Province Invests in Proposed Feed Processing Research Centre at U of S

Posted April 22, 2005


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - April 22, 2005
2005-04-10-AG

Province Invests in Proposed Feed Processing Research Centre at U of S

The University of Saskatchewan will receive $257,000 from the Saskatchewan
government to help advance a proposed world-class $7-million feed processing
plant that will research, develop and test new feed products.

Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food Minister Mark Wartman made the
announcement on campus today. The money will be used by the U of S Prairie
Feed Resource Centre (PRFC) to develop business, operating and engineering
plans, recruit a project leader, and develop partnership opportunities for
the proposed facility -- the first of its kind in Canada.

"I am pleased we are able to make another investment in Saskatchewan
agriculture," Minister Wartman said. "We have the greatest variety and
abundance of crops suitable for making feed. Developing a RandD feed
processing facility has tremendous agricultural and economic potential, now
and into the future."

The facility, expected to be built on campus by 2006, would enhance
provincial livestock production, expand value-added processing, and
contribute to rural revitalization, while providing valuable training for
students and the industry. Funding is being sought from a variety of
sources including government, industry, and producer groups.

"This strategic investment by the Province will move the concept of an
international centre of excellence in feed research, commercialization and
education at U of S one step closer to reality," said Graham Scoles, U of S
College of Agriculture Acting Dean.

"This proposed facility will fill a critical gap in the internationally
recognized U of S cluster of livestock, crop and feed research
organizations, and will generate new partnerships worldwide with other
centres of excellence that will benefit Saskatchewan agriculture."

The new facility would enable the PFRC, which provides feed development
research and commercialization services to industry, to apply the latest
technology in the development of new animal feeds and would also serve the U
of S animal and poultry science department, Crop Development Centre, the
Prairie Swine Centre and other campus research groups. At present,
researchers have to use foreign high-tech processing facilities for testing
which is expensive and slows down research.

"We are delighted with this investment and in establishing this action plan
to fill existing gaps in research and development in the industry," PFRC
board chair Harold Yelland said.

Partnership opportunities are likely to involve key research institutes in
the U.S., the Netherlands, and China, as well as other Canadian universities
and other interested groups such as the Canadian International Grains
Institute, Saskatchewan Trade and Export Partnership, and various companies.


A recent study by Pearson and Associates Agri-Consulting Inc., commissioned
by the PFRC and sponsored by CARDS (Canadian Adaptation and Rural
Development in Saskatchewan), found that new animal feed development has the
potential to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in new economic
activity in the province. There is a high demand for this research in
industry.

The study identified the high economic potential for feed processing
facilities in aquaculture feed ingredients and pea-canola blends, as well as
the use of crop by-products and other value-added initiatives. This report
will be released today at a PFRC meeting with industry and potential
partners in Saskatoon.

Wartman noted Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food is also supporting increased
development capacity in the feed industry through the Saskatchewan Research
Chairs Program at the U of S, and by creating a provincial feed industry
development specialist position.

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For more information, contact:

Bernard Laarveld
Department of Animal and Poultry Science
College of Agriculture
University of Saskatchewan
(306) 966-4972 or 966-4128

U of S Prairie Feed Resource Centre
Harold Yelland, Chair of the Board
(306) 278-2526

Kathryn Warden
Director, Research Communications
University of Saskatchewan
(306) 966-2506

Scott Brown
Director, Communications
Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food
Regina
(306) 787-4031