American agribusiness Scoular held an event Tuesday to mark the opening of a new production facility in Jerome, ID that will supply barley protein ingredients to the pet food and aquafeed industries.

“Scoular is proud to develop this innovative feed product and partner with Idaho’s barley farmers and pet food and aqua feed manufacturers to add value throughout the supply chain,” the firm’s chief executive officer, Paul Maass, said in a release. “Scoular has a long history of success with our Jerome, ID teams and customers, and we’re thrilled to make additional investments in the region.”

Ingredients made at the plant will be sold under the firm’s Emerge brand. Scoular uses a patent-pending process to manufacture the traceable and non-GMO barley protein.

“Idaho is the top-producing barley state in the US, growing 37% of the nation’s crop in 2021,” said Laura Wilder, executive director of the Idaho Barley Commission, in a statement. “Scoular’s new facility will bring expanded opportunities for growers, further strengthening Idaho’s place as the No. 1 source of consistent, high-quality barley in the US.”

Commercial production is slated to begin at the location in January.  

Earlier this month, Scoular announced that its independent pet food ingredient solutions subsidiary Petsource plans to launch a $75 million expansion project at its Seward, NE plant to triple the facility’s capacity.

The company said it intends to commit over $200 million to planned capital investments over the next few years to support the pet food industry.