Developing the ingredients Canada needs to Make It Here
Canada’s potential to make more food and ingredients here at home is built largely on a drive to invest more into innovative food and ingredient R&D. At Protein Industries Canada, that work is driven by dedicated companies across the value chain, through co-investments under the Technology Leadership Program.
Since 2018, the Technology Leadership Program has been helping companies across Canada’s food production and value-added agriculture sector work collaboratively to invest in and develop the technology, ingredients and food products that will make Canada more competitive, more productive and more sustainable. As the projects launched and completed under the Program see tangible results, they’re proving that Canada can be the supplier of choice for plant protein ingredients—strengthening our economy while securing our domestic food supply chain.
The 2025-26 fiscal year saw an expansion in scope of the Technology Leadership Program. This resulted in the addition of a Genomics Stream in May 2025, and a call for Fermentation projects beginning in February 2026. The Genomics Stream, which supports the commercialization of crop varieties using new genomic tools, is open on an ongoing basis, with EOIs reviewed as they’re received. The Fermentation call was open until May 31, 2026, with EOIs reviewed after the call closed.
Protein Industries Canada approved seven new Technology Leadership Program projects in 2025-26, for total commitment of $77.9 million. Of this, Protein Industries Canada committed $21.6 million, with industry partners committing the remaining $56.3 million. These commitments brought the Program to a total of 32 approved projects under the second tranche of funding as of March 31, 2026. This represents a $298.3 million commitment, with Protein Industries Canada investing $104.6 million and industry partners investing the remaining $193.7 million.
The reach of the program grew throughout the fiscal year as new companies drove projects—including established internationals such as Louis Dreyfus Company, growing SMEs like One Degree Organics and Maia Farms, and new innovators like Phytokana. Their work represents the opportunity available in Canada’s full food production and value-added agriculture sector, from field to table. This starts with genomic work that will strengthen Canada’s non-GMO soybean market, moves through to the ingredient market where soy, grains and pulses will be turned into high-protein ingredients for a variety of products, and through to the CPG market, which will see the introduction of new food options such as cereals, noodles and dumpling wrappers.
As new products developed through the Technology Leadership Program reach grocery store shelves in Canada and around the world, companies taking part in the program are proving Canada can do more than grow crops—we can make more here, building on our agriculture strengths to become a food powerhouse.
Explore all our Technology Leadership projects
1640.8
anticipated jobs (FTEs) created through Technology Leadership projects (Funds I and II)
70%
of Technology Leadership projects committed to SMEs (Fund II)
Making fava famous
From the soil up, Hailey Jefferies and her husband, Cale, are on a mission to make fava a family-favourite ingredient. It was her personal search for a new healthier plant protein that led her to fava and now, the couple’s company, Prairie Fava, has a goal of providing the best fava beans and flour in the world. With over 100,000 acres of fava planted throughout Western Canada’s provinces and several thousand of these grown under contract with Prairie Fava, this ancient, nutrient-rich crop is making a comeback.
More than an affordable and novel plant protein, fava’s lighter flavour ensures its future in most sections of the grocery store, from the meat and meat alternatives aisle to the cereal, bakery, snack and even alternative dairy sections.
“It’s exciting to witness the opportunities we have ahead of us,” says Jefferies, Prairie Fava’s President and Co-founder. “We are on a mission to make fava famous. Every day we focus on three things to get there: helping our grower network; fine-tuning our primary processing; and continuous research and development.”
The Canadian Prairies are ideal for growing fava, like many other pulse crops, and the research underway helps growers understand and appreciate how their choices lead to world-class, sustainable ingredients. Fava also enriches the soil by adding, rather than removing nutrients, and 100 per cent of the dehulled beans ground into fava flour retain their fibre and nutrients without waste.
“We’re beginning to understand how the roles of different varieties, such as tannin versus non-tannin varieties, contribute to processing. We’re sourcing seed directly from growers,” she says. “The key is that fava is incredibly flexible.”
Prairie Fava works with food developers to explore how fava can enhance their products while ensuring a clean label without negatively altering food flavours or textures. Together, they’re bringing fava beans, split beans and flour to the market, introducing Canadian families to a new, allergen-friendly ingredient that’s protein-rich and boosts nutrition.
