Western Canadian seed retailers who sell Canterra brand seed products will soon have access to an expanded portfolio of seeds that includes hybrid corn and soybeans.
Canterra recently signed a distribution agreement with Pride Seeds, an Ontario seed distribution company that sells corn, soybean and forage seed.
Under the deal, Canterra Seed retailers will gain access to more than a dozen of Pride’s existing soybean and corn varieties beginning this fall, including grain and silage corn varieties.
A number of existing Pride dealers in Western Canada will join the Canterra network.
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For Pride Seeds, the deal will provide access to Canterra’s existing western Canadian seed distribution network, which includes pedigreed seed growers and farm retailers in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
“The agreement with Canterra Seeds will allow Pride Seeds to increase our reach and customer service support through the professional team at Canterra,” said Stephen Denys, Pride’s vice-president of sales and marketing.
He said Pride sees significant growth opportunities in soybeans as interest in the crop continues to grow in Western Canada.
In the longer term, research aimed at developing earlier maturing corn varieties is expected to result in larger acreage across the Prairies.
“We’ve had good growth over the last couple of years, and we see the western market as being very pivotal to our business over the long term,” he said.
For Canterra, whose current product line includes canola, cereals, pulses and flax, the deal provides access to market-proven corn and soybean varieties that are already registered and available to commercial growers.
“This agreement furthers our commitment to provide our customers with a full product line, beyond canola and cereals, that now Includes seed corn and soybean seed,” said Canterra president Dave Hansen.
Pride Seeds is brand of Ag Reliant Genetics, an American seed company involved in varietal development and seed distribution.
Ag Reliant bills itself as the third largest corn seed company in the United States.
It was formed in 2000 as a joint venture between Limagrain Groupe of France, and KWS of Germany.
Earlier this month, Canterra also announced that it had entered a partnership and distribution agreement with Limagrain.
In that deal, Canterra will gain exclusive distribution rights to new cereal varieties that are developed at Limagrain’s proposed cereal breeding facility in the Saskatoon area.
Contact brian.cross@producer.com
