BLYTH, Ont. — Martin Vanderloo recognized the risk when he decided to act on an e-mail from a large Ukrainian farming operation looking for Ontario soybean genetics.
Some people in Canada even expressed concern that he was lending aid to their competitors.
Yet Vanderloo, a long-time commodities trader, decided to move forward after hearing that this particular group could be trusted.
Access to genetics was arranged.
“As it turned out, the varieties that we procured in Guelph do exceptionally well in Ukraine,” said Vanderloo, who participated in the Rural Talks to Rural conference in Blyth Sept. 28.
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“They’re topping the yield trials there and so they’re ecstatic.”
There was an underlying motivation to the deal. Vanderloo had hoped to secure an alternative source of soybeans in Ukraine for his trading business, but that hasn’t happened.
However, there were still benefits. Royalties paid by the Ukrainian interest support the soybean breeding program at the University of Guelph.
“I’ve been criticized for introducing genetics to these countries … (but) these guys are writing hefty checks to Guelph for varieties that we don’t even use any more.”
Vanderloo believes he has also personally benefitted from his overseas experience.
“I find travelling to places like that is a humbling experience. You don’t know how well we have it here in Canada,” he said.
“When we drove out of Kiev, a very modern western city, it was like driving back into the 1920s.”
The Ukrainian enterprise farms around 300,000 acres in an area extending from Kiev in the north to Odessa in the south. The group leases the land from small landowners.
All Ukrainian citizens were granted a sixth of an acre of land after the former Soviet Union broke up.
Vanderloo calculates that the land rental cost for the enterprise works out to roughly $90 per acre.
That cost and the region’s deep topsoil make growing field crops a lucrative business.
“I said to them, ‘you guys are doing pretty well; you’re profiting.’ ”
This is the case, but he was soon informed that it comes with a proviso. The farming enterprise also builds roads and schools and is involved in other community undertakings.
“These farmers are doing quite well, but they’re also giving back,” he said.
Vanderloo operates Huron Commodities with his wife, Ellen, who looks after the numbers. The business, founded 28 years ago, is located in Clinton, Ont., and focuses on exporting agricultural commodities for the feed and human consumption markets.
Vanderloo grew up on a farm and graduated with a diploma in agricultural business management. His father suggested he get an off-farm job, which led to his early career as a commodity trader.
Starting his own business proved a challenge. He could only get started with the support of a friend who backed a loan for more than $100,000.
“My friend told me he would help us on just one condition. What I do for you, he said, you must promise to do for someone else.”
Promise kept.
