From commodity supplier to plant-based food leader: Charting Canada’s course to the top of the plant-protein supply chain

Canada is in the midst of an opportunity. The world population is growing, and with it grows the demand for protein derived from all sources. Plant-based protein, however, has particularly high growth potential, and Canada, with everything from our strong crop base to our market access opportunities, is one of the countries leading the race to supply it.

According to an Ernst and Young report commissioned by Protein Industries Canada, the global plant-based foods market is expected to reach CDN$250 billion by 2035, with meat alternatives expected to be up to CDN$180 billion of that total. Protein Industries Canada’s CEO Bill Greuel predicts Canada can supply approximately 10 per cent of the global market—increasing Canadian jobs, strengthening our economy, and supplying consumers around the world with high quality plant-based foods and beverages.

The goal may sound ambitious, but the country’s ability to meet it comes down to several key factors. One of the most prominent is our diverse crop selection—made even more important in the face of what Ernst and Young predicts will be the crop mix making up the plant-based protein ingredient supply in 2035.

“It looks very promising for the crops that we produce at scale here in Canada,” Greuel said. “Consumers want choice, and these diverse sets of plant-based ingredients that we can create from the crops we produce in Canada give that choice.”

Canadian crops like peas, lentils and other pulses will all significantly rise in demand. This means good things for Canadian innovation, helping Canada build on its already strong reputation. Other areas, like our strong food safety system, sustainable practices, market access, and strong skills, talent and research clusters only help to reinforce this reputation while bringing us closer to our 2035 goals.

There’s more work to be done, however. As Canada works to capture a significant share of the 2035 global plant-based foods market, so do other countries around the world. Greuel names the United States, the Netherlands, Singapore and China as some of Canada’s top competitors in the plant-based foods space, each for their own reasons. While our sector is growing at a rate comparable to theirs, important steps will need to be taken to ensure we keep pace.

One particularly important step is improving the sector’s access to capital.

“Our best estimate is we have to increase crop processing capacity in Canada by almost 6 million metric tonnes,” Greuel said. “The capital required to do that is measured in the billions, not the millions. So we really need to educate the venture capital community, we need to incent patient capital into the market, and we need to create opportunities for innovative processing and food manufacturing companies to talk directly to the capital community.”

Other steps named by each Greuel and the Ernst and Young Report include the following:

• Implementing diversified strategies;

• Advancing processing capabilities;

• Enabling ingredient manufacturing and formulation;

• Improving branding and showcasing Canada’s competitive positioning; and

• Facilitating regulatory modernization and improving interjurisdictional coordination and collaboration.

The combined success of these actions, including improving our access to capital, could mean great things for Canada. To get there, however, will require concentrated effort on each individual action.

“We really need to think about developing our innovation economy, improving the business acumen of our organizations, creating a better line of sight between our ingredient manufacturers and consumer packaged goods companies, improving the access to capital,” Greuel said. “We need all of this to be successful.”

Canada is well on its way to being a leader in the supply of plant-based food, feed and ingredients. By focusing on the appropriate steps and building on our already strong reputation, we can meet our goal of capturing 10 per cent of the global market by 2035—or making one in every 10 plant-based meals Canadian.