Determining The Optimal Location For A Quinoa Processing Facility In Ontario

As part of the Pure Ontario Quinoa project, a recent market analysis concluded there is a high capacity in Ontario for farmers to grow superior quality quinoa, a nutritionally dense seed that continues to skyrocket in popularity and crop value, on Ontario farmland. The establishment of a processing facility is paramount to the development of a 100 per cent local product that would be available to consumers and help decrease the carbon footprint of production. This facility will be an excellent opportunity for Ontario farmers to expand their production of a unique superfood crop that will help to diversify Ontario agriculture in a direction necessary to keep in pace with market demand. Katan Kitchens is prepared to begin development of this landmark facility in order to process their Quinta Quinoa – a unique variety of locally developed Ontario quinoa seed of high nutritional quality, purity and traceability. Quinoa requires specialized processing to obtain food-grade status and a facility that can meet these standards is not currently available in Ontario, posing a significant barrier to production. The proposed facility will also adopt the capabilities of processing other gluten-free crops, posing as a very unique opportunity for expansion in the food processing industry in Ontario. Outcomes from the Pure Ontario Quinoa project have helped to narrow down possible locations for the facility, based on agronomic, processing and marketing considerations. Katan aims to begin development on the facility in Winter/Spring 2015, and estimates the facility will generate approximately 50 new jobs for Ontarians once operating at full capacity.

This project is funded in part through Growing Forward 2 (GF2), a federal-provincial-territorial initiative. The Agricultural Adaptation Council assists in the delivery of GF2 in Ontario.