A Saguenay-region firm specializing in ag waste treatment plans to process whey from cheese producers into a hog feed supplement, using $2 million in federal funding.
Corporation HET (Horizon Environnement Technologies) will get $1.2 million from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), $663,042 from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and $150,000 from the Societe d’aide au developpement des collectivites (SADC), a federally-backed economic development agency.
The funding will go toward a new processing facility next to cheesemaker Fromagerie Perron, based at St-Prime, about 115 km west of Chicoutimi on Lac St-Jean.
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“This project will increase demand for milk, helping farmers raise healthier pigs and benefit the environment by turning a waste product into a valuable commodity,” Quebec MP Jean-Pierre Blackburn, the federal minister of state for agriculture, said in a release.
Sovalac, a Corporation HET subsidiary, has developed a “bioreactor” to convert whey into a protein-rich supplement to be added to feed.
“This funding will help us use locally produced milk products in our manufacturing (and) improve environmental impacts of whey disposal, as well as create real savings for Quebec milk producers,” Sovalac CEO Paul Boudreault said in the government’s release.
Project stakeholders said they expect the facility “has the potential to be widely used by cheese factories all over the country,” the government said.
“This partnership will not only add value to whey from our production cycle, but also make it possible for us to increase our competitiveness in the marketplace and consolidate our operations in St-Prime,” Fromagerie Perron president Jean-Marc Perron said.
The new plant is expected to create 16 jobs and create $2.8 million in annual revenues, the government added.
