Ensuring current work has a future focus

As a future-focused organization, Protein Industries Canada starts each year with the next in mind—and with $25 billion by 2035 in mind.

“What we want to do in the future hinges on ingredient manufacturing, but we need to increase the scale of ingredient manufacturing capacity in Canada to accomplish it,” Protein Industries Canada CEO Bill Greuel said. “This is expensive, and it takes time. So we needed to put a longer time horizon on our goals.”

There’s plenty to do in the next 13 years, much of it outlined in The Road to $25 Billion. For its part, Protein Industries Canada will be focusing largely on rolling out actions under this Roadmap while still undertaking regular technology and capacity building project work, with a number of other thematic initiatives running under these key actions.

Environmental sustainability, for example, is a high priority for the organization, and will be taken into consideration as part of any actions undertaken throughout the year.

“We have to keep our focus on our sector as a contributor to Canada’s carbon reduction goals,” Greuel said. “Plant-based food and ingredient processing can make a significant contribution to reducing carbon outputs in the food chain—especially through advancements in technology or processing methods. We need to support work in this area, and promote what’s being accomplished.”

The organization doesn’t plan on doing any of this work alone. Project partners and sub-contractors will play a leading roll in continuing work on technology and capacity building projects, which have significant potential to help the sector reduce its carbon emissions as they invest in new technology and processes.

Greuel said Protein Industries Canada’s members, partners and stakeholders will also be key in helping develop and implement the actions under The Road to $25 Billion. While this will partly take place through the Roadmap’s Advisory Committee, it will also require input from companies and organizations from across the sector.

“It’s critical that we have industry input into how we implement the actions under the Roadmap,” Greuel said. “We’ll be leaning on our members to validate the actions, and to help implement them as necessary. And while there are some actions Protein Industries Canada will act as a leader on, there are others that industry will need to lead. So this process will require a lot of involvement from a lot of different levels.”

Implementation of the Roadmap actions and Protein Industries Canada’s continued project work will help drive both the organization and the sector forward. This becomes particularly important, Greuel said, as the organization looks beyond 2022.

“We’re thinking about the future a lot here at Protein Industries Canada. One of our big goals is recapitalization, so we’re going to work to continue to drive that forward this year. This will mean making sure that all levels of government grow to understand the importance of what we’re working toward and the benefits it brings to Canadians, both now and into the future.”

With plenty to accomplish, 2022 is already building up to be an exciting year for Protein Industries Canada. With dedication, collaboration and innovation, this year’s goals will help make the future of food healthier and more sustainable than ever.