A new company, Riverland Agriculture, has purchased 25 percent of the shares of Canterra Seeds for $3.1 million.
The money and the new partnership will help Canterra develop products and secure links to new customers, said its chief executive officer.
“This is the kind of agreement that gives an organization like Canterra the strength to accelerate its hopes and dreams of producing better products for both the shareholder and for farmers,” said Richard Kieper, CEO of Canterra, which develops and sells high-yielding varieties of canola, cereals, pulses and other crops. Canterra, which announced the deal Aug. 14, is owned by 178 shareholders across Western Canada.
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Riverland Ag, which is only a few weeks old and owned by Whitebox Commodities Holdings Corp. of Minneapolis, will assume two seats on Canterra’s board.
Whitebox Commodities, a private equity firm, imports oats and barley from Canada. It has recently bought grain terminals in Minneapolis, North Dakota and New York, said Don Grambsch, president of Riverland Ag.
“Over the last couple of years we’ve bought about 40 million bushels of grain terminal storage,” said Grambsch, who noted the company works with industry giants like Anheuser Busch. As well, it contracts the production of crops with special traits, customized to suit the needs of food processors.
Riverland Ag and Canterra plan to collaborate on business opportunities with an initial focus on the barley region in Saskatchewan, Alberta and North Dakota, Grambsch said.
“Our focus geographically runs roughly from Bismarck (N.D.), to Saskatoon to Edmonton…. We’re very much interested in the cereal space,” he said.
The goal is to build upon Canterra’s expertise in genetics and launch into new markets, such as foods with nutraceutical properties.
“In genetics right now, yield is the focus …. But in the future there could be a whole host of other things that could be expressed through grains,” said Kieper, who was formerly a marketing manager at Cargill before becoming Canterra’s CEO in early August.
The partnership makes sense, Kieper added, because of Canterra’s network of growers and Riverland’s connections to processors.
“Both companies are committed to adding value to agriculture,” he said. “What we’re creating is opportunities for people to grow to specific quality standards, which will be instrumental ingredients in products. In that type of environment, producers will be given more opportunities on their farm.”
