OAK BLUFF, Man. – The canola seed business is highly competitive.
To stand out in an industry dominated by global corporations, small, regional seed companies need to differentiate themselves.
“Brett Young Seeds realized in the early 1990s that if we were to compete with the big multinationals, we needed to find better genetics,” said Garry Van Den Bussche, director of marketing for Brett Young Seeds.
He said the decision to move first into genetics and then into biological products was prompted by the realization that regional seed companies had to become leaders if they expected to survive the rapid changes in agriculture.
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Once its canola hybrid genetic program began making progress, Brett Young turned its attention to value-added research and development.
“We don’t have the financial resources for advertising and promotion like the large multinationals, so we needed to do things differently to add value for the farmer.”
He said the UltraCoat seed coating, a phosphate surface treatment that gives canola seeds a healthy start, was the first step on this new pathway.
Also in the late 1990s, Brett Young moved into biological agricultural products. It carried out its own research and development rather than depend on buying products developed by others.
“This way, we own it. It’s ours. We registered BioBoost for canola in 2005.
“We’re still the only Canadian company to register a biological plant growth promoting rhizobacteria – PGPR. Right now, it’s exclusive to Brett Young but we expect to open it up to some other companies in the future.
“Once we got into soil microbes and BioBoost for canola, it opened up opportunities for PGPR on all types of crops and eventually biological crop protection products.”
In 2008, Brett Young received U.S. registration for BioBoost Plus on soybeans. The Plus version is a combination of bacterial BioBoost and conventional rhizobia inoculants. The product is awaiting Canadian registration.
“We’re looking at a PGPR for corn in the next year or two, plus a whole line of products for pulse crops and specialty crops. We have four different bugs patented right now. The main one so far is the one in BioBoost for canola and soybeans. Our second priority bug is for grassy crops like corn, wheat, barley and oats.”
Another bug-based PGPR called AlfaBoost received U.S. registration and will hit the U.S. market this spring. It should be available to Canadian forage growers in a year or two.
Van Den Bussche said the next research and development frontier for the company is foliar application of bacterial PGPR products. The foliar mixes with the early season herbicide spray.
Some bacteria land on the leaves but most go into the soil.
“We’re already selling BioBoost foliar spray in the States. On corn and canola, our data shows foliar is as good as seed-applied.”
For more information, contact Manas Banerjee or Garry Van Den Bussche at 800-665-5015 or visit www.brettyoung.ca.
