CBG believes this hybrid approach is a superior and more complete business model because it not only puts people first, but it increases operational efficiencies and reduces environmental impact. The total investment is projected at $USD 120 million ($JMD15 billion). Major environmental benefits of this project include reduced water usage, elimination of biological waste sent to the city dump, and more efficient energy usage. The new plant will save 200 million liters of water and eliminate 15 million pounds of waste from going into the dump annually. reports, “CB Group is a multi-generational family business that has always had an interesting mix of Jamaican nationals, Americans, and Europeans working in the company. And I think that diversity has really paid off for us. Bringing technology from the U.S. and Europe helped with automation as well as bringing in expertise in terms of people. A talented team was created early on, and 40 years later, a significant part of that team is still in place – which is an amazing feat. The persons who headed up the much smaller operations back then are today our execs and GMs running companies and business divisions.” What began as a basic chicken company, continued to integrate vertically and backward, investing in technology and adapting first-world techniques. Looking at controlled environmental agriculture, tunnel ventilated houses, and viewing it as a professional business. “Not farming as a hobby or a second business,” Lyn explains, “but as the primary business.” From there the company continued to grow, CB GROUP (CBG)