The department of Project Development
is a division of Canadian Agra which bring new and innovative technologies
to life. The group works with many technologies and utilizes the latest
research to bring projects from initial conceptions into completed
business units. While the majority of the projects are in the Agri-food
or Agri-feed industries, the group also works in many other industries
including energy, transportation and training just to name a few.
The group is involved in all stages of the life-cycle of the project.
When projects are first conceived, detailed feasibility studies are
conducted to determine if a project can succeed in the market place.
Things like technological maturity, market readiness, market share,
financial projects are all taken into account to make a good assessment
of the viability of a project. Once detailed studies have been completed
and it was discovered that a project may be successful the group creates
detailed plans which outline everything from the design to the implementation
and determines the exact resource and investment requirements.
Based on the above, decisions
are made to go ahead with a project. Once the decision is made, the
group contracts with the appropriate companies to complete the design
build & commission operations. Often this process can take years,
and the group is thoroughly involved in the process to ensure operations
are build up to the specifications and requirements. After an operation
is completed, the group is involved in the commissioning and training
of the staff and the operation is then turned over to its own individual
business unit. The project development group is still involved at
this point to ensure the operation proceeds as originally planned.
They are also involved in looking for ways to optimize and stream
line the operation, and making the operation more efficient.
The Project Development group
has worked for more than a decade on several larger projects including:
An alfalfa dehydration
facility which takes alfalfa as an input, dries it and then produces
cubes which are used as horse feed
A fruit juice processing
plant which produced juices from a variety of input materials
including tomatoes, apples and several others
A canola oil extraction
facility which extracted canola oil from canola seed. The facility
used only natural means for extraction (as opposed to chemical
extraction) and was unique in North America
The services the group provides are both for our own group
of companies and also for outside clients who are considering projects
in the Agri-food or Agri-feed industry. The group has extensive experience
in the industry and access to over two decades of agriculture experience
through other divisions of Canadian Agra and related companies.