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By Scott Boulton
A partnership between Protein Industries Canada and a group of companies will be building a new plant in Saskatchewan to produce fertilizer from pea protein.
The plant is planned to produce 6,500 tons of fertilizer a year and will be creating 25 jobs, with the factory situated near Rosetown. The plant is set to open in October.
Soileos is made from pea, oat, and lentil proteins and is described as a “sustainable, non-polluting, climate-positive micronutrient fertilizer.”
Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau says the new factory will be important in keeping Canada at the top of food exporting.
“This $19-million partnership will help to bring to market a new green and sustainable fertilizer product for Canadian farmers,” Bibeau said during a media conference.
“Fertilizer is an essential tool to help our farmers maximize their production and feed Canada and the world.”
The factory will include AGT Foods and Lucent, operating as AGT Soileos.
AGT Foods and Ingredients already have infrastructure in Rosetown, and as such will be involved in the manning of the operation.
“It will also support the development of a new production facility co-located with AGT Foods and Ingredients in Rosetown. With this new production facility, the manufacturing process will be faster and more energy-efficient,” said Bibeau.
“This will also help to facilitate the distribution of fertilizer across Canada.”
Saskatchewan Agriculture Minister David Marit pointed to the partnership as an example of the potential of Saskatchewan’s agriculture industry.
“This project is closely aligned with our goals for the agriculture industry,” he said. “You are promoting not only soil health, but human health as well, through this innovative and sustainable method of manufacturing fertilizer, using pea, lentil and oat products from value-added processing.
“Partnerships such as this one are a great example of the innovation and trade opportunities the Saskatchewan agriculture industry represents.”
