Foragen signs $1-million deal with Saskatoon feed processor: MCN BioProducts to work on methods of making canola meal
Murray Lyons, The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon), December 1, 2000: A new Saskatoon animal feed processing company has received a million-dollar capital infusion from Foragen Technology Ventures Inc. to further develop methods of making canola meal a more useful feed ingredient for all types of livestock.
MCN BioProducts Inc. is the culmination of more than five years of laboratory work by researchers at the University of Saskatchewan animal and poultry science department.
The team, led by Hank Classen, has worked on bioprocessing methods such as employing enzymes at the laboratory level to help make canola meal more palatable and digestible by all types of livestock.
MCN BioProducts was established in March and has a licensing agreement with U of S Technologies Inc., which will funnel royalties to the university based on future revenue.
The capital infusion was announced by Foragen president and CEO Murray McLaughlin and is the first million-dollar level investment for Guelph-based Foragen, an agriculture venture capital firm launched this year.
Foragen is one-third owned by RBC Royal Bank Ventures Inc., the Saskatchewan government's Crown Investments Corp., and SGF Soquia Inc., a Quebec government venture capital firm.
Besides Classen, who plans on remaining a teaching professor at the university, MCN's principals include U of S doctoral candidate Rex Newkirk and David Maenz, the manager of research and development for the Prairie Feed Resource Centre, Inc., another U of S-based institute.
Classen, Newkirk and Maenz have spent more than five years working on processing methods to better tailor certain feed products to different types of livestock.
"Feeds don't necessarily meet the requirements of specific animal types," Classen said, pointing out nutritional needs vary between ruminants (animals with multiple stomachs such as cows) and non-ruminants such as hogs. "Their requirements are significantly different, yet we have the same commodity going into both and serving them inadequately," he said.
Within ruminants, bacteria within the animals can degrade the higher quality proteins within feed and bioprocessing can help overcome this.
Classen said the money provided by Foragen will allow MCN to buy time at facilities such as POS Inc. and the Innovation Place Bioprocessing Centre where the company can prove its commercial-scale cost estimates.
Right now, processing of canola meal is the primary target of MCN, but Classen says the company founders are confident other feedstuffs will benefit from their bioprocessing techniques.
Newkirk points out canola is still considered a byproduct on the Prairies, unlike soybean meal, which is valued because it is higher in protein.
"Canola meal has 75 per cent of the protein of soy meal, but its value is only about 55 per cent that of soy," Newkirk said.
Classen said MCN's technology can help eliminate some anti-nutrients found in feeds.
|
