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Improving traceability and marketing for Canada's plant-based sector

Technology
TECHNOLOGY PRIORITY

Grow

PROJECT TIMELINE
March 2021 to March 2023
PROJECT STATUS
Fund I: Complete
TOTAL INVESTMENT
$17,085,422

Consortia Contribution
$8,542,711

Cluster Contribution
$8,542,711

Partners

Farmers Edge Inc.

OPIsystems Inc.

TrustBIX Inc.

Goal

Develop numerous commercial product releases that will provide the Canadian plant-based ecosystem with a competitive position in the global plant protein markets.

Additionally, the resulting innovative products of a knowledge-based economy will be set for global market entry and leverage existing global partner relationships to drive Canada’s GDP not only from value-added protein products and ingredients but from data-driven risk management solutions.

Project Summary

The project had three main components: smart agronomy, marketing and traceability, and e-commerce platforms.

First, work focused on capturing and developing artificial intelligence for grower risk management to value-added protein opportunities. This involved data science on crop health management practices and prediction modelling.

In parallel, activities on international traceability/sourcing standards have been undertaken with the Standards Council of Canada that will involve direct input into a digital permission-based ledger to remove regulatory (market entry) barriers for existing and new value-added plant protein products.

Finally, the resulting risk management solutions from the data sets were harnessed to set the stage for an additional product suite for e-commerce for the value chain stakeholders. The E-Commerce system will encapsulate traceability and blockchain standards to enable more visibility across the value chain to meet consumer needs, market access for growers and sourcing efficacy for value-added processing.

Results and Impact

  • Through the project, the consortium members were able to successfully develop a new traceability platform. The system, which integrates data from farm to processor and delivers traceable production with defined sustainability attributes, will improve Canada’s sustainability story.
  • The platform’s development has also provided new partnership opportunities for the consortium members, both within Canada and internationally, helping them reach new markets. Consortium members also saw a significant increase in sales of their products, helping them to grow their businesses.
  • Additionally, a team of student interns deployed across North America learned the benefits of this and similar technology and its applicability to the industry. This group will form a future talent pool from which to draw for future job creation activities.
  • The consortium members also partnered with institutions to help design new curricula to support hardware deployment, installation, maintenance and support so that the industry’s needs are better addressed by academic institutions instead of relying on self-training.

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