b'PARTNER CONTENTCHANGING THE SOYBEAN PARADIGMAs it marks its 40th anniversary, Prograin gives us a glimpse of its philosophy of serving growers on the Prairies.IT ALL BEGANwith a desire to do things dif- Some soybean companies would panic, ferently. The concept: market value-addedbut not Prograin.soybeans that are 100% adapted to CanadasIts opened up a big opportunity for us to climatic conditions and economic realitiesfocus on soybean as a specialty crop, much and deal directly with local growers. like canola when it was introduced on the The idea first took root in 1980, in Saint- Prairies. A lot of growers, in Saskatchewan Csaire, Qubec, in the mind of farmer andespecially, are viewing soybean as a key crop Prograin founder Clment Ltourneau. they can integrate into their rotation. Soybean Four decades later, the soybean land- has become an important piece of the puzzle scape in Canada has changed dramatically,for them. That old paradigm of soybean as and so has Prograin. Now headed by Alainjust a big commodity crop is becoming a lot Ltourneau, the Prograin name is no longermore nuanced.known in just Eastern Canada but is nowPart of that puzzle is deciding whether to familiar in the West. In 2015 Prograin decidedgrow a GM variety of soybean or a conven- Alexandre Beaudoin is VP it was time for the brand itself to be presenttional one. Prograin offers both. sales and marketing for with its own distribution in Western Canada.The choice between the two is rarelyPrograin based in Quebec.Prograin is the largest private value-addedbased on an aversion to glyphosate. Maybe soybean company in Canada. its a grower wanting to save money on seed. We were already on the Prairies, butMaybe its a function of different chemistry under license to private brands. That moverotations. At the end of the day, growers are coincided with a renewed vision of expand- wanting to make more money, Rempel adds. ing the brand and making sure it was avail- Weve had to prove over the past four able across the world, says Alexandreyears that conventional varieties have the Beaudoin, VP sales and marketing forsame yield potential as GM varieties, even Prograin based in Quebec. though yield isnt usually the customers Here at home in Canada, the brand hastop focus. The goal is protein, grain quality, brought a unique vision for soybeans to thecolour and shape. A lot goes into marketing a Prairies, says western Canadian sales managerfood-grade export soybean to various coun-Shawn Rempel. tries around the world.Soybeans have seen interesting times onFurthermore, to develop high-performance the Prairies over the past few years. After bigvarieties, Prograin has set up its own research growth in 2017a record year with 2.3 mil- sites in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. lion acres of soybeansa steady decline hasOur breeding program is the strongest followed. its been in the history of Prograin in termsShawn Rempel is western Anyone in business knows when youof different trait platforms and conventionalCanadian sales manager lose 25% of acres three years in a row andvarieties we breed, Rempel says. for Prograin.go down to one million acres in 2020, thatsFor info visit prograin.ca quite a change, Rempel says. NOVEMBER 2020 GERMINATION.CA 11'