Tap public sector | Partnerships give investors more bang for their buck, says the new managing director
One of Canada’s most productive plant breeding institutions has a new managing director.
Kofi Agblor took over the top job at the University of Saskatchewan’s Crop Development Centre Jan. 1.
Agblor was born in Ghana and studied in Africa and the United Kingdom before moving to Canada in the late 1980s.
He received a Ph. D in agricultural engineering from the University of Manitoba and moved to Saskatchewan in 1998.
Since then, he has worked with Saskatchewan Agriculture as a manger with the Agriculture Development Fund (ADF) and with the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers as director of research, a position he held for six years.
Read Also
AI expected to make itself felt in food systems
Artificial intelligence is already transforming the food we eat, how farmers produce it and how it reaches the consumer, experts say
Agblor replaces former CDC director Dorothy Murrell, who left the centre at the end of 2011.
Agblor’s work experience is well-suited to his new position.
Saskatchewan Agriculture is a key source of financing for the CDC and has provided core funding to the centre for many years.
Agblor said his experience with the ADF and his knowledge of government operations will prove valuable in helping the CDC meet its objectives.
“Having worked there, I know how government operates and I still have friends in the ministry,” he said.
During his time with Saskatchewan Pulse Growers, Agblor played a key role in negotiating a unique commercialization agreement between the SPG and the CDC.
The agreement allows the SPG to distribute new CDC pulse varieties, royalty free, to selected pedigreed seed growers. In exchange, the SPG provides the centre with base funding to help pay for pulse breeding and varietal development work.
Agblor said one of the CDC’s top priorities is to maintain strong relationships with government funding partners and primary producers, who support CDC operations through checkoffs.
Another key issue is to identify new commercialization models and explore new relationships, including private sector partnerships, that will allow the CDC to increase revenues and maximize returns on plant breeding investments.
“The intent is to identify the best ways of ensuring that the intellectual property of the CDC is leveraged to the maximum,” said Agblor.
Partnerships between publicly funded breeding institutions and private sector companies are expected to become more common as governments and university plant breeders look for new ways to ensure stable, long-term funding.
Agblor said the CDC will continue to explore partnerships within the private sector.
However, government funding and producer investments will remain a critical component in the CDC’s overall funding picture.
“It is easy to assume that the private sector can do everything, but I don’t think that it can,” he said. “Public breeding has an important role to play. It is (important) to ensure that … the public sector is still engaged.”
