SASKATOON — Regina-based AGT Food and Ingredients Inc. has announced construction of an oat-milling facility in Aberdeen, northeast of Saskatoon.
The company announced March 3 the value-added plant will produce oat groats, flour and other milled oat products for human consumption, specialty ingredient markets and animal feed products.
The milling facility adds to the company’s existing facility in the community and continues AGT’s move into plant-based ingredients.
President Murad Al-Katib said oats complement pulses in their amino acid profile, increasing their digestibility and offering desirable characteristics for extruded products such as snacks, pasta, bakery applications and beverages.
“Oats are a major cereal crop for Saskatchewan with significant production levels, and AGT is already exporting thousands of tonnes of oats each year,” he said.
“Combine with our expertise in value-added milling and the production of high-quality plant-based ingredient products, we have a real advantage in creating value for our producers in this new product area.”
Construction is to begin immediately, and the plant should be operational by the end of this year. The existing site has road and rail service on Canadian National Railway, with AGT’s private fleet of rail cars available.
“With demand strong and growing for innovative plant-based products in the marketplace, and with a number of new products being offered in our system utilizing oats, including extruded flours and blends, snacks and pastas with oats and pulses, we expect that our existing and new customers will find our unique oat-derived products to provide significant advantages for their products as well,” added Al-Katib in a news release.
