ABSTRACT
Garry Hoekstra has a PhD in agriculture science, is an agronomist, and is one-half of the duo heading up Noble Crop Science and Innovation with his partner, chief executive officer Pierre Cadieux. Noble Crop’s innovation is a new strain of oat for the poultry and cattle feed market. The challenges with the traditional feed market are similar to those of the typical cash crop: Land costs are increasing; pesticides for new pest-resistant bugs and weeds are more expensive. Feeds themselves are getting more expensive. Corn and soybean meal are in greater demand in other markets, on the supply side of the biofuel market for corn and health food for soybeans. Hoekstra and P. Cadieux are driving the adoption process with test plots where they demonstrate the ease with which the grain grows. They are working with cooperative partners, larger well-respected farmers whose opinions matter and carry some weight in their “field”.
