CANADA — Above Food announce it will be acquiring NorQuin, adding a scaled portfolio of specialty ingredients capabilities and customers while bolstering the company’s growing agriculture and consumer packaged goods (CPG) business.
Set up in 1992, NorQuin is North America’s largest vertically integrated producer of quinoa. It offers a state-of-the-art production facility and supplies the retail channel with products including packaged quinoa and flours.
It also sells B2B customers ingredients such as quinoa seeds and flours, flakes and bran and partners with growers to produce the highest quality quinoa at scale with complete traceability.
The company has invested more than two decades of research to develop proprietary, higher yield, higher protein, non-GMO varietals of quinoa.
NorQuin will add a robust range of value-added quinoa products to Above Food’s CPG division, which are already sold across North America in natural, mass, and club retailers like Harris Teeter, Walmart and Costco.
Above Food says it plans to integrate NorQuin’s class-leading genetic capabilities and grower programs into its disruptive agriculture business.
Doing so would provide significant scale to NorQuin’s existing grower infrastructure, while applying the team’s expertise in genetics and plant-breeding to a broader base of proteins.
“The team at NorQuin has built a truly remarkable platform,” noted Lionel Kambeitz, CEO of Above Food.
“Adding them to our scaled, vertically integrated platform will enable significant opportunities for growth and margin expansion across each of our core competencies”
Quinoa, which is high in protein and fiber, will be key in realizing Above Food’s mission to make nutritious, plant-based ingredients easily accessible through its vertically integrated supply chain.
This super ingredient, will play an important role in formulating future products while also bringing together key players in the business.
Founded in Canada, Above Food has a complete chain of custody of plant proteins, enabled by scaled operations and infrastructure in primary agriculture and processing.
It offers a range of plant-based meat, seafood and dairy alternatives under the consumer-facing Eat Up!, New Ocean and Culcherd brands. It also sells grains, seeds and legumes under the Farmer Direct Organic brand.
Liked this article? Subscribe to Food Business Africa News, our regular email newsletters with the latest news insights from Africa and the World’s food and agro industry. SUBSCRIBE HERE.
