A new pea processing plant near Portage la Prairie is expected to be completed later this year.
Once the Roquette facility is completely online it will be able to handle about 150 thousand metric tonnes of peas.
Bruce Brolley, Roquette's Senior Agronomist, says they’ll be looking for a number two yellow pea that meets certain agronomic guidelines like no Reglone or Diquat.
He notes producers signing a contract with the company will also be required to meet certain commitments like having an Environmental Farm Plan.
"We want to be able to provide information to our end buyer from the time that field was planted to what...practices were done on that field, where it was stored, when it was harvested, when it was delivered to the plant. So in order to do that, we're asking the farmers to fill out three traceability reports throughout the growing season."
Roquette sells pea protein to several customers, including Beyond Meat.
The multi-national company based in France has plans to buy peas from Manitoba as well as Saskatchewan.
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