40 SEEDWORLD.COM/CANADA NOVEMBER 2026 ONE OF OUR GREAT strengths is our ability to produce high- quality commodities at scale and compete in markets around the world. We should continue building on that strength. But I also believe some of Canada’s most interesting opportunities will come from asking a different question: where can we create new value? More and more, that question is shaping how I think about my role at Ag-West Bio and the opportunity ahead for Saskatchewan and Canada. Our farmers understand global commodity markets better than almost anyone. They also understand diversification. They make decisions every year about where opportunity exists, where risk is changing and where a few acres today might become a meaningful crop tomorrow. That entrepreneurial mindset should be central to how we think about our bioec onomy. Some of our greatest opportunities may begin small: a new crop, a different variety, a novel trait or a few thousand acres grown for a specific purpose. The initial market may be an ingredient, a food product, an industrial application, a biomate rial or something we haven’t associated with agriculture. These opportunities matter precisely because they don’t have to begin at commodity scale. They give farmers, researchers and companies room to experiment. They allow us to prove agro nomics, establish markets and build processing capacity before scaling. And they create opportunities for Canadian companies willing to take the risk of turning an idea into a business. Those are companies we need to get behind. Canada has tremendous scientific capability. Saskatchewan has exceptional agricultural research, genetics and produc tion expertise. But competitiveness ultimately depends on our ability to convert those strengths into products, companies, processing, intellectual property and markets. That means helping companies find capital and experienced mentorship. It means connecting them with researchers, farm ers, testing capacity, regulatory expertise and potential custom ers. It means identifying barriers earlier and helping promising technologies navigate the difficult path from research through commercialization. It also means being willing to invest in opportunities that carry risk. If we only support technologies, crops and compa nies after their markets are proven, we aren’t really building an innovation economy. Someone has to help create the conditions in which the next opportunity can be tested. Farmers need to be part of that process from the beginning. They bring a commercial discipline that is sometimes missing from innovation conversations. Does it work? Can I grow it? Who wants it? What will they pay? Is the opportunity large enough to justify the risk? Those questions should not come at the end of commerciali zation. They should help shape it. Diverse field crops offer an especially interesting opportunity. Saskatchewan already has the land, farmers, research capability and agricultural infrastructure. Building markets around crops with new nutritional, functional or industrial purposes could create value well beyond the farm gate. But the larger opportunity is diver sification. Instead of relying exclusively on highly competitive global commod ity markets, we can continue developing specialized markets where Canadian genetics, production, processing and technology create something customers specifically seek out. That can create premiums for farmers, but the economic opportunity is much larger: new processing, new companies, new investment, new intellectual prop erty and new exports. And none of this can happen in isola tion. Since joining Ag-West Bio, one of my priorities has been strengthening our relationships across Saskatchewan while engaging much more deliberately with partners across Canada. We’re engaging nationally with governments, research institutions, innovation organizations, investors, industry and agricultural lead ers because Saskatchewan should be an active contributor to Canada’s broader bioeconomy strategy. For me, that is what competitiveness looks like. Back the farmer willing to try something different. Back the researcher pursuing a new possibility. Back the company willing to take the risk of creat ing a market that doesn’t exist yet. Then connect them to the capital, expertise, infrastructure and customers they need to succeed. Some of those bets will remain small. Some won’t work. But some may become the next crop, company or industry that Canada becomes known for. That’s how we grow a bioeconomy. CREATING THE NEXT VALUE IN CANADIAN SEED By Darcy Pawlik, President and CEO, Ag-West Bio GIANT VIEWS
View this content as a flipbook by clicking here.