Manitoba’s dry bean sector is attracting more capital investment these days, not all of which is being welcomed with open arms by the province’s growers.
Earlier this summer Agricore United announced plans to replace its 24-year-old processing plant in Carman, Man., with a much larger facility.
Now comes word that two new 10-million pound storage sheds are being built in Winkler, Man., to house product for W.G. Thompson & Sons Ltd., a major Ontario bean processor.
Portage la Prairie, Man., grower Don Sissons likes AU’s initiative.
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“It sends a signal to Manitoba growers that the industry is important to a large grain company like Agricore and its shareholders.”
However, he was less impressed with the announcement from Ontario.
“I personally have an issue with processors that continue with the mindset that they need to set up receiving stations to feed infrastructure in other parts of the country,” Sissons said.
“W.G. Thompson is setting up receiving stations to receive beans and export our jobs and our commodities to other areas.”
John Thompson, vice-president of W.G. Thompson and Sons, said nothing could be further from the truth. He argued the company has provided additional employment for the four Manitoba firms with which it is working.
As well, he said the company has played a key role in giving Manitoba beans world exposure and has provided growers with profitable contract options.
The latest project was made necessary when the firm expanded its contracting activities in Manitoba to include pintos and other coloured beans as well as navy beans.
“More shed space provides more efficient unloading. That’s what we’re shooting for.”
The project could be the first step in a longer-term plan that Thompson hoped would assuage the concerns of growers.
“It would be nice to have processing in Manitoba and I think we’d do it in stages.”
Thompson said the storage tanks are being built on a large lot that could easily accommodate such a plant and are located in Manitoba’s primary bean production region.
However, Sissons said the sheds are another example of how the company is exploiting the province’s resources.
“They’re not even putting the money up for that. It’s a local initiative.”
Winkler land developer Gary Wiebe will own the buildings, while financing comes from an arrangement with the Winkler Community Development Corp.
The city is selling shares in the first mortgage of the $675,000 project. It is a Registered Retirement Savings Plan-eligible investment in bricks and mortar expected to return 6.75 percent per year over the next five years.
The developer is responsible for paying interest on the loan but doesn’t have to pay a down payment or principal until the mortgage is turned over to a financial institution at the end of the five-year term.
Winkler economic development officer Walter Siemens said the Invest Winkler program is a way for the city to encourage capital investment in its industrial park.
He expected that investors will have bought all the shares by the time the offering closes on Nov. 15, making it the first successful candidate under the new initiative.
Another player in the venture is Keystone Grain Ltd., one of W.G. Thompson’s Manitoba partners. The firm will be contracting beans on behalf of the Ontario processor and co-ordinating the logistics of moving beans from farms to the storage sheds and from the sheds to out-of-province processing plants.
Grant Fehr, Keystone’s special crops manager, said W.G. Thompson has provided extra work and income for an estimated 10 to 15 employees working at satellite receiving stations across the province.
He agreed with Thompson that growers have benefited from the company’s activities in the province, signing multi-year contracts that often deliver higher prices than what they could have achieved through the spot market.
“It has been giving good returns to a lot of producers,” Fehr said.
