By Alice McFarlane

Agriculture Roundup for Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021

Nov 30, 2021 | 10:08 AM

MELFORT, Sask. – A partnership has been formed that will focus on the development of nutritionally and functionally superior plant-based food products and beverages.

YoFiit, Avena Foods Limited and Roquette Canada will work together to solve technical challenges in formulating plant-based milk, probiotic-rich yogurt, and other functional plant-based analogues.

The key focus is to maintain the nutritional equivalency to animal-based products in the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industry.

YoFiit will lead the development of new food manufacturing techniques and novel food products while Avena and Roquette will supply the ingredients for the project.

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Prince Edward Island’s potato board is taking the province’s spuds from the fields to the virtual realm in a new marketing campaign.

The board sent a dozen kits containing virtual reality goggles to large retailers across the country to give viewers a sense of what growing and harvesting the tuber is like on the Island.

Provincial data shows on average, produce from PEI represented nearly a quarter of Canada’s total international potato exports from 2009 to 2018, and the Island is expected to remain one of the country’s largest potato-producing provinces in the coming years.

PEI Potatoes marketing director Kendra Mills said the campaign addresses a challenge created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Previously, sellers and distributors would visit PEI. and get a real-life look at the harvest and the product but travel restrictions have made those trips harder.

Mills said the virtual reality goggles give viewers an opportunity to see the harvesting process without needing to be in the province.

The initiative began just weeks before the federal government announced last week it was suspending potato shipments from the Island to the United States after the discovery of fungal potato wart in two PEI fields.

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Holiday turkeys will cost more and be harder to find this year because of supply chain challenges affecting Canada’s agriculture industry.

Farmers said turkey supplies are at 30-year lows. The supply-managed poultry industry cut production last year because of demand uncertainties during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The flooding disaster in B.C. closed highways and affected the transport of all kinds of goods, including turkeys. An unknown number of birds were also lost when farms and barns were flooded.

Brian Ricker of Turkey Farmers of Ontario said some butchers are having trouble getting their orders filled. Some retailers may sell out of turkeys entirely.

Ricker said panic-buying isn’t necessary, but Canadians may have to visit more than one store to find the perfect holiday turkey.

Turkey prices have also shot up due to last summer’s extreme drought which affected the price of feed wheat and grain.

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @farmnewsNOW