Burcon NutraScience Corporation, a British Columbia-based plant-protein specialist, has entered into a joint venture partnership with an investor group to build a new C$65 million pea and canola protein production facility.

To be built in Western Canada, the facility is planned to process approximately 20,000 tonnes of peas per year starting in mid-2020.

It will produce Burcon’s Peazazz and Peazac pea proteins, as well as its Supertein, Puratein and Nutratein canola proteins.

Products produced at the planned facility will help to meet demand in Canada and North America and worldwide.

“Having the capacity to produce both our unique pea proteins, as well as our canola proteins, in our own production facility is a key pillar of our differentiation strategy,” said Johann F. Tergesen, Burcon’s President and CEO.

“The ability to blend our pea and canola proteins to create nutritionally unparalleled plant protein combinations, while preserving the highly desirable functional properties the proteins naturally possess, will give us a true competitive advantage.”