The merger of Roy Legumex and Walker Seeds has gone smoothly, according to the president and CEO of Legumex Walker Incorporated.

The transition to combine St. Jean-based Roy Legumex with Walker Seeds of Tisdale, Saskatchewan started in June.

"So far it's great," says Joel Horn. "I think it's either going to be business-as-usual or better for farmers, because together we're stronger. Legumex Walker joining forces makes a stronger company and from a farmer's standpoint it's all positive."

LWI, which owns 85 percent of Pacific Coast Canola, broke ground on an 1100 MT per day canola crushing facility in Warden, Washington last week. It will be the first commercial-scale canola crush plant west of the Rockies.

"The demand for canola oil and canola meal has really grown a lot in the last few years. A lot of that growth is in the Pacific northwest and in California, so it's a great location to build a canola crushing facility," says Horn, who's from Washington and has led Pacific Coast Canola since 2008.

The canola plant in Warden will be LWI's 10th production facility and is expected to be completed by late 2012 and operational by early 2013.

Until now, both Roy Legumex and Walker Seeds primarily dealt with beans, peas, chickpeas and lentils.

"So this adds geographic diversity to our company as well as product diversity...as now we're also moving into canola," he says.

Former Roy Legumex president Ivan Sabourin is LWI's vice-president, while Walker Seeds founder is chair of the LWI board. LWI's head office is located in Winnipeg.

Legumex and Walker had combined sales of nearly $300 million in 2010.