The prairie provinces primed to capitalize on the growth of the global middle class.

That from Carlo Dade, Director of the Trade & Investment Centre with the Canada West Foundation.

The public policy think tank has just released a report looking at how the Prairie provinces can capitalize on the demand for plant-based protein.

"Within this global middle class, there's an increasing demand for not just food, but for better quality, and better types of food," said Dade. "This is where the protein opportunity comes in. One of the first things people do, when incomes rise is to increase the amount of protein that they take in. If you think of a place like Vietnam, it's looking to increase beef, and that requires feed and feed is higher protein."

The report states that the three Prairie provinces have the capacity to dominate the plant ingredient market, already growing large volumes of well-suited crops including lentils, peas and beans.

Early investments in processing facilities also provide an advantage.