69 www.seed.ab.ca | fall.2018 Oats – Morgan Hard RedWheat – *Viewfield / AAC Brandon / Stettler SoftWhiteWheat – * SadashVB WinterWheat – * CDC Chase / Moats /Wildfire Durum – * Stronghold / * CDC Alloy / Spitfire /Transcend Canola – Roundup Ready / Clearfield varieties Hybrid Fall Rye – * Daniello Lentils – Proclaim Peas – * CDC Inca / CDC Meadow / AAC Lacombe Barley – Canmore / Copeland / Austenson / Amisk Triticale – Sunray Flax – Sanctuary / Glas Forages – Alfalfa Call Dennis at 403.634.6142 or Michelle at 403.929.6511 email: [email protected] web: benciseeds.com The intent is to create a streamlined model for information management, advocacy, service provision and provide greater value for the industry’s collective members, and — most importantly — to amplify the impact of the various complementary functions within the Synergy organizations. The temporary “placeholder” name Seeds Canada is being used to reference this hypothetical single organization. As a precursor to a possible merger of these five groups, CSI and CSAAC have indicated they’re looking at exploring a “pre- emptive” merger themselves. Opinions from Wild Rose Country Ron Markert CSGA Board Member and President, Markert Seeds On Reaching the Goal of a merger by 2020: “We knew things would be slow, but when you try and bring six organizations together, things take time. You have to remember this is solely exploration. We’re simply looking at the possibility of merging. We’re not saying this is what we’re going to do. With CropLife Canada being a part of it — but at the same time not being a part of it — we’ll see how it plays out. We’re on the tip of the iceberg now to see if we’re all on the same page and want to work together. Everyone wants to do it fast. I agree with doing it as fast as we can, but it takes time to talk to everyone and get their opinions.” On the inner workings of the Oversight Committee: “We’ve only had five one-hour conference calls. Each one is only an hour long. We’ve only met face-to-face twice. It’s proving to be a challenge to get everyone on the same page. One of the big issues is trust. We have to learn to do that, and it won’t happen overnight. One of the challenges we have at CSGA is the fact we have 3,500 members. We have a lot of people to communicate with before we can make a decision. For us that’s a year-long process. 2019 is the earliest anything can even be decided.” Morgan Webb President, Commercial Seed Analysts Association of Canada and Owner, SeedCheck Technologies Inc. On CropLife Canada Staying Independent in the Event of a Merger: “It’s not that CropLife is staying on the outside, they’re very much still a partner on the inside. They simply have more interests than just seed.” On What he Expects from the White Paper Slated for this Fall: “The green paper did a lot to explore various possibilities but didn’t have a lot of detail and wasn’t vetted by each organization’s members like the white paper will be. Once we get further into detail, you’ll see everyone around the table really having a great discussion.” Marc Zienkiewicz Haven’t read the Seed Synergy Green Paper? Visit seedsynergy.net/get-informed/.