A Word from Bill Greuel, CEO

As plans are made to recover and re-strengthen Canada post-COVID, we know that Canada’s agrifood sector has the potential to be a key industry. Our agrifood sector has demonstrated that it is resilient, with a strong growth trajectory. At Protein Industries Canada, we believe that achieving this growth opportunity will happen by increasing Canadian value-added processing, in turn creating significant economic benefit for Canadians from farm to fork.

Protein Industries Canada is working with trailblazing companies from across Canada to help reach this goal. And so far, we have made significant strides toward our goal of growing Canada’s plant-protein ecosystem. With our 17 active projects valued at more than $320 million, we’re working with more than 200 entities and 60 Canadian companies. We are confident that these projects will result in thousands of new jobs for Canadians and new patents, and will contribute to the growth of our national economy.

As we move forward with the growth of Canada’s value-added sector, there are some key elements to keep in mind:

• If we can process an additional 20 per cent of our crops, such as wheat, pulses and canola, here at home, more than $12 billion will be added to the Canadian economy every year. This is a massive opportunity for Canada.

• This is an opportunity for every Canadian. This is our opportunity to engage Indigenous communities, more women and other under-represented groups into the agrifood sector.

• We are not the only country thinking about this; our competition is increasing. At the end of 2020, France announced their own investment of $155 million CDN to advance their plant-protein sector and Israel also made moves. We need to act now in order to ensure Canada wins this race.

I am encouraged by all that we have accomplished and excited for the future. We must embrace the momentum that is building and continue our coordinated efforts to grow Canada’s agrifood sector.

I look forward to working together in 2021.

Bill Greuel