Syngenta suspends Ontario seed corn production

Thursday, November 11, 2010

by PATRICIA GROTENHUIS

Ontario seed corn producers will have one less company to obtain contracts with in future seasons.

This fall, Syngenta Seeds Canada announced plans to suspend indefinitely its Ontario seed corn production activities.

The company temporarily suspended contracts after the 2008 harvest and hasn’t issued any to growers since then. That year, Syngenta had contracted 3,100 of the province’s 26,700 seed corn acres.

“It was really a business decision,” says Judy Shaw, government and public affairs director for Syngenta Canada. “Even though the quality of seed was excellent from the 3,000 acres, it was a small amount and we felt we had to make a decision.”

The acres did not fill Canadian demand for seed corn, and with larger production in the United States, it was more economically feasible to import seed, she says. Some seed will also come from South America.

Because Syngenta contracts have not been available, the impact has already been felt. But it continues to hurt the province’s seed corn industry, says Marc Roszell, a seed corn producer from Chatham and director for Ontario Seed Corn Growers’ Association.

“The acreage (for seed corn production in Ontario) is down overall,” he says. “It’s not good for us to see them close (the plant).”
 
Mary Lynn Lister Santavy, the association’s executive director, says producer numbers have held steady at 375 over the past three years. This year’s acreage, up slightly over last year’s, stands at 21,400.

Lister Santavy says it’s too soon to know how many acres will be contracted for 2011.

Syngenta processed the Ontario-grown seed corn at its Cottam, Essex County plant. The plant will now be used for distribution and for processing seeds other than corn. The company has cut eight of 22 full time positions there.

Roszell says all of the seed corn processing plants in the province are running below capacity. Competition in the industry is stiff, he says; in many cases importing seed is cheaper than growing it here. BF