New pea plant excites plant protein sector

Farmers will cheer the full opening of a giant pea protein plant that is expected to consume 125,000 tonnes of yellow peas per year.

But the celebrations about the Roquette plant in Portage La Prairie are also coming from the leading edge of the global food industry, to which the eastern Prairies are now firmly welded.

“Plant proteins are an increasingly strategic issue at the global level,” said France’s ambassador to Canada, Kareen Rispal, during the Roquette plant’s official opening Nov. 17.

Roquette operates high-value food ingredient extraction plants in Europe and China, so this Manitoba location will plug the French company into a booming North American market for plant proteins. It’s a market dominant meat substitute leader Beyond Meat is bullish about.

“This is an opportunity to bring significant innovation to farmers and help farmers really prosper,” said Ethan Brown, chief executive officer and president of Beyond Meat.

The ability to make a burger using 93 percent less land than a meat burger, plus the other environmental benefits of growing crops like peas rather than raising livestock, places plant protein products in a position to be rewarded by consumers, Brown said. Those consumers might be more effective at fighting climate change than governments.

“Consumers can solve this problem, and they can do it faster than governments can,” said Brown.

“It’s our job to help the consumer to move very quickly to make the changes in their life that are necessary to forestall the climate impact that is coming.”

Beyond Meat’s excitement about the Roquette plant comes from the plant’s ability to produce the refined products it needs for its products. Those products will succeed only if they produce products like burgers that taste the same as meat, convince consumers they are healthier choices for eating and eventually cost less than meat.

“All three of those things are doable and they are doable through partnerships like the one we enjoy with Roquette.”

While much attention is on using plant proteins to replace animal proteins, celebrity chef Michael Smith said he’s more keen to reduce the amount of meat on his menu than eliminate it.

“I’m not anti-meat,” said Smith.

“No way. I’m going to be grilling steaks the rest of my life. But even in my world I am eating less meat than ever before.”

The successful opening of the plant came despite the impact of the pandemic, which Roquette’s Canadian head said almost scuppered it.

“We were really close (to) shutting down the project,” said Dominique Baumann.

However, the experience of the company’s plants in China and Europe gave it a chance to prepare and continue construction regardless of the challenges.

“We were always a step ahead and the team did a good job to adjust. We did not lose a day of work on site due to COVID,” said Baumann.

“We were able to anticipate what was going to happen here in Canada.”

Manitoba Agriculture Minister Ralph Eichler said the Roquette plant is “establishing a strong foundation as a preferred supplier of sustainable protein in North America.”