Canada
November 17, 2014
CANTERRA SEEDS today announced an agreement with Warburtons on the production and commercialization of AAC W1876, a hard red spring wheat variety bred by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. AAC W1876 was developed and tested by Dr. Richard Cuthbert and Dr. Ron DePauw of AAFC SPARC, and was supported through registration earlier this year by Warburtons. The British company, who offers variety-specific Identity Preserved contracts for a large amount of Canadian wheat every year, will begin contracting AAC W1876 this fall.
"Here at CANTERRA SEEDS, we like to talk about the 'new world of wheat' that is emerging in Canada. This partnership is a perfect example of private companies working with our public breeding institutions to bring new export opportunities for Canadian farmers," said CANTERRA SEEDS President and CEO David Hansen.
This is the first time the UK bakery has supported a variety through the Canadian registration system. Warburtons representatives are enthusiastic about the variety and predict it will become a major part of the company's program.
"As the UK's top bakery, we have a reputation to maintain. We have a commitment to our customers to deliver the best possible products every day. We are very excited about the potential of this variety. From what we've seen, it will deliver excellent quality for Warburtons' baking process, while also meeting the agronomic needs of farmers," said Warburtons Program Manager Adam Dyck.
Warburtons is so keen on AAC W1876 that CANTERRA SEEDS' main challenge was to have commercial volumes of the variety in place to meet Warburtons' needs. To achieve this, the companies accelerated production by growing seed in New Zealand, which has an opposite growing season to Canada. Warburtons Identity Preserved Production contracts will be available at select Paterson Grain and Richardson Pioneer locations this fall.
"I want to congratulate everyone on both the CANTERRA SEEDS and Warburtons teams for their exceptional efforts in bringing this variety to market at record speed," said Hansen.
Topics
Species
