July 8/Aberdeen, Saskatchewan/Canada NewsWire -- Cargill is expanding its capabilities in canola with the opening of a new specialty canola research and production center in Aberdeen. The research and production center opened in late 2008 and will allow Cargill to centralize its hybrid breeding program in the heart of the commercial production region, while giving growers and customers a state of the art facility for furthering knowledge in canola production.

The Cargill Specialty Canola Oils Research and Production Centre will be part of Cargill's research farm, located about 50 kilometers from Cargill's canola crush facility in Clavet, Saskatchewan. The research farm supports Cargill's specialized hybrid breeding and production trials located across Western Canada, with a focus on developing high-yielding agronomic traits and the next generation of output traits.

"Cargill is committed to serving the entire supply chain, by providing high-yielding canola hybrids to farmers that ultimately result in oils with zero grams trans fats and lower saturated fat for our customers and the consumers they serve," said Jenny Verner, president, Cargill Specialty Canola Oils. "The research and production centre will allow us to help our customers develop new products and formulations designed to improve functionality, and deliver nutritional value for their products using a proven identity preservation system that results in an assured supply of product."

From the July 20, 2009, Prepared Foods E-dition