Canada’s GDP will grow by billions of dollars if an industry-led supercluster can boost production and exports of innovative plant protein products, says the chair of the initiative.

But capturing a substantial share of the $13-billion global market for plant-based proteins will require a lot of collaboration, including by competing companies, government and academia, says Frank Hart, chair of the Prairies-based Protein Industries Canada (PIC) Supercluster’s board.

“Whether it’s three provincial governments collaborating or industry competitors coming together . . . the scale of this opportunity is so big that it takes collaboration by everybody in western Canada,” Hart told RE$EARCH MONEY. “If we can work together, we can win together.”

Sixty per cent of western Canadian crops such as canola, pulses (beans, peas, lentils, chickpeas), and grains are still exported as bulk commodities, he notes. “We need to move beyond commodities and there’s a strong desire to do that.”

The PIC Supercluster will integrate plant genomics, smart production, novel processing technologies, information technology and artificial intelligence “from the crop level through farmers into a complete supply chain of plant protein food and feed, and driving a lot more value-added before we export,” Hart says.

Experts predict a need for 59% to 98% more crop protein by 2050, due to a growing global population and people becoming more affluent, demanding more protein, and turning to crop proteins for a healthier diet.

PIC’s goal is to increase Canada’s share of global agricultural exports to 8% from the current 5.7%. That’s equivalent to an additional US$30 billion in exports in today’s distribution of global export shares, and represents nearly 2% of current national GDP.

Supercluster making progress on several fronts

With more than 120 participants, the PIC Supercluster “is starting to gel a bit more with the bigger companies,” Hart says. “There’s a lot of work to do on the small and medium-sized enterprises, because they don’t have a ton of time or money. So we have to find ways to engage them.”

The supercluster was officially launched this month at the PIC Thought Leaders Summit in Winnipeg, along with the appointment of PIC’s CEO, Bill Greuel, a former assistant deputy minister in the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture. “Bill is well known and respected by our provincial colleagues in Manitoba and Alberta,” Hart says. “He knows the players . . . so he can hit the ground running with the right skills.”

PIC also has secured Treasury Board approval for its operating framework. But like the other four superclusters that will share up to $950 million, PIC is still negotiating a funding contribution agreement with Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada. Hart says the five superclusters hope to have some agreements finalized for the 21^st TCI Global Conference, October 16 to 18, in Toronto. Hosted by the Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity, the conference is the leading global clusters event for government, business, and academic leaders.

PIC also plans to launch its venture fund by next spring. “We have the general partner that’s committed their capital. They’ve hired the CEO and they’re putting their investment board together,” Hart says. “We have a lead investor that’s offering $50 million, but we’ve got to go through the due diligence on that.”

Like the other four superclusters, PIC also has a “pretty good roster” of initial innovative projects awaiting scrutiny by independent review committees. “The ideas are there, the corporate commitments are there and the companies are willing to invest” Hart says. He hopes PIC will be able to start some projects by the end of this year, but adds: “The heavy investments will start in the new fiscal year.”

Unlocking value-added protein in plants

PIC’s activities will focus on improvements and opportunities in four areas: crop breeding, crop production, value-added processing and export development.

“There’s a lot of protein locked in crop plants today that is not fully extracted, and it’s not sold for the right value,” Hart says. “The protein content of seed has been falling, so we need to improve the genetic implants around that. There’s some processing we can do in the short term that will do a better job of extracting the protein. And there’s co-product use we’ve got to find applications for.” For example, a pulse crop containing 2% protein still leaves 80% of the plant and seed that’s mostly starch, he says. “That’s not worth very much as pure starch, but if you start to blend it for things like gluten-free pastas, for example, then it has a lot more value.”

PIC will work with large and small to medium-sized companies to help improve crop supply chains and fine-tune manufacturing processes, to accelerate construction of new processing plants in western Canada.

The supercluster is also forging strategic alliances with players in Europe, which is ahead of Canada in developing plant proteins, Hart says. “With the Canada-Europe Trade Agreement, we’ve got a good trade environment to work with them. That will help accelerate development here a lot.”

R$