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Protein Industries Canada has announced a new CAD 13.2m (approx. $9.7m) co-investment into advancing the Canadian fava bean ecosystem. The industry consortium will bring together partners Prairie Fava, DL Seeds and Three Farmers to test the functionality of new fava bean varieties for use in consumer-facing products, particularly snack foods. Of the total CAD 13.2 million committed to the project, Protein Industries Canada is investing CAD 5.4 million (approx. $4m) with the partners investing the remainder. The project aims to strengthen the supply of fava beans in the Canadian market and help to meet rising demand for new sources of sustainable protein. Prairie Fava is growing DL Seeds’ fava varieties and utilising them in its patented processing methods, testing them for functionality and feeding information back to DL Seeds to inform new variety development. The agri-food ingredients companies will then supply snack brand Three Farmers with fava ingredients for functionality testing in the brand’s line of products. Protein Industries Canada’s CEO, Bill Greuel, said: “Prairie Fava, DL Seeds and Three Farmers have taken a full value chain approach to strengthening the fava bean supply chain and market in Canada – an approach that’s needed if we’re going to make Canada truly competitive in the global plant protein space”. He added: “By working together across the ecosystem, crop breeders, ingredient manufacturers and food processors can capture the growing global protein opportunity while providing consumers with a variety of healthy, high-protein snack options”. Through the investment, each company will be able to scale its product offerings and operations, including at Three Farmers’ recently opened facility in Saskatoon.