Our History


The Harvest Group of Companies was founded in rural Alberta by Ron Aitkens over 16 years ago. We built our investment business working with the farmers, ranchers and small business owners in small town Alberta and Saskatchewan. In many ways, they are the foundation that has allowed the Harvest Group to succeed with both urban and rural investors, and to thrive as a leader in our industry with thousands of clients from all across Canada.

Like most financial services companies, originally the business was focused on conventional investment and financial products. Early on, Ron Aitkens decided conventional investment vehicles was not necessarily the best place to generate consistent returns for investors and there were opportunities for generating returns in real estate syndicates.

Harvest was established for the purpose of introducing commercial real estate investments to thousands of investors looking for cash flow and flow-through tax savings benefits.

In addition to real estate, Foundation Resources Oil and Gas was established in 2009. Foundation Resources is an energy development trust with three world class energy plays managed by an experienced oil and gas team. FR is a private trust that is designed to deliver cash flow in the form of quarterly distributions, plus it has the potential for healthy capital appreciation.

As of September 2010, all Harvest Group investment products that were previously made available through Foundation Capital Corporation are now available only through Registered Exempt Market Dealers. These changes are in response to recent regulatory changes in the Exempt Market industry designed to provide greater protection for investors, strengthening of the industry and to harmonize securities regulations across Canada.


Our Corporate Strategy

The global recession certainly has had an impact on virtually every economy around the world, including that of Western Canada. No one expected the economic storm to hit so hard and so fast. Many businesses did not survive the recession. Because of these events, many Harvest Group investors have understandably been concerned about their own investments with us. We are often asked by investors “How is my project doing?” and “Is everything OK?” While it is impossible to eliminate risk in any business, there are a number of things that can be done to minimize risk, especially in economically challenging times.

Our Acquisition & Investment Strategy

We invest in quality real estate projects in strong growth economies so as the economy recovers, our projects are among the first to come on stream. One of the things Harvest cannot control is what happens to the global economy. What we can do is to structure our investments and implement a business plan that allows us to survive the downturns, and to position ourselves for profitability when a recovery takes place. Every successful builder and developer does exactly that and Harvest is no different.

Yes, many of our projects have been impacted in terms of timelines. It will take longer than expected to bring about completion of some of our projects but every one remains sound and holds excellent potential for profitability. In development, one cannot eliminate timeline risk without jeopardizing the bondholder’s capital. If it takes longer to bring about a successful project, that is very much preferable to the consequences of moving ahead prematurely.

We incorporate each and every project independently meaning that you are a Bondholder, a Shareholder, or Unit holder in specific project in which you invested. Our real estate investments enjoy the benefit of being asset backed.