Bayer Canada begins construction on new R&D facility in St. B

Instead of canola on Friday, there was sod.

But in two years’ time, by current estimates, the bare plot of land in a St. Boniface industrial park will hold canola samples and seeds for testing.

Bayer Canada officially broke ground on a 60,000-square-foot research and development facility Friday morning.

“It’s about bringing new and better innovation to farmers,” said Kacy Perry, Bayer Crop Science Canada’s country division head.

Bayer Canada, a subsidiary of the German enterprise, has an early canola breeding site near the University of Manitoba in south Winnipeg and a nursery seed production operation in Carman.

It tests canola seeds on plots across Western Canada.

Lately, Bayer has been looking to increase its work on canola as a biofuel product, including to sell into the United States.

The new Winnipeg site will house research on winter canola for Bayer’s biofuel business, said Shaun Corneillie, the company’s North America canola and cereal acre strategy lead.

Staff will also work on spring canola sold in Canada and the U.S. northern plains. They aim to launch spring canola in Australia and New Zealand — and the research done in Winnipeg will help, Corneillie said.

“It’s really about ensuring that we have products that are continuing to deliver more yield, better results, more consistent results,” Perry added.

Shindico Realty Inc. is spending $20 million building the Winnipeg site, according to Kelly Smith, the company’s vice-president of asset and property management.

Bayer will consume 60 per cent of the building. It’s funnelling $45 million into equipment and enhancements.

Shindico plans to finish its job at 495 De Baets St. next year. Bayer will arrive after and spend roughly a year “doing their fit-up,” Smith said.

Controlled environmental grow chambers, seed processing operations and a seed quality testing lab are part of the blueprints. Staff will research herbicide and pesticide tolerance, among other things.

“It’s news like this that makes an agriculture minister smile,” Agriculture Minister Ron Kostyshyn said. “Without research, we would be kind of stagnant.”

New canola varieties have helped crop yields amid challenging weather and diseases, Kostyshyn noted. Manitoba farmers seeded roughly 3.2 million acres this year.

Canola innovation will support “potential,” such as renewable fuels, Kostyshyn said before a sod-turning ceremony.

The provincial government promoted a potential Manitoba sustainable aviation fuel facility, run by Azure Sustainable Fuel Corp., while attending the Canada Investment Summit last month. In 2023, the province promised $2.9 million for a study on how the company might use feedstock products such as canola oil to produce fuel.

Canola was developed by researchers in Manitoba and Saskatchewan in the 1960s and ’70s.

Bayer Canada has agreed to lease in St. Boniface for 20 years.

The Manitoba Canola Growers is “pleased to see Bayer making the long-term commitment to our province and our crop,” Jennifer Dyck, director of market development, wrote in a statement.

Shindico is talking with other organizations to fill the latter 40 per cent of the industrial park building, Smith said.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com