Cereals Canada and the Canadian International Grains Institute are moving ahead with a formal merger.
On April 14, members of the two organizations approved a plan to amalgamate under one governance and management structure.
The merger follows four years of dialogue and collaboration between the two organizations, both headquartered in Winnipeg.
“This merger brings together two strong organizations with a common vision to serve our members and build value for the Canadian cereals industry,” said Jean-Marc Ruest, senior vice-president of corporate affairs at Richardson International and chair of Cereals Canada’s current board of directors.
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“Cereals Canada and CIGI have already established a close working relationship supporting the promotion of Canadian wheat and this merger will strengthen the benefits of this relationship.”
CIGI has been around since the early 1970s and was established to support domestic and international buyers and processors of Canadian wheat by providing independent technical services, such as end-use quality evaluations, milling quality assessments and customer support for users of Canadian wheat.
Cereals Canada was formed in 2013 following the elimination of the Canadian Wheat Board. It represents the interests of stakeholders in Canada’s cereal grain sector, including producer groups and industry organizations such as grain handlers, processors and exporters.
Cereals Canada focuses much of its efforts in the areas of policy, market access, market development, advocacy and innovation.
In an April 17 interview, Ruest said industry groups that provide funding to Cereals Canada and CIGI realized a few years ago that membership in the two organizations was similar.
The functions performed by CIGI and Cereals Canada were also complementary.
“We started realizing that the (funding support) and the membership of both CIGI and Cereals Canada was very close, very similar with lots of overlap … to the extent where we would purposely schedule board meetings for both organizations on subsequent days to limit travel,” Ruest explained.
“It just became obvious that there was so much overlap between the activities of both that it just made sense to merge them into a single entity ….”
Trent Rude, board chair at CIGI, said the merger will result in less duplication and greater efficiencies.
“The merger represents an opportunity to align our efforts on behalf of the Canadian cereals value chain and ultimately strengthen the focus and impact of our activities,” Rude said in news release.
“While unlocking new synergies, we will also be maintaining the key components and expertise that each organization brings to the table.”
The merger is slated to take effect on June 1.
A new board of directors consisting of 16 board members will govern the new entity. Eight of the 16 board members will come from producer groups and the other eight will come from industry, which includes grain handlers, exporters, processors, crop protection companies and seed companies.
Funding organizations will identify their own representatives to the board of directors, with nomination rights following a “tiered membership” structure.
The new organization will operate under the Cereals Canada moniker, but CIGI will retain its name and will operate as a division within the new organization.
Ruest said the next steps in the merger will involve naming a chief executive officer, streamlining operations and developing a new strategic plan.
In the coming months, the new board will also make decisions on office and lab space. There will be no immediate staffing changes.
All staff members in the new organization will eventually be based in the same place.
Ruest summarized the merger as “a very good development” that will allow two strong organizations to work more closely together toward similar objectives.
As a funding organization, “seeing attempts to streamline organizations and… reduce duplication is always very positive,” he said.
“I think this really sets up both organizations to be more successful in the future as a single entity.”
