Canada Opens New Agri-Food Innovation Center with Bakery Component
The Canadian province of Saskatchewan’s agri-food industry celebrated the opening of the new Agri-Food Innovation Centre (AFIC), a 43,000sqf facility that will diversify the Saskatchewan Food Industry Development Center’s (Food Center) capacity to develop and process products from concept to commercialization.
More than 300 food processing companies in Saskatchewan produce a wide range of cereal, meat, dairy and bakery products, and food ingredients. These processors ship goods valued at approximately USD4.3bn annually.
The Food Center is the primary source of food product development and commercialization for the Saskatchewan food industry. The creation of the AFIC supports the expansion of Saskatchewan’s agri-food processing sector and introduces a dedicated multi-tenant food processing incubator, extrusion line, expanded drying capabilities and fermentation technologies. It will also house new labs, a pilot plant for product and process development, and expanded capacity for pulse and cereal processing. The Food Center will continue to operate the federally inspected pilot plant housed on the University of Saskatchewan campus.
The Canadian officials joined representatives of the Food Center in officially opening the USD17.5m facility in Saskatoon, the largest city in Saskatchewan province.
“The Government of Canada is committed to growing a strong economy. Centers of innovation, like this one in Saskatoon, will play a key role in creating jobs and new opportunities for Canadian farmers and agri-businesses, growing the economy and the middle class,” says Ralph Goodale, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness.
“The new Agri-Food Innovation Centre will broaden the capabilities of the current Food Centre and open new opportunities for Saskatchewan’s agri-food sector. It will assist Saskatchewan producers and processors to bridge the gap from development to commercialization and introduce higher value-added agricultural products into the global marketplace. With support from our industry and these enhanced services, the Agri-Food Innovation Center will position our industry to be strong leaders in innovation and technology for the food processing sector,” says Dan Prefontaine, AFIC president.
Construction of the Agri-Food Innovation Centre was made possible with USD9m through Growing Forward 2, the federal-provincial agricultural policy framework, and USD4.35m from Western Economic Diversification Canada. Additional support came from SaskPulse, SaskCanola and other industry organizations and the Food Center’s capital reserve.
Since its inception in 1997 as a not-for-profit organization, the Food Center has worked with clients representing various sectors of the food industry and developed more than 800 products.