Roquette offers economic opportunity in rural Manitoba
By Kate Ayers
Staff Writer
Roquette’s first North American pea-processing plant broke ground yesterday, expecting to contribute half a billion dollars and 150 permanent positions to Portage, Manitoba.
The facility is being built at Poplar Bluff Industrial Park, a Winnipeg Sun article stated yesterday.
“It’s a historic day for Portage and the entire region and for the province,” Portage mayor, Irvine Ferris, said in the article.
“This is a huge investment. This is $488 million and we’re very excited about it and we’re looking forward to working with Roquette. (It’s) a very worthwhile project that’ll have a huge impact on our local economy and really the economy of Manitoba.”
Annually, Roquette will require some 125,000-metric tonnes of yellow peas to attain adequate production. To fill this amount, the company will buy from Manitoba and Saskatchewan producers, according to a Steinbach Online article on Wednesday.
“We’ve been waiting a number of weeks and months for this to finally come to reality,” agriculture minister Ralph Eichler said in the Winnipeg Sun. “We’ll see the town and rural municipality both grow and prosper. We’re glad that opportunity is here for us to capitalize on.”
With a quarter-million tonnes of yellow pea production in France per year as well, Roquette is one of the highest volume of pea producers in the world.
Photo credit: http://maxpixel.freegreatpicture.com/Pod-Green-Vegetables-Plant-Pea-2469465