A Saskatchewan-based proposal to position Canada as the world’s supplier of plant-based protein is one of nine finalists for a share of federal innovation money.
Protein Innovations Canada supercluster made the cut after the government received 50 proposals involving more than 1,000 companies that pledged investment of $17 billion in various sectors.
A supercluster is defined as a dense area of business activity that includes collaborators from all types and sizes of companies, universities and organizations.
Final submissions from the nine are due in late November and five recipients will share up to $950 million.
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Murad Al-Katib likes PIC’s chances.
The president and chief executive officer of AGT Foods spearheaded the supercluster proposal.
He said PIC is positioned to capture a significant share of the $13 billion global ingredient market. Prairie agriculture is transforming from the bread basket to the protein highway, he said.
“Protein is what the agricultural game is all about now,” he told reporters last week. “We look at the three-crop rotation in Western Canada — wheat, canola and pulses. We have a compelling story to tell helping the world meet the global food demand required.”
Although full details aren’t yet public because the competition is still underway, PIC intends to add value to pulse crops by using the entire plant to produce ingredients for food, livestock feed, and new food products.
The proposal involves a range of players, from the province’s two universities to agricultural companies such as POS Bio-Sciences and Dow, as well as capital and investment firms.
Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said combining world-class producers with agribusiness and scientists, and the strong history of rural ingenuity, provides a solid foundation for PIC.
“It’s not a done deal,” he said. “It’s a huge compliment to make the short list, but PIC wants to be in the final five so we need to keep on building, keep on expanding the proposal to make it even better than it is today.”
That could include reaching out to those that didn’t make the list of nine.
Al-Katib said he expects much of the promised private sector investment to go ahead without federal funding.
“The vision we outlaid in the national strategy table for agriculture, which I chair for the government of Canada, is we want to raise our agricultural exports from $45 billion to $75 billion by 2025,” he said.
The other eight finalists include a Smart Agri-Food supercluster in Alberta focusing on technology to improve communication in the value chain and an oceans supercluster in Atlantic Canada that would include technology for industries like aquaculture.
