Canada’s Canterra Seeds and Limagrain, the world’s fourth largest seed company, have announced a new cereal breeding and development partnership.
The venture, located in Saskatoon, will be called Limagrain Cereals Research Canada and will develop new varieties of cereals, with a specific focus on wheat, using the most advanced technologies available.
“Canterra Seeds and Limagrain already have a history of working to bring cutting-edge cereal varieties to farmers,” David Hansen, head of Canterra, said in a news release.
Limagrain and Canterra will also broaden their partnership to en-hance the distribution of cereals in Western Canada. To that end, Lima-grain is acquiring a minority stake in Canterra Seeds (Holdings), which gives it the right to appoint representatives to Canterra’s board of directors, the release said.
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Hansen said the deal was made possible with the passing of Bill C-18, which amended Canada’s Plant Breeders’ Rights Act to make Canada compliant with the 1991 International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants.
“There is no understating the importance of this deal to Canadian agriculture,” Hansen said. “Modernizing our Plant Breeders’ Rights Act has opened up a whole new world of wheat. Our farmers can now buy and grow varieties that they couldn’t access before.”
Canterra has a history of working with Limagrain, a farmer-owned French co-operative.
Completion of these transactions is subject to several conditions, including ongoing due diligence and the requirement that there be no changes to Bill C-18. It is expected that the transactions will be complete by the end of September, the news release said.
The board of Canterra Seeds (Holdings) has also adopted a new board voting policy that requires a minimum level of approval by the directors for certain fundamental matters, in addition to any other approvals that are required.
