Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Dairy mergers continue

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.”