wheat boards chairs, vice-chairs and
managers worked on the merger process
and late that year they launched
their search for a CEO to manage the
new organization. We were looking for
strong leadership and a fresh perspective,
remembers Kenny.
Westerner Barry Senft was the successful
candidate. He came to Guelph in July
to head the new GFO. Senft, formerly
executive director of the Canadian International
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had also served as chief commissioner
of the Canadian Grain Commission. He
also remains a partner in his family s grain
farming business in Saskatchewan.
Barry had been watching the merger
process with great interest, and he told us
he was intrigued by our grassroots-driven
approach, notes Kenny. As CEO, Senft
will be looking to leverage partnerships
on the national stage, with the goal of
driving as much value as possible back to
the farm businesses GFO represents.
National landscape
Many of the issues GFO is dealing
with on a provincial basis naturally lend
themselves to the national landscape,
observes Senft. He points to food safety,
business risk management, research,
and market development as areas that
boundaries. Food safety and market
development issues have national and
international implications. Particularly
in the area of market development, we
will be looking to partner throughout
Canada to find natural synergies.
For instance, Senft suggests that it
might make sense for the GFO to work
with its partners at the Canadian Wheat
Board in areas where the two parties have
non-competing interests, such as putting
together grocery ships of wheat.
A lot of international customers need
both the hard red spring wheat grown
in Western Canada and soft red winter
wheat grown in Ontario, Senft says.
In the minds of international customers
the Canadian image is a positive one.
We could conceivably team up to put
this kind of shipment together, saving on
freight for both parties.
