Update: Jim Everson provides remarks on canola industry and innovation at Canola Week

 CCC president Jim Everson presented the following speech at the Canola Week event in Saskatoon yesterday to attendees representing all links in the canola value chain:

Good morning! I’m Jim Everson, president of the Canola Council of Canada. Welcome to the Canada Industry Meeting on this first day of Canola Week.

It’s my pleasure to update you on where the Canadian canola sector is today and what’s on the horizon. Innovation will play a vital role in virtually every opportunity and challenge ahead.

Today canola is a remarkable success story, contributing about $30 billion annually in economic activity and supporting over 200,000 jobs across the country.

We’ve achieved this success by drawing on many strengths, and the first and foremost of those strengths is Innovation. Canola was born of innovation, and it’s what keeps us moving forward today.

That’s why Canola Week is so important. This is where innovation converges with other key strengths, like Ambition and Collaboration. The next few days are a unique opportunity to marshal the ideas and knowledge that can lead to even greater success.

To fully embrace innovation, our industry needs to think beyond the research work in the lab and test field. We also need to share the latest findings with growers. That’s why I’m happy to see so many retail agronomists participating in this year’s Canola Week. Knowledge transfer is an industry-wide responsibility, and we need to engage our networks of agronomists so that innovation can be transformed into action.

Now, let’s talk about the state of the canola industry today. It’s a time when we see great opportunities on the horizon, and some challenges along the way.