Feature Stories 2008 
Quality Inspires Quality, 20/20 Seed Labs and Cargill share a common goal
Cargill believes that if there’s one thing hybrid canola seed growers shouldn’t have to worry about, it’s the quality of their seed. Weather, soil conditions, and harvest challenges can all give a grower sleepless nights. Ensuring seed quality is Cargill’s job - with a lot of dedicated help from 20/20 Seed Labs Inc., located just 22 kilometres south of Edmonton in Nisku, Alberta.
Cargill’s Specialty Canola Oils plant in Idaho Falls, Idaho is responsible for managing the planting, nurturing and harvesting of the hybrid seed required to meet the burgeoning global demand for zero trans fat, high oleic specialty canola oil. The plant is also accountable for handling the logistics of storage, packaging and shipping, and guaranteeing quality assurance. And that’s where 20/20 comes in.
Established 19 years ago, 20/20 Seed Labs is western Canada’s premiere seed testing lab and Canada’s most reputable provider of seed testing technology, services and research. 20/20 provides a full spectrum of agricultural and horticultural services. In fact, they have the broadest range of services of all labs in Canada! With a capability of doing 150 different tests, they support seed growers, seed and crop protection companies, commercial greenhouses and golf courses in B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, parts of eastern Canada and the U.S. There are 24 people employed at 20/20. These include seed analysts and trainees, molecular biologists, diagnosticians, an agrologist, a plant pathologist, as well as sales, research and business development personnel.
Sarah Foster, Seed Analyst and President of 20/20 works in close harmony with Cargill’s Senior Seed Agronomist, Bernadette Regnier who manages the quality assurance program in Idaho Falls and oversees shipment of the seed from Idaho Falls into Canada. The business association between Cargill and 20/20 is long-standing, approximately 10 years of loyalty, hard work and mutual regard.
We know our canola!
Sarah Foster describes the relationship between 20/20 and Cargill as one of great respect with an equal passion for excellence. “Cargill is totally committed to quality. They work to very high internal standards and entrust us to ensure their standards are always met and maintained. At 20/20 we share this obsession for quality.” She adds, “The Cargill focus has always been to get the best quality product into the bag for the grower. It’s a valuable product with high input costs. It’s also a tricky product – the seed has a very thin skin with high oil content – if not handled properly, it could easily spoil.”
Sarah and her 20/20 team have been privy to a well-rounded education on hybrid canola and how it behaves under the stresses of testing and re-testing. “It’s been a fascinating learning experience,” she says enthusiastically. “We know our canola!”
In turn, Sarah has helped the Idaho Falls team understand and appreciate the depth of testing the seed must undergo to meet Cargill’s stringent standards – standards that far exceed established industry and Canadian Food Inspection Agency expectations. To help speed the process and maintain important daily contact, 20/20 has developed custom software with a unique bar coding system. Cargill requires that the canola be tested three times - after harvest, after cleaning, and after treating. And within the past year, they have requested an additional test to further nail down quality benchmarks.
Test results are very transparent with all pertinent information printed right on the bag for the grower to see. Each label includes test dates and complete results, along with a certification tag that can trace the seed directly back to the field in which it was grown. The fact that Cargill uses a third party (20/20) for testing adds further credibility and builds trust with the grower.
“At the end of the day, it’s all about quality and I can’t say enough about Cargill’s passion for and commitment to the quality of their hybrid canola seed,” concludes Sarah. “Helping Cargill accomplish the results they want is both a huge responsibility and a wonderful challenge, and we’re pleased to be an integral part of Cargill’s achievement.”
Role of seed production a pivotal link in the Cargill Specialty Canola Oils network.
It’s really about the seed
For most end users it’s all about the oil. Cargill’s high oleic specialty canola oil is widely recognized and valued for its high nutrition, enhanced stability, and exceptionally clean taste. Over 150 major North American food companies and restaurateurs depend upon an assured supply of Cargill’s oil to meet stringent government and consumer demands for healthier foods with zero trans fats and low saturated fats.
But where the oil comes from and the seed that makes it possible – that’s a whole other story.
A little science
The word canola was introduced in Canada in 1974 to distinguish between edible and inedible rapeseed oils. The high oleic canola plants of today were derived from a novel canola variety, modified to produce higher levels of oleic acid. This novel canola plant line has undergone a complex hybridization system, which maximizes commercial production of hybrid canola.
Hybridization is the partnering of natural pollination and intentional sterilization. It was developed to produce hybrid offspring that have more vigour, are higher yielding and more tolerant to stresses, pests and disease. The goal of hybridization is to create conditions where two plant lines have no choice but to create hybrid seeds.
On to Idaho Falls
Once biotechnology and research have worked their magic, the awesome responsibility for managing the planting, nurturing and harvesting of the hybrid seed, ensuring quality assurance, and handling the logistics of storage, packaging, and shipping falls squarely on an efficient eight person Seed Production team at Cargill’s Specialty Canola Oils (CSCO) plant in Idaho Falls, Idaho.
"We take the genetics and produce the seed," says Jerry Cass, Seed Production Manager at Idaho Falls. And while that sounds pretty simple and straightforward, the process is much more complex, the tasks are always demanding and the expectations are high. Jerry shares his team’s vision statement – to be the most efficient, dependable, best-cost producer of quality hybrid canola seed in the industry.
Jerry sees the role of Seed Production as a pivotal link in the Cargill network. "We must do the job well, meet all expectations, set and exceed standards, and uphold our part in reaching the end goal of providing the highest quality seed. It’s quite a remarkable thing. Everybody is expected to do a job and be successful. We’ve come to accept the pressure to perform our task as an everyday thing."
Senior Seed Agronomist Bernadette Regnier reinforces the importance of a smoothly integrated and dedicated crew. "We really do have a strong team – every member works hard and takes on huge responsibility." In addition to Jerry and Bernadette, the Seed Production team consists of two agronomists, a seed plant manager, plant supervisor, field crew supervisor and plant operator.
Over the past 16 years, Jerry Cass has efficiently streamlined Cargill’s hybrid canola seed production system. He‘s also developed a contraseason capability, whereby seed is developed in South America during the winter months. This ensures seed availability virtually year-round, and gives Cargill the flexibility to fast track un-anticipated requests from new end use oil customers.
Bernadette, with a fifteen-year agronomic history at CSCO, manages the quality assurance program, and oversees shipment of the seed from Idaho Falls into Canada.
The process
Once seed sites have been identified, and established top calibre growers contracted, the parent seed lines are delivered. Seed is grown within a 50-mile radius of Idaho Falls with an isolation standard of three miles. Idaho is a near perfect location for hybrid seed because there is very little other canola grown in the state. This isolation distance helps to maintain quality and preserve identity.
Members of the Seed Production team work closely with growers throughout the growing season, consulting on insect, weed and disease control, irrigation, timing of male row management and destruction, swathing, combining, and coordination of delivery of seed to the seed plant. They are also responsible for arranging honeybee and leaf cutter bee pollination services.
Standards for herbicide tolerance are high and maintained at 97%. Every year a benchmark study is undertaken where plants are ranged side by side with other leading hybrids and evaluated on the basis of germination, vigour, herbicide tolerance and hybridity. This strengthens competitive status, provides a heads up on potential problems and reinforces confidence in seed quality.
At harvest, the seed is subdivided into 50,000 lb lots. Each 50,000 lb seed lot is sampled and submitted to a battery of quality tests. This defined system of sampling and testing assures the quality of every bag of seed we sell. Should difficulties arise, they are confined to one particular lot and, in this way, lot integrity is preserved.
No question of quality
As Jerry Cass says, "Our success is really dependent on the quality of the parent seed. SCO’s parent seed group, led by Dr. Matthew Ries, does an excellent job. With quality parent seed, we’ll virtually always end up with excellent quality hybrids. Parent seed quality is a critical success factor for Cargill."
High quality seed also creates a level of confidence with the growers – who have come to expect nothing less than top quality, high yielding hybrids. This helps sustain Cargill’s Specialty Canola Oils program.
There’s no resting on laurels however. The life expectancy of a hybrid is not long and research is ongoing, constantly providing new products with improved agronomics related to yield, standability, harvestability, and disease resistance. The challenge is to always keep moving, always keep working ahead.
"We are already finalizing seed acres for 2009 and our researchers are developing parent seed for 2011," notes Cass.
The seed bag story
Every seed bag that leaves the Idaho Falls plant has a “story” on its label that provides growers with the assurance of quality and supports seeding rate decisions to target their plant populations. Each label includes:
- Germination %
- Variety
- Lot number
- Production location
- Weight of seed in the bag
- Test date(s)
- % of pure seed
- 1000 kernel weight
- Treatment (fungicide and insecticide)
Seed bags also carry a blue certification tag that can trace the seed directly back to the field in which it was grown. Grading information to Canadian Food Inspection Agency standards is noted, as well as the grader’s identification number. In addition, full safety information is included for growers.
Setting targets
Jerry Cass and Bernadette Regnier agree that one of their biggest challenges is trying to anticipate growth. "We need to be continuously producing more and more seed to meet Cargill’s ever expanding needs," says Cass. "And of course, we must always maintain quality."
In an ongoing effort to make his Seed Production team more efficient, Cass has turned to technology. "We’ve instituted bar coding in the warehouse and have installed a robotic palletizer to reduce our dependence on temporary labour and save on back injuries." He hopes to be able to expand warehouse facilities in the near future as well.
Jerry sums it up by saying, "I want the output of our people to be the best in the industry."
With this kind of vision, dedication and sheer hard work, it’s no wonder that Cargill’s Specialty Canola Oils program is exceeding expectations for growers, and all of those oil-focused end users. Proving conclusively that in the end, it’s really about the seed.