In Rosetown, Saskatoon, Protein Industries Canada and a partnership of enterprises are constructing a $19 million facility to produce an environmentally friendly fertilizer.
Protein Industries Canada said in a news release that when the plant is finished, it would generate up to 6,500 tons of micronutrient fertilizer per year and create 25 jobs.
Soileos is a “sustainable, non-polluting, climate-positive micronutrient fertilizer” derived from food-processed pea, lentil, and oat hulls.
Field trials on broad-acre crops like durum, lentils, and peas “demonstrated how Soileos transports zinc, manganese, and iron to plants – leading to improved protein content, yields and soil health, while increasing returns for farmers, minimizing environmental impacts, and bringing value to low-value by-products,” the press release said.
Protein Industries Canada is a not-for-profit organization led by the plant protein industry that aims to establish Canada as a global source of high-quality plant protein and plant-based co-products. Protein Industries Canada, a division of the federal government, contributed $7 million to the initiative.
AGT Foods and Lucent, which operates as AGT Soileos, will run the joint venture.
Soileos, according to AGT Foods founder and CEO Murad Al-Katib, returns carbon to the soil and decreases the demand for nitrogen fertilizer in the future.
“As farmers meet the challenge of boosting the sustainability of their agricultural management systems, the smart use of fertilizer will be key to achieving meaningful reductions in the carbon intensity of our cropping system,” he said in the release.
The facility is expected to open in October.
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