71 www.seed.ab.ca | fall.2018 Wheat • Oats • Barley Canola • Peas • Faba Beans TF (800) 444-8961 P (780) 352-3240 F (780) 352-6943 22252 TWP452 RR#1 New Norway, Alberta, T0B 3L0
[email protected] Yellow Peas - LN4228 - CDC Amarillo Green Peas - CDC Limerick - AAC Comfort Faba Beans - Snowbird HRS Wheat - AAC Viewfield - AAC Brandon - AAC Connery - Muchmore CPS Wheat - AAC Penhold Oats - CS Camden Malt Barley - AAC Synergy - CDC Copeland Feed Barley - CDC Coalition - Canmore Markert Seeds Ltd. Ron & Lee Markert Box 1150 • Vulcan, Alberta T0L 2B0 403-485-6708 • www.markertseeds.com
[email protected] AAC Synergy CDC Copeland CDC Austenson AAC Awesome VB* AAC Connery CDC Landmark VB AAC Viewfield AAC Foray VB CDC Precision AAC Lacombe CDC Inca* *DENOTES NEW VARIETY Presently, everything is as it should be at the plant: Wiebe has it running like a well-oiled machine. “Right now, we’re operating pretty smoothly. I don’t foresee any challenges unless the capacity gets way out of hand. Every year you think you can’t do more, and then you throw in another 100,000 bushels on top. It’s the struggle we’ll have for the next three to four years,” he says. The only other potential pitfall is a downturn in organic markets, something Wiebe doesn’t dwell on. Instead, he remains focused on the tasks at hand, such as separating crop combinations. The season begins to heat up for the plant manager in August, when farmers start combining. And, because intercropping is so popular in the area, separating oats and peas or barley and peas are fall projects on Wiebe’s to-do list. Processing peas begins in August and lasts until the end of October. Then the Frontier crew starts on the rest of the seed cleaning. During the busy seasons, up to seven other staff members are on the payroll. However, no matter the time of year or how many staff members are employed, an important focus of the business is customer care. According to Wiebe, establishing and maintaining good relationships with the producer community is important, especially because of the plant’s size. “Our capacity is so small that we all have to cooperate. I have very good relationships with my farmers. I bend over backwards for them, and they for me. That’s very important because of the plant’s size and processing volume.” Kari Belanger “When we do it, we want to go all out. We want to build a big, modern facility. That’s the goal we’ve set for now.” —Ken Wiebe