Wayne Unger of Manitoba has been elected to serve as the 60th President of the Canadian Seed Trade Association.
Unger, who is the Vice President of Forage and Turf Marketing for BrettYoung Seeds, was elected by the Board of Directors at CSTA’s Annual Meeting in Kelowna , B.C.
In his acceptance speech, Mr. Unger said that during his term as President of CSTA, he wants to emphasize the ‘T’ in CSTA: “If you look through the supply chain of almost every crop grown in Canada, either the crop or a value added segment of that crop is exported. Trade is important to you.”he said.
“Sometimes we are tempted to just try to protect our markets, but I can tell you that the only way for us to truly ‘protect’ our markets is to be as competitive as possible,” says Mr. Unger. “We need the best people, the best genetics, the best tools, and open access to all market opportunities in the world. Open trade is the number one strategic priority for CSTA, and as the 2010-11 President, I hope to help the Board and staff work towards that priority for all CSTA members.”
In addition to Mr. Unger’s election as President, Stephen Denys of Pride Seeds in Chatham Ontario was elected to the Executive Committee as Second Vice-President.
Jeff Bertholet of BASF in Saskatoon , Kevin McCallum of DL Seeds in Morden and Kurth Shmon of Imperial Seeds in Winnipeg were elected to serve 3 year terms on CSTA’s Board of Directors.
