The federal government has announced $6.4 million in funding for the canola industry.
The funding will be distributed through three federal programs:
- A $1.69 million contribution to the Canola Council of Canada to help the industry capture new international markets. The funds will be delivered through the federal government’s $88 million AgriMarketing Program launched in April 2009.
- A $1.7 million contribution to Grow Canola 2.015, a project designed by the Canola Council of Canada to deliver web-based agronomic and marketing information to Canadian producers. It will be delivered through the federal government’s Agri-Flexibility Fund, which was launched earlier this year as part of Canada’s economic stimulus package.
- A $2.95 million repayable loan through the federal Agri-Opportunities Program to BioExtraction Inc., which specializes in extracting and marketing specialized oils and concentrated protein products from canola seed.
The Agri-Opportunities program is a five-year $134 million program that promotes the commercialization of innovative products processes and services.
Toronto-based BioExtraction Inc. completed construction last year on a 44,000 sq. foot processing plant near Saskatoon that employs 21 people.
The plant processes 60 to 65 tonnes of non-genetically modified canola per day, producing a high-fat canola meal for the livestock feeding industry. It also produces a premium de-gummed canola oil for specialty oil markets, primarily in California.
The company hopes to expand production to around 80 tonnes a day later this year.
BioExtraction will use the new federal loan to expand its crushing and processing operations to produce the world’s first canola-based human-grade protein isolate for use in body building supplements and other high-protein nutrition products.
The money will pay for system design work as well as procurement and installation of specialized processing equipment.
The plant expansion is expected to create 35 jobs over the next three years.
