A Saskatchewan-based seed company has come up with a novel way to boost seed sales in Western Canada.
FP Genetics is guaranteeing commercial wheat growers that fields seeded with any one of FP Genetics’s new CWRS wheat varieties will generate greater profits than fields seeded with bin-run CWRS seed.
Rod Merryweather, chief executive officer of FP Genetics, said the program allows commercial wheat growers in Western Canada to buy new seed without taking on financial risk.
“We’ve developed a program that allows a grower to upgrade their wheat genetics at no risk to them,” Merryweather said.
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“The grower simply has to register … (and plant) … our variety side-by-side with their current variety and use the same agronomic package.”
“If our variety doesn’t net out more on the bottom line, we’ll pay the grower the difference.”
FP Genetics is a six-year-old company based in Regina. It is owned by more than 150 seed growers across the Prairies who grow and sell certified seed.
The company owns the rights to 60 seed varieties.
Only the company’s newer CWRS offerings are eligible for the promotion.
Those varieties include CDC Utmost, AC Muchmore and CDC Plentiful.
Merryweather said 80 percent of the wheat planted in Saskatchewan is seeded with bin run seed.
FP Genetics shareholders believe commercial grain farmers are leaving money on the table by not upgrading their wheat varieties more frequently.
Farmers can get more details on the guarantee by contacting a FP Genetics seed grower.
Farmers who participate in the program can sell the harvested seed at any elevator and are also free to save their harvested seed for use as bin-run seed the following year.
Merryweather said FP Genetics shareholders are confident their new CWRS varieties will outperform other older wheat varieties in the same wheat class.
“We know what the outcome will be,” Merryweather said.
“We’re confident that our certified seed will beat the current (bin run) seed being used by the farmer.”
Growers who sign up for the program will have their production monitored by FP Genetics field staff to ensure accuracy.