Canada’s mustard industry wants to squeeze more money out of the spicy prairie crop.
The ambitious goal is to increase the value of the mustard industry, from farm to retail shelf, to $500 million by 2021 from the present $72 million a year.
“We think there is a lot of potential for growth beyond what we see now,” said Bill Greuel, manager of research and development for the Saskatchewan agriculture department and part of a team of industry stakeholders working on a project called Mustard 21.
“This is all about a vision of what we think this industry can do next.”
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The additional value would come from a near doubling of mustard acreage and production, increased revenue from seed sales and processing more of the crop in Canada.
About 87 percent of the crop is now exported as raw seed. Canada ranks second in the world in mustard production and is the dominant player in world trade.
Mustard 21 is a $955,000 project involving the Saskatchewan Mustard Development Commission, the Canadian Mustard Association, the Saskatchewan agriculture ministry and Agriculture Canada.
The federal department is providing $758,000 in funding and the province $75,000. SMDC is contributing $32,000 and other industry players $90,000 through in-kind contributions.
The project, which is to completed by mid-2008, will develop a strategic plan based on five underlying goals:
- Increase the value of the industry to $500 million by 2021.
- Increase domestic processing and extraction to 50 percent of production from the present 13 percent.
- Improve Canada’s competitiveness as a supplier to world markets.
- Align producers, agronomists and plant breeders to develop new varieties that meet the requirements of the domestic value chain.
- Establish an action plan supported by all stakeholders to achieve the project’s goals.
Greuel said in an interview it’s also crucial that a significant portion of the increased value gets passed back to farmers.
“It’s hard to say exactly how much of that additional value goes to producers, but that’s certainly our intention to encourage increased acres and production and improved quality,” he said.
For example, if mustard sellers can develop niche markets for specific end uses, growers will be in a good position to extract a better price through such things as identity-preserved contracts.
Mustard 21 will examine the potential for growth in a number of areas.
On the industrial side, that includes biorefining into a variety of products, such as biofuel and fuel additives, grease and resin.
It will also look at new opportunities in the food market, including mustard as a health food (mustard gum has been shown to have a positive effect on diabetes), and as a food ingredient for flavouring and for its binding properties.
On the production side, work will focus on hybridization, creating a herbicide database and outcrossing with other species of plants to achieve desirable characteristics.
SMDC chair Baine Fritzler told the meeting that a plan like Mustard 21 is desperately needed by the industry, adding the next few years could be crucial to the future of mustard as a viable crop in Western Canada.
While mustard has been grown since the 1930s, it has started to lag behind other crops in hybridization, herbicides and market promotion and development.
“That may sound gloomy, but the good news is that most of these things are not irreparable,” he said.
“I am encouraged by the initiatives undertaken in the last three years and am confident they will pay us, as producers, dividends in the near future.”
In addition to Mustard 21, another industry group is working on developing a branding strategy aimed at ensuring Canadian mustard remains the No. 1 choice in world markets.
Steve Foster of Viterra, a member of the branding task force, said Canada is facing increased competition in world markets, along with new demands from customers relating to traceability, quality assurance and product safety and purity.
Developing a Canadian brand will mean guarantees in areas like uniqueness, seed quality, reliable supply, health value and technical support.
“We have a long way to go, but branding is feasible,” he told the meeting, adding that support from growers is crucial, particularly to improve quality and ensure a consistent, reliable supply.
