REGINA – A new political climate in the Czech Republic has meant a new agricultural system, said a Czech businessperson visiting Regina earlier this month.
That could be good news for Saskatchewan companies looking to export more products.
Josef Duda, chair of the Czech-Moravian Association of Agricultural Supply Companies, said the switch from a Communist regime to privately owned and co-operative farms means money is available to buy foreign technology.
“There was a time when government decided who can buy foreign currency, who cannot buy foreign currency,” Duda said through interpreter Milos Menhart. “Nowadays, I can have a cheque cashed and I walk into a bank and I can buy any foreign currency I want.”
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Saskatchewan technology is particularly appealing to the Czechs because their farming conditions are comparable. They have large farms where they can use large equipment and the growing season is similar.
“In the Czech Republic we have the same problem with weather,” Duda said the day after southern Saskatchewan received 15 centimetres of snow. “Some of the people were calling home and asking what is the weather.”
He said the 42-member Czech delegation also wanted to discuss the possible import of Canadian grains.
The delegation discussed business opportunities with Saskatchewan agriculture minister Eric Upshall and representatives of the food, grain, livestock and farm implement sectors while in Regina.
Upshall said the challenge to securing deals is making sure there is full understanding of each party’s needs and expectations.
“I understand that their government has set aside a certain sum of money to subsidize interest rates for their people over there, whether they’re in primary production or in processing, for guaranteeing of loans,” he told reporters. “So they understand that they have to have money in which to trade and that is one area their government is putting emphasis on.
“It’s reassuring to us because, of course, it is a concern to make sure you get paid for the products that you ship.”
Seeding equipment produced
Leslie Hulicsko, president of Sweeprite Manufacturing Inc. in Regina, said although his company is perhaps best known for making street sweepers, it also manufactures seeding equipment at a plant in Imperial, Sask.
“We are interested in exporting,” he said. “That is what we live off, exports. There might be a possibility of working with the Czech Republic because we already sold two street sweepers that will be delivered within two weeks time.”
Meanwhile, Saskatchewan government and agribusiness representatives stopped in the Czech Republic last week while on a European trade mission.
And while in Germany, three Saskatchewan companies promoted their products at the International Field Day of Agriculture Co-operatives near Golzow.
Economic development minister Dwain Lingenfelter, in an interview from Frankfurt, said about 150 farmers attended the demonstrations and Flexi-Coil, LMC-Lewis M. Carter Manufacturing (Canada) and Morris Industries all came away with “a very, very positive view that sales of their equipment can and will take place.”
In Turkey, Lingenfelter told the world conference on oilseed and edible oils processing that oilseed-based research in Saskatchewan will translate into product development.
Another provincial cabinet member, energy and mines minister Eldon Lautermilch, left Oct. 11 on an eight-day trip to China where he was to speak at the International Symposium of Fertilizers and Agricultural Development in Beijing.
