Winnipeg, Canada
September 4, 2002

In the past few weeks, reports have been coming in from across the prairies about fusarium wilt affecting a number of canola varieties, across technologies and proprietary lines

Given that so little is known about this disease, there is some confusion among growers and others in the industry alike, but efforts are underway to learn more about it

A team at Proven Seed is actively investigating the recent presence of the disease and would be pleased to share current understanding and new learning with the media, including:

• Cause of the disease and outbreak in 2002
• How to identify infected crops
• Reducing risk

Contact:
Tim Ferguson
Manager, Crop Research
Proven Seed
Winnipeg, Canada
Tel: +1 (403) 216 0111

We welcome your calls for more information.

Proven Seed, a business unit of Agricore United, formed by the merger of Agricore and United Grain Growers in November 2001, is the exclusive distributor of Pioneer(R) brand canola seed in western Canada. Proven Seed's primary areas of focus are canola, forages and wheat. Contracting opportunities with Proven Seed Linola(TM) and malting barley varieties are also available through Agricore United. Proven Seed conducts Western Canada's most extensive seed testing and evaluation through its Local Performance Check(R) program. For more information, visit www.provenseed.com.