Over the past couple of weeks (July 11-19), the Canola Council of Canada (CCC) gave five experts from China’s livestock and aquaculture industry a first-hand learning experience on Canadian canola meal.

The tour made stops in B.C., Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Quebec.

“This was a great opportunity to showcase the quality and value of Canadian canola meal to the Chinese delegates,” says Jim Everson, president of the CCC. “Connecting with key influencers helps ensure that processors and end-users in China are more aware of canola’s superior qualities and builds lasting relationships in this important export market.”

Participants included aquaculture researchers, a swine nutritionist, the director of China’s animal husbandry group and a commodity trader.

“Another important part of the tour was highlighting the decades of research on canola meal usage,” says Brittany Dyck, the CCC’s canola meal manager, who guided the tour. Delegates learned from researchers at several University of Saskatchewan facilities such as the Rayner Dairy Research and Teaching Facility and Canadian Feed Research Centre, as well as the University of Manitoba’s Department of Animal Science.

“This complements the various research and demonstration trials we have done in China to demonstrate how Canadian canola meal fits into the livestock and aquaculture rations of Chinese producers,” said Dyck.

After the United States, China is the largest export market for canola and canola products. In 2017, exports to China were worth $3.6 billion.