New Seed Innovation Center to be Hub of Cargill’s Canola Development

Cargill has completed its new $10 million facility in Ft. Collins, Colorado that will be the heart of its specialty canola hybrid development program.

The innovation center will serve to develop the next generation of the group’s VICTORY hybrid canola seed varieties, which are grown in Canada and the U.S. and have been leaders on the Canadian market for a decade. After harvesting, the VICTORY canola hybrids are then crushed to become Clear Valley high oleic canola oils, which have no trans fats and are low in saturated fat.

“The Ft. Collins facility is the starting point for our high oleic canola supply chain and arguably the most strategic piece to the puzzle,” said Jenny Verner, president, Cargill Specialty Seeds & Oils in a company release. “Seed development is a forward-looking process because the seed genetics we select today will produce crops that will be harvested about 10 years from now.”

Cargill is the only company that is integrated along the high oleic canola oil value chain – being both a high oleic seed company and a high oleic oil company, giving the group a distinct advantage when it comes to transparency. Given this unique position, the company has announced that beginning this year, it will map its North American high oleic canola oil supply chain in its entirety through its program called “Knowing Your Roots: from farm to table.”