Tom Greaves, president of Pitura Seeds and the Manitoba Seed Growers Association (MSGA), sat down with Marc Zienkiewicz at the recent MSGA annual meeting to discuss what he learned over the past year as president and what’s in store for the next year of his two-year presidency.
“There’s a lot of different files we worked on this last year. The biggest one is Seed Regulatory Modernization. That’s a topic that’s we’re working on with with national; it’s a huge file that isn’t going to be resolved in the next month, but it’s one that we need to continue to engage with and work with as we move forward,” Greaves says.
“Another big accomplishment over this last year was the signing of an affiliation agreement between CSGA and the provincial branches. It really just formalizes our relationship between CSGA and the provincial branches as to how we work and how we can collaborate as we move forward.”
Pitura Seeds started 2023 off with a bang, announcing today that it’s released its very first exclusive yellow pea variety. The variety, which will be called PS Boost, is projected to be launched commercially in spring 2025. This variety has been specifically bred for the protein market, according to the company.
Developed by DL Seeds, PS Boost has strong agronomic attributes, and has been performing well across the Prairie provinces in both co-op registration trials and regional variety trials.
“When selecting for this variety, there was a focus on making sure the variety had strong agronomics for our farmers, while also meeting the quality characteristics that our end use protein partners are looking for,” Greaves, said in a statement today.
“We see this variety as a step towards building the protein market in Western Canada, which will create opportunities for everyone that wants to get involved”.
Pitura Seeds will be looking to further build its distribution network across Western Canada with seed growers and retailers that are interested in PS Boost, he added.
