The largest pea processing plant in the world will be right here in the RM of Portage la Prairie.

France-based food processor Roquette will build a $400-million pea protein extraction plant in the RM of Portage la Prairie, premier Brian Pallister announced today in Winnipeg. It will be built at on a 70-acre lot, just south of Simplot. The facility will bring 150 jobs to the Portage la Prairie area with an estimated annual total payroll of $9-million. An additional 350 construction jobs will be created to build the plant. 

"There will be a lot of job creation right off the bat," says RM of Portage la Prairie Reeve Kam Blight. "This is an excellent boost for our agricultural community, giving the farmers more options and opportunities with producing peas to provide the facility protein extraction process."

Construction on the plant is expected to begin before the end of 2017, Roquette indicates, and it will take two years for the design and construction phase to be complete. Chairman Edouard Roquette says the company is commi

Premier Brian Pallister declared Manitoba "open for business" in announcing plans for France-based company Roquette to build a $400-million pea protein extraction facility in the RM of Portage la Prairie. (photo by Matt Hermiz)tted to working with local contractors, skilled trades and professional services providers in building the facility.

Future expansion of the facility is also possible, as Blight indicates Roquette also owns an additional 170 acres of land on a lot adjacent to the planned building site. 

Portage la Prairie Mayor Irvine Ferris on the economic impact for the local community: "There's also a multiplier effect that works within the local economy that will be huge coming from an investment like this. This total investment is $400 million. Historically that's the largest investment in any type of plant like this in our region ever."

Roquette CEO Jean-Marc Gillson says because of the size of the investment, $400-million, the company was very thorough in its analysis, and toured about 40 different sites in both the U.S. and Canada over the last 18 months.

"The last six or seven months we really started narrowing down and zooming in on the right location," Gillson says. " At the end of the day we decided on Portage because it has easy access to raw meterials, access to a good workforce, access to renewable resources, and hydro electric power is very important to us ... and it's a great logitistical hub. It's easy to ship from (Portage) to across North America."

"And last but not least, it was a great business friendly environment for us."

Roquette first visited the RM of Portage la Prairie in 2012, Blight says, but discussions to develop a facility in the region intensified over the past year. "There's been probably 10-12 meetings with Roquette over the past year and a lot of negotations, and here we are."