Louis Dreyfus plant provides new delivery option for peas
SASKATOON — Canadian pea growers have a major new market for their crop.
Louis Dreyfus Canada (LDC) began commissioning its pea protein isolate production facility in Yorkton, Sask., earlier this month.
“Global demand for pea proteins continues to grow, for its non-allergen and non-GMO status, as well as its versatility across many food applications,” said Charles-Antoine Dubois, LDC’s global head of plant proteins.
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“We are proud to offer clean taste pea protein isolates sourced from North American farmers with full supply chain traceability, enabled through our upstream integration and engagement across the value chain.”
The plant will produce “the most advanced pea protein isolate ranges on the market.” In addition, it will sell pea fibre and starch for the pet food, building materials and paper industries.
It will be one of the largest pea protein facilities in North America with the capacity to process about 75,000 tonnes of organic and conventional yellow peas per year.
Supplies will be sourced mainly from growers located within a 200-kilometre radius.
“We aim to create a stable, predictable outlet for regional pea growers, regardless of annual acreage variations,” Dubois said in an email.
Why it Matters: Pea acres have been on the decline in Western Canada.
The plant, which is located adjacent to LDC’s existing oilseeds processing complex, will employ 60 people by the end of 2026.
The facility will primarily service the North American market, but products will also be exported globally for use in nutrition drinks, meat alternatives, bakery and other food and beverage applications.
“Leveraging LDC’s global logistics network, we will ensure reliable and efficient transport of both yellow peas and finished ingredients,” said Dubois.
“We are proud to add value-added processing capacity in Saskatchewan, working in close partnership with local growers and strengthening the region’s role in the global plant protein market.”
Stuart Lawrence, chair of Saskatchewan Pulse Growers, said it is great to have more market diversity.
“We want bulk commodities to be exported out of Canada, but we also really want to have domestic markets for our pulses here at home,” he said.
“Any tonne that we have that’s being processed here in Canada, well, that’s another tonne that’s not getting put into a rail car and going through an increasingly clogged rail infrastructure system.”
It is also a tonne that will not be subject to rail or port labour disputes.
Lawrence said it remains to be seen whether the new value-added facility only has a direct impact on pea prices in the immediate vicinity or whether it is more widespread.
It will be beneficial regardless because the plant is going after value-added markets and that should provide better returns for at least some farmers.
Canadian growers intend to plant 3.1 million acres of peas in 2026, a 12.3 per cent drop from the previous year, according to Statistics Canada.
That would be the second smallest crop in the past 15 years and well below the 2019 high of 4.33 million acres.
Lawrence said a domestic processing industry could help peas regain some of that lost ground.
“If you’re getting a price signal, I’m pretty confident growers will go back, especially at today’s nitrogen prices,” he said.
“Inoculant is a lot cheaper than nitrogen.”
Root rot has forced some growers to cut back on pulses, including Lawrence, who experienced a bad outbreak of the disease on his farm near Rosetown, Sask., in 2016.
He can no longer grow peas and lentils on about one-third of his land.
Lawrence tried growing lentils again in 2022, thinking the disease would have died off after several years of drought.
“As soon as we had a rain in June, then the root rot showed up and I was back to reduced yields again,” he said.
The outbreak wasn’t as bad as 2016, but on some fields he would be getting 40 bushel per acre yields on his lentils on one pass followed by nine bu. per acre on the next pass.
“I thought that with the drought, it wouldn’t have a host,” said Lawrence.
“Nope. It just goes dormant.”
However, if the price is right, he would be willing to roll the dice again and plant pulses, hoping for a year where the root rot won’t be a factor.
Janelle Carlin, director of quality, science and food innovation with Pulse Canada, said peas recently displaced corn for third spot on the list of the most common plant protein sources in new food innovations.
It ranks behind soy and wheat.
Pea protein appeared in 10 per cent of global new food product launches in 2025, up from three per cent in 2014, she said in a recent webinar.
Market penetration is high for the alternative red meat and poultry category, with 28.8 per cent of new product launches in the U.S containing pea protein.
That compares to 5.1 per cent for alternative dairy, 1.2 per cent for baked goods, 14 per cent for nutritional drinks and 1.5 per cent for pasta/noodles.
Source: producer.com