In June I was sitting in a huge, posh dining room in a hotel in downtown Santiago. The occasion was a Rotary club meeting, with more than 200 people in attendance. The majority of them spoke no English.
Eventually there gravitated to our table a friendly Chilean who spoke English. He was a bit late and the chair beside me was one of the last to be filled.
“You’re from Saskatchewan?” asked Juan Gebauer politely after introductions. “I have been working with a company in Saskatoon.”
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“What kind of work do you do?” I asked, surprised by this Chilean’s mention of my city. He paused, contemplating whether I would understand. “I do research on rapeseed,” he replied.
My jaw dropped. He had no idea he was talking to someone who worked for an agricultural newspaper in Saskatoon. In fact, after I learned which company he worked with in Canada, I realized in 1992 I had written a story about that same company building its research facility.
Ironically, this plant biotechnology company, PGS (Plant Genetic Systems), was about to announce big changes again: it had been acquired by AgrEvo.
Returning to Saskatoon, I interviewed one of the PGS employees who had travelled to Chile and met Gebauer there.
Barb Fowler, regulatory affairs manager for PGS, remembered him well. She was impressed by his research knowledge, facilities and his hospitality.
“His estate was really nice, he invited us out to look at his place. We ate grapes off vines, walnuts off the tree, and he later drove us back to Santiago.”
A year later after her visit, I was meeting Gebauer in Santiago and discussing her visit. It struck me how the world of agricultural business and research is shrinking – and how news stories can be found in the strangest ways.
