We believe that the Canadian Grain Council Global Agricultural Technology Exchange (GATE) Over the next few days.
The basic concept isn’t necessarily new: The idea of establishing a “grain centre of excellence” in downtown Winnipeg, bringing together major crop organisations and institutions in one place, has been discussed for more than 20 years.
“Creating a food innovation hub will support Canadian farmers and domestic and international customers, and maintain Canada’s position as a leader in nutritious, high-quality food ingredients. Food manufacturers can source ingredients from anywhere, but the best ingredients come from Canada,” GATE’s introduction reads.
With the disappearance of the Canadian Wheat Board monopoly, the Canadian International Grains Institute (commonly referred to as CIGI), which was responsible for knowledge transfer to Canadian wheat buyers, lost its largest funder. Over a decade later, CIGI has been consolidated under the Cereals Canada umbrella, and one of GATE’s main impetus appears to be to renew and modernize CIGI’s legacy.
The price tag for the proposal is rumored to be around $100 million.
Do we need brick-and-mortar centers? Do we need them? Should we? If we are successful in moving this vision forward, what should a “Grain Center of Excellence” do? That’s what we’re asking in this week’s poll. Choose two or suggest your own.
