Hyland Seeds acquires new research facility

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

by PAT CURRIE

Hyland Seeds, a Blenheim-based division of the American giant Dow AgroSciences, last week announced it has purchased the Ailsa Craig crop-input facility of Thompsons Limited located just south of the village of Ailsa Craig, about 20 kilometres northwest of London.

"The move (targetted for July 1) to this new facility will allow us to upgrade our cereal lab, our equipment and our staff facilities,” said John Cowan, Hyland Seeds’ general manager. "Hyland Seeds has the top-yielding soft red and soft white winter wheat varieties on the market, along with the top barley and spring wheat. These product accomplishments are largely due to the leading-edge cereal research done by the dedicated staff at the Nairn cereal research lab," Cowan said.

No sale price was announced.

Thompsons is one of the largest seed operations in Canada. Since 1924 its principal business has involved the distribution of corn, soybeans, wheat, and dry beans as well as providing farmers with the necessary inputs to produce and grow successful crops. It owns and operates 12 modern elevators, two seed-processing plants, and five bean-processing plants, all in southwestern Ontario, and recently expanded into the United States with a state-of-the-art dry bean processing facility in East Grand Forks, Minnesota.

Dow AgroSciences Canada Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dow AgroSciences LLC, a global company based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Wes Thompson, president of Thompsons Limited, described Hyland Seeds as "a major player in the seed industry. BF