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Value Added Agriculture Investment Attraction Strategy for Eastern Alberta Trade Corridor 2 March 2017
Value Added Agriculture Investment Attraction Strategy
for Eastern Alberta Trade Corridor
2 March 2017
Outline
□ Purpose and Scope
□ EATC Global Competitiveness
□ Technology, Trends and Macro Factors
□ EATC Opportunity Selection Approach
□ EATC Opportunity Selection & Screening
□ Government Policy Direction / Recommendations
□ Foreign Direct Investment Attraction Strategy
□ Action Steps
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Purpose and Scope
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EATC project to improve regional capacity in order to attract
investment, including Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), related to
the value added agriculture sector.
STEPS:
1. Find, Screen, Filter Opportunities
2. High Level Business Cases Developed for High Ranking
Opportunities - Sample Target Investors Identified
3. Investment Attraction Strategy
4. Action Plan
EATC Global Competitiveness
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STRENGTHS• Strong Agricultural Production
• High Quality Workforce
• Low Exchange Rate
• Good Infrastructure
WEAKNESSES• Transportation Costs to Major Markets
• Increased Energy Costs Due to:
• Excessive Transmission Infrastructure Build
• Carbon Taxes
• Potential Regulatory Changes to Increase Unionization
Technology & Trends
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Changes that once took several years now coming in months!!
• Synthetic Biology – CRISPR Cas9 – explosion in crop varieties
– producer groups and regulators caught flat footed?
• Energy technologies – lower cost, green, more local, reduces
cost disadvantages of higher latitude greenhouses
• Robotic greenhouses – “Mass Localization” of food production
• Advanced Manufacturing Localization of manufacturing
o 3D printed meat / buildings / bridges / cars / human organs
• Drones and Sensors – becoming cost effective to improve crop
yields and QUALITY; real-time livestock health monitoring
• Autonomous farm machinery
• Growing global demand for protein bodes well for pulses
• Governments slow to recognize investment attraction
opportunities of “exponential” technologies
Opportunity Selection Approach
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WHAT MARKET WANTS over WHAT WE GROW
OPPORTUNITY SELECTION CRITERIA:
• Commercially Proven Technology
• Existing Market with Growth Potential
• EATC Suitability – Feedstock, relevant infrastructure, labour, and
proximity to market will all influence an investor’s location
decisions within Alberta
• Economic Impact > $5 million annual revenue within 5 years
EATC Opportunity Selection & Screening
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AEROPONIC LETTUCE
AG TOURISM
AG-BIOLOGICS
BEER
BIOBUTANOL
BIOCOMPOSITES
BIODIESEL
BIOELECTRICITY
BIOETHANOL
BIOGAS
BIO-LUBRICANTS
BIOSOLVENTS
DRONE MFG
ELEVATED SOLAR
PANELS
ENVIRONMENTAL GOODS
& SERVIC.
ESSENTIAL OIL
FISH/SPECIALITY CROP
GINSENG
GLYCEROL CARBONATE
GOURMET MUSHROOM
GUAR GUM
HALAL MEAT
HEXANE
HONEY
INGREDIENTS MARKET
ISOPROPANOL
MEDICINAL MARIJUANA
OIL CAKE
ORGANIC FERTILIZER
PET FOOD
PRE-MADE MEALS
PULSE PROCESSING
ROBOTIC FENCE BUILDER
SENSOR MFG
SPECIALTY DAIRY
SPECIALTY PASTA
SPIRITS / DISTILLERY
SURFACTANTS
CRITERION WEIGHT
Potentially Cost Competitive – internationally
competitive, high value goods bigger sales radius
40%
Net Economic Impact – benefit to GDP and net
employment
30%
Technologically Robust – change driver / survivor 20%
Environmental Impact 10%
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OPPORTUNITY SCREENING & RANKING:
Opportunity Selection Approach
Highest Ranking
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Pulse Processing Functional Foods and Health Products
Grain Based Functional Foods and Health Products
Hydroponic Greenhouse Crops
Hemp Based Biocomposites
Medicinal Plants – Marijuana
Specialty Pet food (Cat & Dog Food)
Halal Meat
Glycerol Carbonate
Elevated Solar Farms
Speciality Pasta
Pre-made Meals
Microbrewery
Fish/Speciality Crop - Aquaponics
High Level Business Cases
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Pulse Processing Functional Foods and Health Products
Hemp Based Biocomposites
Hydroponic Greenhouse Crops
Specialty Pet Food (Cat & Dog)
Where to From Here?
1. Regional Assessment and Fit (see study for details)
2. Government Policy Direction / Recommendations to
Facilitate Investment Attraction & Diversification
3. Strategy
4. Action Steps
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Govt. Policy Direction / Recommendations
□ Taxation
□ Rural Development Bonds
□ GHG penalties
□ Labour
□ Immigration policy
□ Foreign Investment Attraction
□ Export market support
□ Value-added related incentives
□ Insurance and risk management
□ US border crossing
□ Inter-governmental cooperation
□ Enhance Competitiveness with Investment in Green Diversification Infrastructure
□ Cluster related incentives
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Strategic Approach
□ Think Big! There will only be measurable long term job creation if the
industries we attract are of a sufficient scale, growth and product
export potential. Alberta Has Successfully Diversified Before! What
Can We Learn From Those Successes?
□ Investment in Competitive Advantage is the Foundation
• Overcome EATC Weaknesses - Level Playing Field vs Competing
Jurisdictions
• Invest in Green Diversification Infrastructure
• Pursue Clusters to improve and Sustain Competitiveness
□ Market Pull over Producer Push
□ Understand the Pains, Gains and Objectives of your Extended
Team and Target Investors!
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Green Diversification Infrastructure Strategy
□ Green – Agriculture based businesses maximizing use of renewable energy sources in shared clusters.
□ Diversification – Value added secondary and tertiary agriculture processing that maximizes export revenues from locally grown commodities.
□ Infrastructure – Shared agricultural processing complexes with common energy, marketing, transportation facilities to enhance the cost competitiveness of a wide array of value added agriculture businesses.
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Global Cluster Success Factors
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Old News, or a Way to Make EATC More Competitive?
• Generally close geographic proximity
• By-products consumed within cluster
• Utility and infrastructure synergies
• Heat and power savings
• Labour availability
• Coordinated development community, with political clout
• Streamlined regulatory approval processes
Green Diversification Infrastructure:EATC Value Added Agricultural Complexes
(EVAAC)
□ EVAACs are infrastructure clusters designed to
address investor siting criteria and enhance
competitiveness of the primary opportunities identified
earlier in order to attract them into the EATC.
□ EVAACs to be built in each of the three EATC regions.
□ The EVAAC strategy consists of primary elements:
• Governance
• Marketing
• Cluster Design
• Energy Infrastructure
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EATC Value Added Ag Complex (EVAAC) Infrastructure
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EATC VALUE ADDED AG COMPLEX (EVAAC)
EXAMPLES OF TENANTS
EVAAC Process Example – Pea Processing
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Action Plan Objective: to differentiate the EATC so as to attract job creating
companies beyond the cottage industry scale. This requires
investment in EVAAC infrastructure to enhance the competitiveness of
companies locating in the EATC.
□ In order to accomplish this in a reasonable time frame, several
stakeholders need to be mobilized. These include:
• Existing government programs to provide resources to develop
and promote the EVAAC plan.
• Politicians to support larger scale EVAAC infrastructure funding.
• Government bureaucrats to enable EVAAC funding.
• Provincial and federal investment attraction teams.
□ Local and foreign investors in the target industries (“opportunities”)
must be simultaneously attracted and engaged.
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Action Plan
EVAAC in 37 months:
• Secured EVAAC Program Funding
• Secured Initial EVAAC Tenants
• Secured EVAAC Capital Project Funding
• Begin Construction of EVAAC
• Commissioning of Tenant Operations in EVAAC
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Action Plan
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Next Steps
□ Think Big!
□ Develop a Well Crafted PR Program –Build Buzz around GreenDiversification Infrastructure!
□ Formalize and Deliver Strong Pitch to Government for EVAAC Staffing and Feasibility Seed Funding
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Thank You
www.imcprojects.ca
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