Saskatchewan Agriculture Minister David Marit is back from Mexico and back on the combine as he works to finish the harvest.

Marit was extremely pleased with trip which included eleven meetings in four days.

“It was important for us to be there. We met with an oat company that mills oats obviously for the food industry for snack food, oatmeal and cereals and things like that. They get all their oats, 100% of their oats come from Canada. As Saskatchewan is a leader in oat production we felt it was important to have discussions with that family business and also with Canola Crush companies. We met with the two largest Canola Crush Facilities in Mexico and obviously they source a lot of their canola from Canada and plan on increasing that.”

He notes they met with nine different companies that do business with Canada and more specifically Saskatchewan; as well as two State Agriculture Secretaries.

He notes the wheat millers said they love Canadian wheat.

“They have specific grade and protein that they want, and they get it constantly. So, I think that opportunity for growth is really, really well for us.”

Mexico is a key trading partner for Saskatchewan, doing well over $700 million dollars worth of business a year with the country.

In one of the meetings with representatives from the livestock sector, they talked how they liked doing business in Canada.

“The genetic side they really looked at. It’s important to have those discussions; I think they were very thankful we came down to see them. They were very respectful of us and know where Saskatchewan is, know what we do here. I think the opportunity for growth is fantastic for us to do more business with Mexico.”

 

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