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 68JANUARY 2017 35 IN 2015, Canada was the world’s fifth largest exporter of agriculture com- modities. Being a leader in world markets gives Canada bragging rights, but that leadership is also important to the long-term health of the industry. 1. Canada remains competitive with trade status: Being a major trader gives us a competitive boost when disruptions occur in global trade (for instance, when trade dis- putes arise or when one supplier’s commodities become relatively more expensive for countries to import). This happened last year when U.S. wheat exports declined and Canada was able to pick up the slack. Canada’s competitive advantages: • A diversity of commodities available for export and the well- developed infrastructure to store and deliver it • Well-developed trade relations with some of the world’s largest importers (e.g., the U.S., China and Japan) BUSINESS & FINANCE CANADIAN AGRICULTURE IS A TRADING POWERHOUSE Martha Roberts Farm Credit Canada Economic Research Specialist @MJaneRoberts Martha.Roberts@fcc-fac.ca fcc-fac.ca • Political and economic stability and high- quality commodities and products 2. Canadian reliance on the United States: All of those things matter, but our ranking as the world’s fifth-largest exporter is in large part due to our proximity to the U.S., the world’s largest single-country market, and the integration of the two economies. Diversifying Canada’s exports will mitigate the risk of disruptions in global markets, and take advantage of possible trade opportunities in non- traditional markets. China is a good example of a growing market, and individual European coun- tries may provide another growing opportunity as the new political landscape unfolds. 3. Growing demand for food important for Canada: World economic growth has slowed, as has export growth of many commodities. However, while the shape and sources of new demand may shift in the new economic climate, export leadership will become increasingly con- centrated. For more on Canadian agriculture trade, check out FCC Ag Economics’ annual report on trade at http://fcc.ca/AgEconomist. IT IS IMPERATIVE that a seed business is able to track and prove the prov- enance of any lot of seed. Audits are done regularly to ensure that they are recording the information adequately. If the data cannot be relied on for accuracy or is out- of-date, then how can you prove you’re recording this information adequately? Data compliance can mean many different things to many different people, but the issues caused by a lack of consistent and accurate man- agement of data are often the same and way too common. These problems are commonly associated with the fact that the data the business needs, from production contracting and payment calcula- tions, inventory, availability and lot tracking, through to sales and invoic- ing, is distributed across a combina- tion of different applications and spreadsheets. It is a real struggle to get any meaningful reporting if you cannot BUSINESS MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS THE WHY OF DATA COMPLIANCE Vincent Veneziale Cultura Seed Solutions Product Manager @culturatech vincent.veneziale@ culturatech.com cultura.com bring together the data you need. To run a busi- ness successfully, you need to have full control of your data. If you don’t standardize the data and processes across the business, everyone does their own thing in their own way. This means that the data is inaccurate, out-of-date and not uniform with other data in other places. Having access to all that data is the only way to keep the business processes running smoothly. The only real solution to reducing re-keyed data, having accurate and reliable data for report- ing and running efficient business processes, is to invest in a centralized and integrated system. With this system, reporting is easy, as all the data is in a single database and anyone who needs access to it would be able to do so when- ever they needed it. Business processes can be aligned properly so that different areas of the operation work together in a more effective and efficient way. The system’s database is central and backed up regularly. An integrated system enables you to free your people from the drudgery of wrestling with data, and allows them to focus on the important and productive things that help to grow your business.