Agrocorp has completed work on Phase 1 of the pea protein plant project. This plant can handle up to 50,000mt of pulses such as peas, lentils and chickpeas to produce food ingredients such as protein, starch and fibre.
The plant will utilize a dry extraction technique and the product produced will be sold into food manufacturing and pet food markets in Canada, the United States and Mexico. Agrocorp expects to commence construction for phase 2 of the facility in early 2020, seeing the capacity double as well as enabling Agrocorp to handle some organic product as well.
The new high-tech facility is firmly part of Agrocorp’s vision to become a leading player in the global market of plant-based proteins, and specifically, protein extracted from pulses. Plant-based proteins have shown to be rapidly increasing in demand in snack food, nutritional supplements and pet food.
The outlook for the plant protein market is promising. Plant protein is used in human food, as a meat alternative and in health foods, along with uses in pet and animal feed and aquaculture. The market is tipped to grow to 16.7 billion by 2025 and human consumption of plant proteins is expected to double. This is due to the global population’s exponential growth with increasing food demands, along with a rise in healthy eating trends.
The new plant will mean some exciting opportunities for Agrocorp’s trusted farmers in both the shorter and longer term. To meet its requirements for 2019, Agrocorp will be rolling out some new crop yellow pea production contracts as well as is looking to procure old crop yellow peas at spot prices for April to August deliveries.
This investment marks the first stage of the Group’s overall plan to become the market leader in plant-based proteins with extraction plants located in Canada, India and Australia. Agrocorp plans to build another total of seven plants in Canada, India and Australia over the next five years.