A new organic grain company that acquired two wooden crib grain elevators in southern Saskatchewan says more investments will be announced soon.
Pipeline Foods Inc., based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, recently bought elevators at Wapella and Gull Lake.
The elevators, both located along the Trans-Canada Highway, have been buying organic and non-genetically modified crops since early August.
They are Pipeline’s first delivery points in Canada, said Jason Charles, the company’s market director for North American organics. But they probably won’t be the last.
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“There are several other (ventures) in the works that I can’t talk about right now but there will be news releases coming out regarding those,” he said.
Pipeline is working with “several other partners” and is projecting total investments in the North American organic grain industry worth $300 to $500 million over the next three to five years, he added.
Pipeline Foods is a relative newcomer to the organic grain industry but the people behind the company have been involved in agriculture for decades, Charles said.
Pipeline, incorporated in February 2017, is privately owned. It is licensed and bonded by the Canadian Grain Commission.
It was founded by Charles, originally from the Estevan, Sask., area, and three other partners from Minnesota.
In less than a year, it has opened offices in Winnipeg, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Missouri, and Buenos Aries, Argentina. It has assembled a workforce of about 50 people.
One of Pipeline’s first acquisitions was Charles Commodity Consulting, an organic grain brokerage and consulting firm founded by Charles. It has been buying organic grain in Western Canada for more than a decade and has developed business relationships with hundreds organic producers in Saskatchewan and across the West, Charles said.
“Pipeline Foods may not be a household name yet but with my experience and through my previous company, all of these producers that we deal with already know us …,” he said.
“This year alone … Pipeline will do upwards of 150,000 tonnes of organic grains in North America.”
Minneapolis-based Pipeline Foods Inc. bought elevators at Wapella, Sask as part of its plans to buy organic grain in Canada. | Pipeline Foods photos
With Wapella and Gull Lake Pipeline now has four collection points in North America. It also owns an elevator at Lignite, North Dakota, about 15 kilometres south of North Portal, Sask., and an organic soybean crushing facility in Missouri.
Charles said the elevators at Wapella and Gull Lake could potentially handle a combined 60,000 tonnes of organic grain per year.
The elevators are part of a larger strategy aimed at creating closer supply chain links between growers and end users .
“We want to make sure that every day, there is a competitive bid to buy organic grains out of the Prairies,” Charles said.
Pipeline plans to buy a variety of organic crops including barley, rye, corn, flax, lentils, oats, peas, soybeans and wheat.
Buying older elevators might seem out of step with the conventional grain industry. But Charles said wooden crib facilities are ideal for the organic industry, which handles lower volumes and has different requirements when it comes to segregation and storage.
“Wood crib facilities for the organic industry are a really good fit,” he said.
“They’re smaller facilities and they have a lot of smaller bins that allow us to mix and blend and handle several different organic products, day in and day out.”
The Wapella facility has total storage capacity of 3,500 tonnes while Gull Lake has 4,000 tonnes.
Holly Peterson, an organic grower from Tompkins, Sask., not far from Gull Lake, said Pipeline’s decision to invest in infrastructure is positive for the organic industry.
“Infrastructure is what’s needed in the organic industry so it’s great to have some infrastructure that’s solidly in place,” said Peterson, who runs Heritage Organic Farms Ltd., along with her husband Ray.
“There’s been a lot of organic (grain buyers) come and go … but a lot of them only have a telephone and a computer.”
