Expanding Market Access for More Crop Diversity
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
New technology is enabling processors of yellow peas to extract more food value from the commodity. Phyto Organix founder Chris Theal says he’s excited to pass some of this value along to farmers.
Theal… “We're gonna extract with this technology 90% of the protein out of a yellow p and all of the other human consumable components. So it really leaves very little in terms of residual waste. So you're maximizing the value of the yellow pea by virtue of all those revenue streams.”
Phyto Organix is building a new facility around this technology in Alberta, Canada.
Theal… “They see us, you know installing 40,000 metric tons a year of demand in their backyard. And the language is well with that immediate demand, we can add peas in the rotation. And, you know, for us, there's different elements of what we have to bring back to those farmers in terms of asks by Phyto. And that's traceability from a food safety standpoint and it's ESG reporting from, you know, a GHG standpoint. And we'll pay a premium to those farmers. So you know, we're putting demand in their backyard. We're gonna pay 'em a premium relative to export market. And really for us, it's about developing long term relationships with those farmers.”
Expanding access to markets is critical for the farm of the future.
