Regina, Saskatchewan, June 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --
After almost four years in the making, Richardson International was proud to officially open Bennett Farm on the afternoon of June 10, in the community of Richardson, located roughly 10 kilometres southeast of Regina. The event was attended by over 200 key industry members with Richardson premier producer customers, suppliers and sponsors and government representatives welcoming the new facility to the agricultural landscape and touring its extensive demonstration grounds and the adjacent Richardson Pioneer divisional office.
“We are pleased to see this investment by Richardson International in Saskatchewan with the opening of Bennett Farm,” says the Honourable David Marit, Minister of Agriculture for the province of Saskatchewan. “Research is vital to the continued success of the agriculture industry and to our goal of sustainably feeding a growing world population. Sites such as this are key in helping farmers adopt the most promising new products, equipment and crop varieties.”
With over $15 million invested in the 600-acre site, Bennett Farm acts to complement the work done at Kelburn Farm, Richardson’s first research and demonstration farm situated in the Red River Valley of Manitoba. The geography of Saskatchewan is unique – comprising largely a brown soil zone – and allows for trialing crops not commonly grown in Manitoba such as peas, lentils and durum.
“We had a clear vision of what Bennett Farm could be. The heart of our grain handling and merchandising business is Western Canada with a large proportion of our network in Saskatchewan. It is where many of our customers are,” says Curt Vossen, President and CEO of Richardson International. “As a training centre, a research centre and a development centre - and from a structural and relationship point of view - we felt it was important to have a presence here and in this category of applied activity.”
The initial ground breaking event was in the fall of 2015 and marked the start of a multi-phase construction project. The site was named for the Bennett family, who had owned the land since the 1940s and continue to farm across the highway, and hosts all of the equipment and technology one would expect of a modern farm operation. In addition, Bennett Farm hosts Richardson Pioneer’s divisional office and has a sizeable CropWatch agronomy centre and meeting room. The latter was recently entitled, “The Bruce Sobkow Centre for Education & Development” and was designed to be a place of learning and collaboration for Richardson employees, its suppliers and partners and the broader community in general.
ABOUT RICHARDSON INTERNATIONAL
Richardson International Limited is Canada’s largest agribusiness and is recognized as a global leader in agriculture and food processing. Based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Richardson is a worldwide handler and merchandiser of all major Canadian-grown grains and oilseeds and a vertically-integrated processor and manufacturer of oats and canola-based products. One of Canada’s Best Managed Companies, Richardson has over 2,800 employees across Canada, the U.S. and the U.K.