CanWest
DHI, Canadian Dairy Network and Valacta have agreed to become
partners.
They plan to become
“a unified market presence” under joint management of producer
services over the coming year.
Farmer owners and
members of the three will be asked for approval of a governance
structure.
“We have worked
closely with our partners at CanWest DHI and the Canadian Dairy
Network for
more than two
decades and this is a natural extension of our historic working
relationship”
said Valacta
chairman Pierre Lampron.
The new partnership
would continue to operate from their primary business locations in
Guelph and Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec.
The partnership will
bring together more than 500 people serving more than 11,000 dairy
farms across the country.
Canadian Dairy
Network chairman Norm McNaughton said “this is an important
milestone in the evolution of our industry. We are demonstrating that
not only can we work together across the country, we can also work
together across different areas of our industry”.
CanWest and CDN are
in the same Guelph building and the partners will manage four labs in
Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia.
In addition to milk
recording and genetic evaluation services, the partners would
continue their responsibilities for the analysis of raw milk payment
and milk quality services for Dairy Farmers of Quebec, SaskMilk,
Alberta Milk and the BC Milk Marketing Board as well as specialized
milk analysis services.
These lab services
will be in addition to the six million individual cow samples
collected and tested annually by the partners.
CanWest DHI
chairman Ed Friesen said “I'm proud of the leadership demonstrated
by the respective
boards. They have
the vision and commitment to position the dairy industry for the
future and ensure
that we have the
ability and infrastructure to support Canadian dairy producers and
keep us globally
competitive for
years to come.”
