It’s pretty common to celebrate the milestones in life, and the folks at Saskatoon’s Novonesis lab and production facility are no different.
The company, formerly known as Novozymes, specializes in plant biosolutions, and for one day during the recent Crop Production Show, it opened the doors to its state-of-the-art facility to mark a number of special occasions.
“This year we closed a deal where we purchased Chr. Hansen and became Novonesis,” said Jon Treloar, technical agronomist with the company.
“ ‘Novo’ is ‘new’ and ‘nesis’ is from ‘genesis,’ so really it’s a new beginning.”
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The company traces its history back to the days of Philom Bios, a Saskatoon-based inoculant manufacturing company founded by the late John Cross, along with partners George Khachatourians and John Schaw, in 1980.
Treloar said the company is also using the open house to celebrate some of its important relationships, such as its partnership with FMC Corp., a global agricultural sciences company specializing in crop protection technology.
FMC has been involved in biologicals for 10 years worldwide, and its recent partnership with Novonesis is part of a strategic plan to grow its biologicals platform in key markets.
“We’re pretty excited, to say the least, to start up our biological footprint and business for FMC in Canada by partnering with the number one company in the world as far as biologicals go,” said Mike Gerhardt, Biologicals by FMC’s country manager.
“They have a line-up of products that are second to none.”
Key among those products is an improved granular inoculant using peat supplied by American Peat Technologies that carries a suite of microbes meant to improve yield and is also designed for ease of handling.
“The farmer is going to have less trouble if moisture gets into their equipment,” said Stephen Patterson, associate scientist, technical services, with Novonesis.
“They’re not going to have it gum up their equipment and give them a hard day in the field.”
Visitors to the open house were given the opportunity to tour both the company’s state-of-the-art lab and production facilities and watch all the science and technology come together in a finished biological product.
Treloar said Novonesis is all about using biology to solve complex problems.
“We’re entering a new era where we need new solutions,” Treloar said.
“Using enzymes and proteins, using micro-organisms, like bacteria and fungus, to really help advance society and do it in a sustainable way — the world needs these solutions.”
And speaking of solutions, what open house/celebration is complete without some beverage options?
Local microbrewery 9 Mile Legacy Brewing is using biological technology to improve its product and its business. It has also entered a partnership with Novonesis to produce its “Disruptor” wheat ale beer.
“We’re using biologics from the field, biologics in the mashing and brewing process and now we’re going to start using biologics on the cleaning side, too,” said Garrett Pederson, 9 Mile Legacy Brewing co-founder.
“We’re already advancing what we’re doing and we’re going to save time and increase efficiency, and the environmental impact is going to be really cool.
“And we’ve made a really good product, I’m really happy with it.”
