Chris Davison provides canola industry remarks at Canola Week

Good morning! I’m Chris Davison, president and CEO of the Canola Council of Canada.

I’m sorry I can’t be with you in person for Canola Week. That’s something I’ll need to rectify next year.

That said, I’m pleased to welcome you to the Canola Industry Meeting on this first day of Canola Week, albeit virtually. This is the first time ever that Canola Week has been held in Calgary, and I’d like to give a special shout out to everyone in the room who is based in Alberta. Perhaps you’re attending for the first time. Welcome!

Canola Week is an opportunity to share views and ideas with partners from academia, industry and government. It’s an important part of charting our path forward on canola innovation and research needs that will promote a vibrant canola industry.

My job today is to provide an update on where the Canadian canola industry is at and what’s on the horizon, both in terms of opportunities and challenges.

Last year, my predecessor, Jim Everson, touched on several important themes. He talked about the success story that canola has become, and the significance of canola’s contributions to the economy – both here in Canada and internationally.

He emphasized that our success has been powered by innovation, and that’s why it is so important to link innovation with ambition and collaboration throughout the value chain.

Research is vital, but only through shared vision and effort can we identify, develop and implement the advances that will lead to even more success for canola in the future. It’s so important that we take the research and development work happening in labs and fields and elsewhere, and transform those findings into products and know-how that will move us forward in very real ways.