The relentless marketing, alternately promoting weight loss drugs and foods that lean toward making us fat, wasn’t aimed at the elite athletes strutting their stuff on the world stage. It’s a safe bet they didn’t achieve the peak of human fitness on a diet of pizza and french fries. It’s equally doubtful they require injections of the GLP-1 class of drugs to manage their weight.

Nope, those commercials are aimed at the couch potatoes back home, subjecting us to both temptation and a shortcut to redemption as we bear witness to these feats of human endurance.

These athletes deserve our admiration and respect, but to be fair to the rest of us, most working stiffs don’t have the time, the drive or the resources to devote full-time to the pursuit of extreme fitness.

So we’re left swinging between food-culture extremes, the effects of which filter back through the food chain to the farm. Consider for a moment how the food industry is twisting itself into a pretzel trying to understand how these drugs will affect consumer demand.

Firstly, these products reduce appetites, which means people eat less — so much so that it’s more difficult for them to meet their nutritional needs. It’s also now known that one of the unintended consequences of rapid weight loss is a loss of muscle.

Lately, the focus has shifted to how to support consumers in their post-GLP-1 phase as users move away from the drugs due to factors such as costs or side effects. Recent studies are indicating the weight they lost bounces back four times faster than weight lost through traditional diet and exercise.

That has shifted attention to creating low-calorie, nutrient-dense foods, with a particular emphasis on protein.

How does this affect farmers’ bottom line? Some analysts have pointed to the protein craze as one reason record-high beef prices haven’t had the same dampening effect on demand that they might have in the past.

It’s also creating some longer-term shifts in pricing and production.

A recent Farm Credit Canada analysis outlined how this plays out for dairy farmers, to cite one example. A decade ago, they were told they needed to produce milk with a higher proportion of butterfat, which led to shifts in pricing, genetics and feeding strategies to accommodate.

Now, demand is tipping back to protein, leading marketing boards to once again adjust pricing formulas to incentivise a higher ratio of protein in the milk supply. Change comes at a cost, and those costs eventually find their way into the price of food.

“Does this protein craze have staying power? It will take years and successive generations of breeding to shift the herd towards higher-protein-lower butterfat-producing animals,” FCC economist Graeme Crosbie asked in his article.

That’s a good question. Looking back over the countless extreme approaches grabbing headlines in recent generations — the Atkins Diet, keto, low-fat, high-fat, cabbage, carnivore, meatless, vegan, California, intermittent fasting, anti-ultra processed — to name a few — many have caused food-sector pivots, but ultimately, most had limited staying power.

Remember the Atkins Diet of the early 2000s? Industry statistics show that at its peak, pasta consumption dropped eight per cent and bread by up to 40 per cent.

Meanwhile, food manufacturers responded with a major investment in hundreds of low-carb food products, many of which flourished only briefly.

The jury is still out on the plant-based protein craze, touted as healthier for people and the planet. However, many of the early plant-based products are languishing in the marketplace because of their high cost and blah taste. That industry is reportedly regrouping in a bid to up the flavour profile and rebalance costs.

There are already signs that the GLP-1 drugs are losing their shine. They no doubt still have a place but many are discovering they aren’t the panacea those advertisements make them out to be.

Farmers busy with the day-to-day business of growing food ingredients can’t afford to farm the fads. But it’s still wise to monitor these changing consumer behaviours to find the common threads — such as protein, nutrition and a move away from ultra-processed foods.

Understanding how the middle ground between the different extremes might be shifting gives farmers the upper hand when making strategic investments in their operations.

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WHY IT MATTERS: More than 80 per cent of pulses exported from Canada to India are grown in Saskatchewan.

The Canada-India Pulse Protein Centre of Excellence would be built at the National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management in Kundli, 40 kilometres north of New Delhi, said the Saskatchewan government in a March 3 news release.

The proposed centre would focus on the advancement of pulse protein processing and the development of fortified foods. It would also strengthen the relationship and support economic growth between the two countries, as well as improve global nutrition, reduce environmental impacts and advance sustainable agriculture.

Both the U of S and NIFTEM were named by their respective federal governments to be the co-chairs of the facility.

“The University of Saskatchewan has a strong history of developing agricultural innovations that have real world impact,” said Baljit Singh, the U of S’s research vice-president.

“We are committed to addressing the global demand for plant-based proteins and applying our world-class researchers, labs and infrastructure to address these needs. We look forward to working alongside our partners in India and the Government of Saskatchewan to create sustainable solutions.”

The pulse protein centre was announced during a trade mission to India by Canadian officials, including Canadian prime minister Mark Carney and Saskatchewan premier Scott Moe.

“Our province is essential for global food security,” Moe said.

“This announcement represents an opportunity to bring Saskatchewan’s expertise and ingenuity in pulse production to the people of India. By working together, we will accelerate innovation, expand processing capabilities, and help meet growing demand for affordable, high quality, sustainably grown foods.”

More than 80 per cent of all pulses exported from Canada to India are grown in Saskatchewan, primarily lentils, chickpeas and yellow peas.

“The Centre of Excellence underscores the long-term partnership between Saskatchewan and India in pulses,” Saskatchewan Pulse (SaskPulse) Growers chair Stuart Lawrence said.

“This collaboration between academia and government can help ensure more pulses are included in large-scale food applications and enhance the role pulses play in delivering nutritional security for the benefit of Indian consumers and Saskatchewan farmers.”

Saskatchewan has exported more than $18 billion worth of goods to India since 2007. The province opened a trade and investment office in New Delhi in 2021, one of nine worldwide.

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Protein Industries Canada has committed $1.3 million to these projects through its Strengthening the Canadian Supply Chain program the organization said in a Feb. 25 news release. The companies will collectively chip in about $400,000.

The projects announced are:

• Fresh Hemp Foods in Manitoba will develop a dry fractionated flax protein powder for business to business and consumer sales.
• Ontario-based 1847 Stone Milling will develop and commercialize a Canadian-grown, high-protein Atta flour. Atta is a finely-milled flour often used in Indian and South Asian cuisine. Atta flour is largely imported in Canada, Protein Industries Canada said.
• Yofiit Inc., based in Ontario, is developing a high-protein drinkable yogurt incorporating flax, oats and legumes.
• MeeT Restaurants in B.C. is developing a plant-based burger to feature in its restaurants and for online sales in order to switch to a product made of Canadian ingredients.
• Farmery Estate Brewery in Manitoba will upcycle spent brewer’s grains into a protein-rich beverage base and ingredient.
• Henry’s Tempeh in Ontario is scaling production of marinated tempeh made with Canadian organic soybeans.
• HealX Vitals in Ontario is developing ProteinFries, a high-protein frozen fry using Canadian pulses and grains.
• Trueleaf Petcare, based in B.C., is developing and scaling cold-formed dental sticks for dogs using Canadian ingredients.
• Grazy, based in Quebec, is reformulating its frozen dessert and beverage lines using Canadian pea and fava bean protein.

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What’s happened to turn a sector with billions of dollars in investment to ruin?

As an alternative protein source, insects sounded good. They consume waste, grow plentifully and have a good protein profile and were thought to have a lower carbon footprint. And no, unlike various commentators have suggested, the politicians weren’t making humans eat them.

Instead, insect farming was aimed at the bottom of the commodity protein market, feeding animals and fish.

A Rabobank AgResearch report in 2021 said that 40 per cent of all insect protein would go to the rapidly growing farmed fish segment. Much of the rest of it would go into pet or livestock feed.

Companies like Aspire, Ynsect and InnoFeed began rapidly scaling around the world, but most didn’t make it through the scaling phase. Insect production at a giant scale is difficult, it turns out.

When announced in 2020, the Aspire Food Group’s cricket plant in London was to be the largest in the world, producing 12,000 tonnes of crickets per year. The company struggled with scaling and never reached full capacity.

In May, Farm Credit Canada and other creditors put the company into receivership.

According to AgFunder, the buildings have been sold to Halali Group Holdings, which may use the facility for insect production again.

Ynsect was growing mealworms, also mostly headed for feed. But it turns out few people have worked with mealworms at a giant scale, and the fatty insects are pretty tough on equipment. There were delays.

Like most livestock, insects do better on an optimized diet. Just feeding them volumes of waste meant inefficient production.

Ynsect had raised about the equivalent of almost $1 billion. It had heavy subsidies from the French government. Despite all the money and research effort, insect protein remained too expensive.

I expect there will be niche insect protein producers who will remain in business, supplying a premium market at a smaller scale.

Maybe at some point the technical barriers will be solved. But the system will be more complicated at billion-cricket scale than the long-proved systems we have of raising poultry, pigs and cattle.

It’s a cautionary tale for lab-grown animal proteins. It’s thought they too will compete at the low end of the protein marketplace, but I expect they will be stuck at the top end of the cost structure.

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PwC sent the information to creditors ahead of a Nov. 13 meeting, the first such creditors meeting held since Merit officially filed for bankruptcy on Oct. 23, 2025. PwC was appointed trustee the same day that filing was made.

WHY IT MATTERS: The Prairie plant protein space was rocked in 2023 with news that Winnipeg-based Merit Functional Foods had hit a financial wall.

Merit had been under court-ordered receivership since March 1, 2023, following a February filing from Export Development Canada (EDC) and Farm Credit Canada (FCC). At that time, the two, both secured lenders in the proceedings, said they were owed $58.5 million and $36.5 million respectively, based on debt financing they had provided for the company in 2020.

Merit had opened in early 2021 with major financial backing from Export Development Canada, Farm Credit Canada, CIBC and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, as well as an interest-free $10-million AgriInnovate loan. Shareholders included Burcon NutraScience, Bunge, and a group of former Hemp Oil Canada executives.

PwC, also the appointed trustee for the recievership, has since sold off all the company’s remaining finished and raw inventory and collected most of its accounts receivable. That money was used to pay off Merit’s main operating lender, CIBC, which was owed about $5 million at the start of the process.

Inventory sales brought in about $3.3 million, and PwC recovered roughly $571,000 in receivables, though a small portion couldn’t be collected, according to documents posted on the case by PwC. CIBC had first claim on this money, and other secured lenders agreed to let PwC use the proceeds to clear that debt so it would stop accumulating interest.

Money owed to EDC and FCC, as Merit’s other secured lenders, are listed later in the recent bankruptcy filings.

The company’s Winnipeg plant still remains a question. Court documents from earlier this year showed that PwC had a line on a Manitoba numbered company as a buyer and had requested court approval for the sale. As of the latest filings, no deal had been finalized.

The receiver filed a detailed update with the court, but a judge ordered that part of the report sealed, noting that releasing it during the sale process could hurt the chances of getting the best price. PwC has said the information will be made public once a sale is complete.

Bankruptcy documents

With bulk assets sold during receivership and that money directed to secured lenders, the bankruptcy statement of affairs now contains only the leftover debt. PwC lists $102,398,560 in unsecured claims and $1 in cash remaining.

The unsecured trade creditor list includes more than 200 businesses and organizations. Among the largest amounts are $548,799.98 owed to the RM of Rosser, $331,136.82 owed to Manitoba Hydro, and $188,462.40 owed to Manitoba Hydro International.

Merit’s own filing says rising operating costs, competition, and product issues all played a role in its financial woes.

No farmers, however, have been left unpaid.

The Canadian Grain Commission audited Merit twice in 2023. First in March, then again when the company’s grain dealer licence was not renewed July 1. Both audits confirmed the company had “no outstanding producer liabilities.”

By July, Merit was barred from taking in grain or creating any new obligations to farmers. Producers who still had contracts on paper at the time of receivership received direct notice from PwC with next steps.

Disclosure: Glacier FarmMedia, the parent company of this publication, is listed as an unsecured trade creditor in the bankruptcy filings with a claim of $1,785.

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Therefore, anyone who claims to understand the “Asian consumer” and what the typical Asian likes to eat probably doesn’t know what they’re talking about.

“There is no such thing as an Asian consumer,” said Andrew Powell, chief executive officer of Asia BioBusiness, a life science company in Singapore that specializes in agriculture and food.

“There are consumers who live in Asia.”

WHY IT MATTERS: Asian markets account for some major export destinations for local agriculture, such as Manitoba pork headed to Japan.

Powell travelled to Manitoba in late September to participate in a panel discussion on the global marketplace for proteins at the Protein Industries Canada annual meeting in Winnipeg.

Understanding the preferences of consumers in Taiwan and how they differ from Indonesia or Malaysia isn’t easy for a small company in Saskatchewan that wants to export a faba bean protein or a roasted lentil snack food across the Pacific.

To help bridge that knowledge gap, Protein Industries Canada has partnered with Nurasa, a firm in Singapore that specializes in food product development and commercialization.

Together, the two have created the Asia-Pacific Market Entry program.

”(It) will fast track opportunities for Canadian plant-based ingredient and food companies to bring their products directly to this important market,” federal agriculture minister Heath MacDonald said in August.

Canadian firms that participate in the program will get help from Nurasa to navigate local regulations and test market their products for consumers in Asia.

Xiuling Guo, Nurasa’s chief executive officer who attended the Protein Industries Canada meeting in Winnipeg, told a story about what she ate at a Winnipeg hotel to illustrate an opportunity for Canadian exporters.

“This morning I had a breakfast with the most delicious granola,” she said, adding the oats in the granola had higher level of protein than she’s accustomed to.

“For me, this is an upgrade…. And the granola tastes really good.”

The granola may be high quality, but Nurasa could help a Canadian food company tweak the recipe or change the marketing so it appeals to consumers in Singapore, Vietnam or Indonesia.

The Asia-Pacific Market Entry program is open until Oct. 15. More information is available online.

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The paper — released by CoBank, one of the largest private agricultural lenders in the U.S. — focuses on that country’s pork production and consumption, but the North American hog and pork industries are highly integrated. Impacts from the report, if there are any, will spill north across the border.

Nearly a quarter of pigs born in Canada are sent to the U.S. for feeding and slaughter. Sixty per cent of those are weanlings sent to U.S. feeding operations. Canada also exported US$1.7 billion in pork products to the U.S. in 2024 and imported US$850-million worth back.

CoBank says the U.S. industry’s continued reliance on exports to places like Mexico, China, South Korea and Canada — accountable for nearly a quarter of its production — is becoming too risky, given “new trade policies” creating more volatility in global trade.

Even without President Donald Trump’s tariff wars in the mix, trade with China has fallen sharply since the record sales of 2020. Chinese domestic production rebounded faster than expected following a devastating outbreak of African swine fever in 2018. Sales to China in 2024 were less than a quarter of the kilograms sold five years ago.

Bacon has achieved a cult-like following in the U.S. and sausage products have gained appeal, which has doubled market prices for the pork bellies and trimmings used to make them. However, “muscle cuts” such as pork loins and hams are often discounted. They aren’t as convenient and consumers don’t know how to cook them.

“Sluggish exports could mean more pork loins in domestic markets, and U.S. consumers have difficulty cooking ‘the perfect pork chop,’” the report says.

Exports of so-called “variety meats” such as livers, hearts, kidneys, tongues, stomachs, snouts, ears, feet and tails were worth $1.3 billion in 2024, but they aren’t popular menu items in North America.

“Any trade barriers in place for countries that purchase variety meats could cause implications for the U.S. pork sector because those products have extremely limited demand in the U.S.,” CoBank says.

U.S. pork consumption has remained static at about 22 kilograms per capita since the 1970s. Increasing that will be challenging because the parts of the animal the industry currently exports are such a hard to sell to U.S. consumers.

“If the U.S. consumer is to reimagine pork, the pork industry may need to make drastic changes, including recalibrating the genetic hog makeup and showcasing different cuts at retail and through food service.”

Pork industries on both sides of the border have launched campaigns designed to convince consumers they need more pork on their forks. Canadian consumption is much lower than the U.S., about 16 kilograms per capita, but recent marketing efforts have achieved increases of nearly 15 per cent.

CoBank cites Kansas State University research, which names taste as the primary driver for protein purchases. When it comes to animal protein, the flavour is in the fat.

That’s a problem for a sector that heeded previous low-fat messaging and shifted genetic focus towards lean carcass weights, rapid growth and more efficient feed conversion.

“The lean hog formulation that was adopted by the broad bulk of U.S. producers more than two decades ago has largely influenced the pork that U.S. consumers are offered today,” the report says. “This has left something to be desired when comparing pork chops to beef steaks, often with an overcooked chop delivering a bad experience.”

CoBank is signalling a shift in market direction that has obvious implications for the Canadian sector, but it’s unclear how this might play out. Changing the genetic makeup of the hog to bring more fat into the equation needs to be considered carefully, given society’s love-hate relationship with fat.

Teaching consumers more tasty cooking practices combined with changes to how pork cuts are prepared and marketed might achieve the same outcome without compromising pork’s lean nutritional profile.

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“Canada can be the preferred ingredient supplier to the world—building off our strong advantages as an agricultural powerhouse. To seize that opportunity we must invest in, and support, our domestic processing capacity,” said PIC CEO Robert Hunter.

“The Strengthening the Canadian Supply Chain Program is an interim step to help our companies weather the current turbulence, but as a country, we need to become serious about our ability to add value to our products here at home.”

The $3 million Strengthening the Canadian Supply Chain Program will reimburse up to 75 per cent of eligible costs to a maximum project cost of $200,000 on projects that:

• Reformulate products with domestically produced ingredients
• Work to scale up or commercialize to increase the supply of domestically produced food
• Work to scale up or commercialize domestically produced ingredients for Canadian manufacturers

Projects must use Canadian feedstocks or ingredients derived from Canadian crops like wheat, oats, barley, peas, soy or fava beans.

PIC said it will also increase funding for capital and equipment through its Technology Leadership Program.

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In late June, agricultural technology firm NRGene Canada announced that its North American Insect Centre in Saskatoon will open July 30. The facility was developed in collaboration with Swiss technology group Bühler. It aims to continue research and development of soldier fly strains.

“Western Canada is a hub for agriculture,” said Masood Rizvi, general manager of NRGene Canada, on the choice to put the centre in Saskatoon. “There’s lots of crop byproduct in Saskatoon. Saskatoon also has lots of agriculture companies and processing. Everything is happening here.”

Why it matters: A Saskatchewan facility will promote insect protein as a sustainable source for livestock feed.

Black soldier flies feed on decaying organic matter, making them a popular choice for composting or reducing manure. By using agricultural byproducts to feed them, NRGene hopes to close part of Saskatchewan’s nutrient loop.

The flies are a primary focus of research at NRGene. The company has used data analysis and artificial intelligence to develop better genetics — flies with larger larvae or reduced hatch time.

Bühler installed a climate-controlled larvae growth chamber that simulates industrial conditions. So far, it has been used in preliminary trials. Larvae growth and development results have been promising, a June 18 press release said.

The larvae take four days to hatch, spend five days in the nursery and then seven days at agri-waste producers eating before being harvested. From hatch to harvest takes 12 days, according to the company, down from the roughly two weeks seen in other black soldier fly operations.

The original length of a full cycle, from egg to mature fly, is 42-45 days.

The company is still looking to advance and understand the flies. With genomics and phenotyping, they expect to tailor insect lines to customer needs for things like improved feed conversion rates.

Andreas Baumann, head of market segment insect technology at Bühler, said the Saskatchewan facility will benefit clients. It will offer workshops, training sessions and seminars to educate on the benefits and best practices of insect protein production.

“It will serve as a meeting place for our clients, particularly those from North America, to collaboratively optimize insect plant operation,” he said in the press release. “Together, we can fine-tune both biological and technological aspects.”

Outreach is a secondary purpose of the centre, said Rizvi. The company intends it to be an educational opportunity for interested parties as well as customers. While customers will likely be interested in assessing black soldier fly varieties, operational parameters, and practices for industrial efficiency, other visitors will seek to understand the business concept.

“People want to know more about how we do insect farming, because it’s like another level of farming,” Rizvi said. “So, we want to really make sure that people come from the different industries, or students who want to build an understanding … and if they want to do the workshops, they can.”

Gaining attention

Firms that cultivate black soldier flies for the feed market are popping up internationally. In 2022, the Co-operator visited one such fly farm in Denmark. That business fed food industry waste to the insects and converted larvae into protein meal.

When dried, larvae can be up to 50 per cent protein.

In terms of regulations, its a comparatively new idea. Rule changes in Canada and Europe have opened the door for insect-based animal feed in the last eight years. Past product approvals in Canada have included pet food and food for fish, hogs and poultry.

A search of feed products registered by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency returns a number of companies with registered products covering black soldier fly larvae or products processed from larvae, such as oil.

This story has been updated to clarify the length of the harvest cycle of black soldier fly.

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In a panel discussion at the Manitoba Sustainable Protein Research Symposium in Winnipeg, Bioscience Association of Manitoba president Andrea Ladouceur said companies require people with “the combination of theory and practical application.”

BAM represents more than 120 firms across the province, ranging from agricultural biotechnology to health biotechnology.

“We’re spending a bit of time thinking about whether this new and emerging workforce just needs a bit of time before they can demonstrate those skills, or is it something else?” Ladouceur said.

Kelley Main, dean of the University of Manitoba faculty of graduate studies, said universities have a role to play in addressing workforce needs by broadening the scope of educational experience.

“One of the opportunities we have before us is to think about how we re-imagine curriculum and how we re-imagine programs to take into account both depth and breadth,” she said.

“You need to have that depth of knowledge of the particular area that you’re working in, but if we only know the specific area that we’re working in, we miss these opportunities to understand how these pieces can fit together.”

Main said more focus on interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary studies could address the issue. She used the example of someone studying soil science. That field can be looked at from various angles, from food science to climate change and environmental sustainability.

“You need to consider geography. You need to consider transportation and logistics. A finance background might be helpful and some legal background might also be helpful. We don’t have a program currently that can give you all of that.”

Bridging the gap might not be possible for universities alone, Main said.

“I think there’s a real opportunity for us to think about the connections we can build between our educational institutions, our government institutions, our non-profit institutions and our industries to work together to figure out how to build the right kinds of pathways for people.”

Christine Watson, vice-president academic at Red River College Polytechnic, said her institution is uniquely positioned to provide breadth of experience.

In particular, she indicated its capacity for applied research compared to the research typically done at universities. She used the college’s Prairie Research Kitchen as an example, where culinary students contribute to developing new food products and services applicable to food processing and food service sectors.

“We have equipment and expertise to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with the commercialization of products in Manitoba and get them to market.”

Watson also identified the need to develop cross-disciplinary skills and endow students with the ability to adapt them.

“We take those technical skills and apply them, so that the range of opportunities for the workforce is much broader.”

Bridges for industry

Stacey Dunn, a patent lawyer with the Montreal intellectual property firm Robic, said small businesses could address research and development gaps by partnering with research institutes.

“Some companies can’t necessarily afford to hire someone to do R&D full time, and this can be a really beneficial partnership for SMEs and for the researchers that are doing the work,” she said.

Dunn, who works remotely from Manitoba and specializes in agriculture, urged businesses to enter partnerships with their eyes open.

“There are some things that you need to consider before you enter into some of these partnerships, and one of them is IP (intellectual property) ownership,” said Dunn. “All the IP ownership is generally dictated by the IP policy at these research institutes.”

In some cases, universities retain full IP ownership, which can be problematic because the institution could offer a licence to a competitor. But ownership is not written in stone and research agreements can be negotiated.

“Partnering with research institutions is an excellent way to get research done. You just want to consider the implications of working with these research institutes beforehand and manage them before you start work.”

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