Expanding Canada’s plant-protein markets through advanced technology and increased sustainability

Canada’s plant-protein sector is supplying the world with delicious, nutritious food, but farmers and processors can’t do this alone. Countless innovators are helping them develop products using technology that’s increasingly sustainable in order to get that food onto the plates of consumers.

The people at each Precision.ai, Sure Growth Solutions, Exceed Grain Marketing and the Global Institute for Food Security (GIFS) at the University of Saskatchewan feel this connection closely, which is why they’ve recently undertaken a project to help make it easier to grow plant proteins as sustainably as possible.

“We’re most looking forward to helping achieve meaningful chemical cost reductions for the farmer, as well as sustainable food,” Precision.ai founder and CEO Dan McCann said.

The partners are together investing $13.4 million into the project, with Protein Industries Canada investing an additional $12.8 million dollars. While the partners began work on the technology approximately two years ago, Protein Industries Canada’s recent investment will both speed up its completion and expand the technology’s potential.

Together, the partners are creating artificial intelligence technology that detects crop pests when passing over a field. It then sprays only what it detects, reducing pesticide use by up to 95 per cent.

Once it reaches the farm level, the partners expect it will help save farmers up to $52 per acre each growing season by targeting only pests during spraying. However, this reduction in pesticide use is expected to provide a second benefit: The opening and expansion of markets for Canada’s plant-protein sector, helping build the country’s reputation as a global leader as a supplier of high-quality ingredients.

“Maximum residue levels are just getting tighter and tighter every year, and the customers’ expectations are getting higher and higher,” Exceed Grain Marketing president Derek Squair said. “With technology, we’re not reducing yield. We’re still keeping yield high and staying below those maximum residue levels.”

The technology is coming together thanks not only to the innovative minds behind it, but also to the partners’ willingness to collaborate and share intellectual property.

The artificial intelligence technology portion of the end product began under Precision.ai, while its phenotyping capabilities stem from GIFS’s work. By merging the two sets of software, then pairing it with Sure Growth Solution’s farming and agronomy expertise and Exceed Grain Marketing’s international market expertise, the partners are creating technology that’s uniquely positioned to benefit the full plant-protein value chain.

“I truly believe if you surround yourself with amazing people, you can accomplish amazing things,” Sure Growth Solutions’ CEO Terry Aberhart said. “We’re very excited about working with the partners in this project, leveraging each other’s strengths to create something that we couldn’t do individually.”

Chris Barker, director of business development at GIFS, agreed with this sentiment, and added that being a partner in the project presents a particularly interesting role for an academic institution.

“All of the research that we do, if it stays on a lab bench, it contributes to knowledge, but it doesn’t change the world,” he said. “Being able to partner with industry through Protein Industries Canada allows us to be able to deliver on the promise of food security.”

With market and sustainability benefits for farmers, processors and consumers alike, the release of this new technology is highly anticipated. While a release date hasn’t been shared, the partners have begun field tests and will share more information as it develops.