A new high-protein canola hybrid developed by Corteva is being tested in feeding trials on poultry, hogs and fish
WINNIPEG — The North American market for swine feed is worth US$17 to $27 billion, or possibly more. There are dozens of reports that estimate the size of the market, so it’s hard to nail down the exact number.
Regardless, it’s big.
Corteva Agriscience is planning to tap into that market with a new type of canola that could be more competitive with soybean meal.
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“The mono-gastric (feed) market in North America is exceptionally large, and right now, canola meal doesn’t trade into that,” said Tyler Groeneveld, North America director of grains and oils for Corteva.
Canola meal is not competitive because it contains too much fibre and insufficient protein for poultry and swine. The Canola Council of Canada says canola meal is around 37 per cent protein, at 12 per cent moisture.
“Soybean meal would trade up around 49 per cent,” Groeneveld said.
The protein gap has constrained sales and market opportunities for canola meal. In some feed markets, canola meal sells at a 20 per cent price discount to soybean meal
Corteva, Protein Industries Canada and other partners are trying to close the protein gap.
This spring, the consortium announced a $31 million investment to “increase the demand and market opportunities for high-protein canola,” says a release from Protein Industries Canada, a non-profit with the mission of making Canada a global leader in plant protein and related products.
Plant breeders with Corteva have developed a higher protein, low-fibre canola hybrid branded as ProPound.
Field testing shows that the new hybrid still has desirable traits but contains less fibre than other canola hybrids, Groeneveld said.
“(We) were able to grow yield, bring along all the herbicide traits, the agronomic traits that growers are looking for and basically elevate protein, generally at the expense of fibre in the seed,” he said.
“By elevating protein and decreasing the fibre, we’re going to be able to create new markets that are currently somewhat unavailable to a significant volume of canola meal.”
Bill Greuel, chief executive officer of Protein Industries Canada, said this project and high protein canola could “transform” the canola value chain.
Before that happens, Corteva and its partners need to show that high-protein canola will perform in hog rations.
“We’re in the midst of co-ordinating and completing feeding studies to validate the opportunity for higher rates of canola meal … to be used in monogastric rations,” Groeneveld said.
The feeding trials on non-ruminant livestock, swine and poultry will be completed over the next two years.
As well, Corteva has partnered with Botaneco, a Calgary company that has developed a canola protein concentrate. Northeast Nutrition, a fish feed manufacturer in Nova Scotia, plans to test the Botaneco product.
“We are always searching for new and more effective ingredients, especially ones produced in Canada,” said Alan Donkin of Northeast Nutrition.
“We are eager to conduct research on new high-protein products from plant crops grown in Canada,”
If the feeding trials are successful, Corteva will replicate the ProPound canola seed, and canola crushers will “send a signal” to growers that they want to buy higher protein canola, Groeneveld said.
As for timing, it could be a few years before Prairie farmers plant canola hybrids with more protein in the seed.
“It’s premature to speculate (on a timeline),” Groeneveld said.
“We’re looking to commercialize this in the not too distant future.”
The new hybrid, however, will not be a speciality canola that’s produced for feed markets.
Corteva intends to have a “scalable program” so canola crushers and the canola industry can serve the highest value markets for edible oil, renewable fuels and plant protein, Groeneveld said.
“We need to make sure this (trait) is available in a broad background of canola hybrids…. The goal is to unlock some of the value that’s currently sacrificed because of the lower levels of protein.”
Contact robert.arnason@producer.com
