CAM DAHL Cereals Canada
Over a three month period, a delegation representing the Canadian wheat value chain will be travelling to 17 cities on five continents to promote Canadian wheat on the world stage, provide support to export customers, and receive beneficial feedback. The New Crop Mission, led by Cereals Canada, Cigi and the Canadian Grain Commission, brings together farmers, exporters, technical experts and regulators, and puts them face to face with key customers of Canadian wheat at a series of seminars and meetings. The mission is unique in that it allows a deeper level understanding between the two sides: export customers learn what to expect from the new wheat crop and, in turn, provide valuable feedback about their needs and wants to help drive future research and innovation. For much of the month of November, two delegations representing the New Crop Mission travelled concurrently. The first group visited five countries in Asia–Japan, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore and China–while the second met with customers in Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru and Chile. In December, the New Crop mission touches down in North Africa to give mission delegates the opportunity to meet with customers in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. Before returning to Canada, the mission will visit Italy, where origin labeling regulations have placed extreme restrictions on Canadian durum. Finally, mission delegates will kick off the New Year with a mid-January seminar in Dubai, before moving on to Nigeria and Lagos for the last leg of the 2019 New Crops Mission. From there, Cigi staff will travel to Kenya for a technical mission in Kenya while the rest of the group returns home to plan for the 2020 cropping year. For more information on the 2019 New Crop Mission, visit canadianwheat.ca.