Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 6830 is the No. 1 challenge for the turf grass industry, followed by water policies and costs. This has placed downward pres- sure on the Canadian turf seed sector. Changing Farm Businesses It is generally agreed that one of the biggest changes for the forage seed sector is the changing farm landscape. According to Kurt Shmon, president of Imperial Seeds: “The number of mixed farms, producing crops and cattle, has dramatically declined. Cattle are being finished in large feedlots and not as much on grass. The number of farm cli- ents for forage seed is declining.” That statement was reinforced by Martin Pick: “Back in the 1960s, Pickseed had more than 5,000 farm customers in Eastern Canada alone,” he says. “Now those ledgers are going to the Canadian Agricultural Museum. The farm client base is just not there anymore.” And Canadian farms continue to grow. According to Lloyd Dyck, chairman of BrettYoung Seeds, forage seed com- panies are competing for fewer, but much larger farm businesses. “Farms are getting bigger, so the companies that serve them have to get bigger,” he says. “You have to grow or you have to go, and growing has its challenges. The increased cost of doing business puts seed companies at greater busi- ness risk.” Sometimes the risk involved with growth is too much. In the past two decades there have been two significant examples. In 1995 AgriBiotech Ltd., with manage- ment in Las Vegas, Nevada, set as its goal to have 45 per cent of the world forage and turf market by the year 2000. By 1998, AgriBiotech had acquired 34 forage and turf seed companies in the United States and Canada. Its Canadian acquisitions were Oseco Canada and Rothwell Seeds, both well established Canadian forage and turf seed compa- nies. Most of the company purchases were for some cash and large shares of AgriBiotech stock. Just two short years later in June and July 2000, AgriBiotech was in bankruptcy, leaving seed grow- ers with seed in the bins and uncer- tainty about the future. Ontario-based Pickseed acquired the Canadian assets of AgriBiotech Canada. In the late 1990s, two companies (Value Added Seeds and Performance Seeds) merged to become Quality Assured Seeds, owned by 200 seed growers. The company was renamed FarmPure Seeds in 2005. It was part of the Saskatchewan-based FarmPure family of companies. The goal of FarmPure was to develop profitable and sustain- able value chains for its stakeholders. In the summer of 2008, the company filed for bankruptcy, and a trustee was appointed. The trustee said that the financial difficulties were largely due to “rapid expansion.” Pickseed acquired FarmPure seed in October 2008. There are also many examples of where growth has resulted in success. Winnipeg-based BrettYoung has been growing and diversifying during the past decade, with good results. “We built new plants in Western Canada, including a new seed coating plant and we entered the golf course turf market in Ontario,” Dyck says. “We are also doing research into the use of inocu- lants and we have entered the elite canola, corn and soybean markets in Western Canada.” Shmon’s Imperial Seeds is also growing and changing. “I’m very optimistic about the future,” he says. “We have become an integrated company — from seed production to supplying the end user. We are also exploring new opportuni- ties for ground cover crops, from tillage radish to phacelia to capture markets in Europe where the ground always has to be green. The future is bright, so bright that I am building a new plant.” Growth is also working for Pickseed. In the summer of 2013, Danish-based DLF-Trifolium announced its purchase of Pickseed. According to Ewacha: “Our integration with DLF has given us access to a massive research department. It has also given us greater access to interna- tional markets.” The Positive Impact of Regulatory Change It is generally agreed that one of the most positive things to happen in Canada recently was the change to the variety registration system for forage crops. In 2014, forage crops were placed in Part III of a new variety registration system, removing the requirements for pre-registration testing and a recommen- dation from a recognized committee. It allows forage varieties to be registered in a more timely manner. Shmon says: “It was a very significant change for our sector. It has allowed seed companies to make new, improved varieties more quickly available to grow- ers. It has allowed my company to get involved in seed retail. We are now retailing new, improved varieties from around the world.” Shmon was originally concerned about the changes to variety registration “My concern was that without the oversight and recommendation from a committee, unproven varieties may be registered,” he says. “But those concerns didn’t man- ifest. It has been a very positive thing. In fact, my company will be offering 10 or 12 new varieties this year alone.” The benefits of variety registration system changes were also noted by Clark. He says variety registration changes, combined with the integra- tion with DLF made an immediate dif- ference. “We now have the ability to better provide producers with exactly “Dairy industry consolidation and highly variable livestock prices have put forage crops in direct competition with cash crops … At the moment, cash crops are winning.” — Robert Clark