LETHBRIDGE – Western Canada’s No. 2 hybrid canola seed company isn’t satisfied.
It wants to be No. 1.
“What’s a ranking?” says Ian Grant of Pioneer Hi-Bred Ltd. Canada.
“What does it mean? We want it to mean that more producers in Western Canada are choosing our products than anyone else’s because they will make more money from ours. And they will.”
The company is the largest supplier of corn and soybean seed in Canada and is now focusing on canola.
The DuPont-owned business is focusing on Western Canada as one of its greatest international opportunities for growth. It sees canola as a product that has potential for major improvement.
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To accomplish this, Pioneer is banking on its current and future canola genetics and a reliable, expanded supply from its new seed production centre.
“We’ve got a full line of canola products, all hybrid,” Grant said.
“We’ve got short season, drought tolerant, herbicide tolerant, disease resistant, mid season, long season. Some with very high yield opportunities, some that have lower yield but lower the grower’s production risks. We’ve got high oil content and there is more to come.”
Canola is still new for the company in Western Canada, with sales beginning about six years ago.
Pioneer is the world’s largest corn seed producer and intends to use that experience as it develops a strategy to market canola on the Prairies.
“Where would we be if we didn’t have hybridization in corn,” Grant said.
“We’ve seen production increase six fold in that crop. Canola is only just starting to enjoy the yield increases and production traits that we think are possible.”
Dave Charne, director of crop genetics research at Pioneer Hi-Bred, said the future will include insect tolerance and further disease resistance.
“This fall we will bring 45S51 to the market, the first canola with significant levels of resistance to sclerotinia,” he said.
“Genetics is reducing the use of fungicides. If we can reduce (pesticide use) it’s not only more profitable … it reduces agriculture’s environmental footprint at the same time.”
Alejandro Munoz, Pioneer’s vice-president of sales for North America, said his company sees the Prairies as a huge potential market.
“We don’t, like some others, see Western Canada as too small to be bothered with,” he said.
“When companies do that about chemicals or crop traits, they are making a huge mistake.”
He said Western Canada is one of several regions that Pioneer Hi-Bred has identified as having potential for growth.
“We see central Brazil as one, we see Romania, Ukraine, the former Soviet states. And Western Canada,” he said.
“But here we have regulations we can count on. A legislative framework that supports and protects our research. A stable society. Farmers that adopt technology and are businesspeople who can see the value in our products.”
Grant said his plans for canola include mirroring corn’s production path in terms of increased yield.
“We will do that in canola over the next 25 years.”
Charne said the latest in high throughput genomics breeding tools will help researchers deliver large increases in production at a faster rate than was possible in the past.
“And at a lot lower cost,” he said.
There is something else the company wants to deliver to prairie fields – corn.
Munoz said the prospect of the big, yellow cereal outperforming wheat and barley in Western Canada is real.
“We can do it. We have the (research and development) background for it. I can see it happening. We won’t be alone. But we intend to keep our number one position intact.”
