A Swedish plant breeding company has bought two Manitoba companies – Wheat City Seeds Ltd. of Brandon and Riding Valley Agro Ltd. of Laurier.
The acquisition by Svalof Weibull will cause no change in daily operations at the companies, said Bernie Whetter, head of seed market sales for Wheat City.
Wheat City is happy with the new ownership because it will guarantee access to new seed varieties, he said.
“As there are more and more varieties, it becomes more difficult to access good material.”
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For example, Whetter said, Agriculture Canada now sells by tender the rights to varieties it develops.
“It is difficult for a company our size to put out the kind of dollars needed for the tenders and then have the ability to (recoup the expense),” he said.
“I’m talking six-digit figures … it takes a long time to get these dollars back when we are limited by the amount of markup we can put on seed products.”
Other companies
Other Svalof Weibull holdings are Newfield Seeds Company in Nipawin, Sask., Svalof Weibull Seeds Ltd. in Lindsay, Ont. and DNA Landmarks Inc. of St. Jean, Que.
Svalof Weibull has developed cereals, peas, forage and turf varieties now registered in Canada. Its canola varieties include Legacy and Delta.
Wheat City serves a 30-kilometre radius around Brandon and has about 70 independent dealers throughout Manitoba and eastern Saskatchewan.
Riding Valley Agro is a seed coating plant.
