This may be great for the local economy, but why build a plant in Canada? China is experiencing an increase in demand for alfalfa for both livestock and human consumption. However, getting the alfalfa, particularly fresh alfalfa, to China is a big problem.
What’s really creating the need for this facility is China’s very strict inspections for organic imports – shipping there is a huge risk for large forage companies.
Ed Shaw, president of International Forage and Feed, explained, “Chinese regulations for the import of [alfalfa] hay is the most strict in the world. They’ve got a platinum standard that far exceeds Japanese standards. If you ship stuff over and its rejected, you can’t ship it back. There are major exporters in the U.S. who will no longer ship to China or will not start to. The risk is too big. We’re talking hundreds of millions of dollars of cost when it’s rejected.”
If the alfalfa is processed, however, it can be more easily exported. According to the Terrace Journal, “This process involves pressing, liquid filtering and centrifuging, leading to a protein in packaged form with another process that turns leftover alfalfa into pellets.”
The alfalfa will come from Saskatchewan, be processed in the Terrace plant, and eventually be exported to China.
The mayor of Terrace, Dave Pernarowski, adds that the process is environmentally safe. “What we like about this particular manufacturing plant is that the protein is naturally pressed and extracted from alfalfa leaf, so there is no chemical synthesis and no chemical emissions; it’s just a small amount of waste water that comes from a plant like this and is not harmful to the environment.”
Pernarowski feels optimistic that the plant will benefit his community, which has a strong agricultural tradition.
Once completed, the facility is estimated to annually produce 10,000 tons of feed-grade alfalfa protein and another 2,000 tons of food-grade protein – all destined for China. FG
—Summarized by Progressive Forage Grower staff from cited source
