People News
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz has announced the reappointment of Elwin Hermanson as chief commissioner of the Canadian Grain Commission and the reappointments of Bruce Johnson, Ken Motiuk and Glen Findlay as directors of the CWB, and has also reappointed Greg Stewart as president of Farm Credit Canada.
Syngenta Canada Inc. has appointed Justin Bouvier to the position of cereal research associate. Bouvier will join the Western Biological Assessment Team based in Saskatoon, Sask. He will play an active role in enhancing the organization’s integrated research and development trialing efforts, support cereal active ingredient development molecules in the pipeline, and support Syngenta wheat breeding trials.
Cargill has announced that Sergio Rial, its chief financial officer, has resigned his post with the company, effective at the end of November 2012. Cargill president and chief operating officer, David MacLennan, will serve as interim CFO until the Cargill board of directors elects a successor. MacLennan joined Cargill in 1991 and has held management positions within the financial, risk management, energy and animal protein businesses. He previously served as Cargill’s CFO from 2008 to 2011. While in the interim role, MacLennan will continue as the company’s president and COO.
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz has announced the appointment of Doris Priddle and the reappointments of Donald Bettle and Brad Hanmer to the board of directors of Farm Credit Canada. Priddle’s appointment is for a term of three years. The reappointments of Bettle and Hanmer are effective February 10, 2013, and are for terms of three years each.
Novozymes BioAg has announced that Charlie Hampton has joined the company as North American marketing manager. Hampton will be responsible for the overall marketing direction for Novozymes BioAg and its products for both the United States and Canada. Hampton is a veteran agri-marketer with more than 24 years of experience with Syngenta and its legacy companies, Ciba-Geigy and Novartis. Most recently, Hampton was responsible for directing sales in Wisconsin.
Syngenta Canada has appointed Jake Delheimer as a breeding project lead to support expanding soybean production in Western Canada. Delheimer will focus his breeding efforts on early maturity soybeans for the Manitoba and Saskatchewan markets. Delheimer will be based out of Glyndon, Minn., and operate as part of the northern soybean breeding team led by Glenn Bowers, global head, soybean breeding for Syngenta.
Product News
Bayer CropScience has developed TraitGuard, a solution for farmers that offers an unparalleled level of support in early season canola protection. Part of the Liberty and Trait Agreement, the package protects growers from early season crop establishment risk by refunding the trait fee that is included in the cost of each bag of InVigor hybrid canola and other LibertyLink canola seeds.
Several new higher-yielding varieties have been added to the Clearfield Production System for canola and are available to growers for the 2013 season. Joining Clearfield canola’s existing line-up are Nexera Canola Hybrid 2012 CL, Nexera Canola Hybrid 2016 CL, BrettYoung 5525 CL, BrettYoung 5535 CL, Pioneer 46H75 and Viterra VR 9560 CL. As with all Clearfield canola varieties, these new varieties are non-genetically modified because they are bred through traditional methods.
Syngenta Canada Inc. is launching its newest wheat variety, Canadian Prairie Spring Red SY985, for the 2013 growing season. SY985 offers a unique combination of qualities for CPSR varieties—high yield potential and milling quality grain. Syngenta Canada has also announced that the Agrisure 3122 E-Z Refuge trait stack is now approved for use in Canada. This new combination includes excellent pest management, together with a five per cent blended refuge-in-the-bag for convenience, ease of use and regulatory compliance.
BioVision Seed Labs and Down to Earth Labs Inc. have partnered to deliver a comprehensive portfolio of agricultural analytical services, unique to the Canadian laboratory landscape. This strategic alliance assists clients with a consolidated service offer for the entire crop year, including analyzing soil nutrients, evaluating seed quality, diagnosing in-field agronomy, analyzing feed and grading commodity grain.
The DeKalb brand in Canada has launched a new mobile website that will enable users, including farmers, dealers and agronomists, to quickly find real-time information. The site includes the latest agronomic alerts, products, and yields, as well as dealer and representative locators, commodity prices and weather information.
For the 2013 growing season, Pickseed and Wolf Trax are partnering to deliver the latest in early plant nutrition. Pickseed will treat all forage seed with Protinus Seed Nutrition by Wolf Trax. Protinus is a seed-applied fertilizer designed to enhance early seedling development. Protinus treatment delivers faster, more even emergence; larger seedlings with longer, more developed roots; and the ability to withstand early stressful growing conditions. Pickseed will be the exclusive distributor of Protinus on forage crop seed in Canada.
BASF Canada Inc. has increased production of its Twinline cereal fungicide for the 2013 growing season as a direct response to high market demand. Twinline provides dual modes of action to control a range of leaf diseases, including tan spot, septoria leaf spot, leaf rust, stripe rust, spot blotch, net blotch, scald, crown rust and powdery mildew.
Syngenta Canada Inc. is bringing canola varieties to the marketplace for the 2014 growing season, marking the advent of the company’s canola seed program in Canada. SY4135 will be the first canola variety Syngenta brings to market, with commercial quantities becoming available in the fall of 2013 for seeding in 2014. “SY4135 is a great agronomic fit right across Western Canada,” says Duane Johnson, head of the western commercial unit for Syngenta Canada. “This canola variety is a high-yielding mid-season Genuity Roundup Ready product with consistent standability and harvestability, along with resistance to blackleg.”
The Canadian Seed Growers’ Association is now providing an online Pedigreed Seed Locator that helps farmers quickly and easily find quality Canadian Certified seed varieties from their computer or mobile device. Farmers can find companies that provide variety-specific certified seed within this free online database by province, crop kind and variety name. Search results show a company’s name, phone/fax number, email address and a complete list of certified seed varieties for sale in Canada. CSGA maintains this directory to make it easier for companies, millers, farmers and seed growers to find certified seed in one central location.
The Canadian government has signed a letter of intent with Ceapro Inc. to complete the breeding process to test and register a specialty oat variety developed by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada for Ceapro’s use in its oat compound extraction process. Ceapro Inc. will cover all the costs of production, registration and protection of the oat variety with the expectation of negotiating a sole variety license before March 31, 2015.
Business News
Cargill has announced plans to build a canola processing facility near Camrose, Alta. Subject to receiving all required approvals, construction is expected to be completed in time for the 2014–15 canola harvest. The new crush facility is projected to have the capacity to process 850,000 metric tonnes of canola per year and will serve Alberta canola farmers by providing a consistent and competitive point of delivery.
Legumex Walker Inc. has completed the acquisition of Keystone Grain Ltd., a Manitoba-based processor and marketer of sunflowers, flax, specialty crops and organic commodities. Keystone’s assets include a sunflower processing facility (40,000 metric tonnes annual capacity), a flax processing facility (11,500 MT annual capacity) in Winkler, Man., and a bird food processing facility in Winnipeg (11,500 MT annual capacity).
Richardson International Ltd. plans to invest $120 million in its port terminal facility in Vancouver to increase storage capacity for grains and oilseeds to meet growing global demand. Richardson has applied to Port Metro Vancouver for a permit approval for the project, which would take two years to complete. Richardson expects to handle in excess of 5 million metric tonnes of grains and oilseeds annually with additional storage capacity in Vancouver.
Industry News
The Canadian government is investing over $415,000 in the Canadian Trucking Alliance to help update its existing trucking food safety program to include the latest food safety standards, regulations and practices. This involves adding a new audit and certification process and creating a user-friendly online system which carriers can operate easily. The improvements will reduce the risk of food contamination beyond the farm gate and give food processors, distributors and retailers more confidence that their products are handled properly during transportation.
Three of Canada’s leading malting barley organizations are collaborating on a long-term international strategy and a unified brand to highlight Canada’s world-class malt and barley industry with the support of more than $525,000 from the Canadian government. The investment will enable the Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre, the Malting Industry Association of Canada, and the Brewing and Malting Barley Research Institute to increase their competitiveness in new and existing markets through innovative marketing and communications, and through the development of a Canadian Malt Barley Brand. Product testing and evaluations will be conducted on new malting barley varieties, the current year’s harvest and cargo shipments to highlight the attributes of the current Canadian crop for international customers.
The Canadian government is providing two investments to enhance the organic food industry’s competitiveness globally and domestically. The Canada Organic Trade Association will receive $180,000 to help stay ahead of international market trends by participating in international trade shows, developing promotional materials, and building a long-term international strategy. The Organic Council of Ontario will receive $152,000 to develop tools that will enable producers to strengthen relationships with existing customers, attract new investments and gather business intelligence to benefit the sector as a whole.
According to Farm Credit Canada’s Farmland Values Report, the average value of Canada’s farmland increased 8.6 per cent in the first half of 2012. Ontario experienced the highest average increase at 16.3 per cent followed by Manitoba at 10.3 per cent and Saskatchewan at 9.1 per cent. Québec was up 6.7 per cent, Alberta increased 5.7 per cent, Prince Edward Island was up 3.1 per cent, Nova Scotia rose 2.8 per cent and British Columbia was down 0.3 per cent. Farmland values were unchanged in New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador.
According to a recent poll conducted by Ipsos Reid on behalf of BASF Canada, 85 per cent of growers in Western Canada believe the new environment for marketing wheat is beneficial to their businesses. The online poll of 401 growers in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba asked growers about their opinions on the opportunities and challenges they face within the new marketing atmosphere. According to the poll, 89 per cent of growers believe profitability, due to the new market accessibility, is their biggest business opportunity, while 74 per cent of those polled said smaller yields due to disease pressure is a significant challenge.
The Canadian government has announced investments that will help Pulse Canada and the Canadian Special Crops Association further explore health and nutrition claims for pulses and open new opportunities to increase exports. Pulse Canada will receive $615,000 to research the health and nutritional benefits of pulses. In addition, Pulse Canada and the CSCA will receive $195,000 to introduce, grow and maintain the presence of Canadian pulses in international markets, and to increase exports.
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