In the wake of Roquette's recent announcement that the company plans to build the world's largest pea processing plant in Portage la Prairie, farmers in the region may be considering devoting some of their fields to pea production in the coming years. Local producer Curtis Sims says he used to grow peas but eventually went over to edible beans, noting both crops are known to be very poorly resistant to water. Sims says that factor doesn't make peas particularly appealing, unless Roquette is willing to pay a little bit of a premium to help farmers get a good return.

He notes if the new processing plant will indeed pay and operate as a truly premium pea market, there may be some acres established or re-established here in this area. Sims adds if they're just looking at commodity pea prices, however, they'll probably have to stay with growers a little further west. He says producers in this region have a lot of choices such as edible beans, sunflowers, and corn that they'd probably stay with instead of going over to peas.