Heartland Feeds, a division of Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, has been sold.
Masterfeeds of London, Ont., bought four of six Heartland facilities – one in Regina, two Alberta locations in Taber and Picture Butte, and one at Dauphin, Man.
Masterfeeds is owned by farmer co-op and grain processing giant AGP Inc., of Omaha, Nebraska.
Sask Pool is expected to net about $10 million from the sale, which will be applied to the short-term debt of the Regina-based publicly traded co-op.
Feed mills in North Battleford and Bruno, Sask., were not part of the sale.
Read Also
Anthracnose resistant lentils within reach
The risk that anthracnose poses to lentils continues to be high priority for the pulse sector.
Before the Nov. 9 sale, Masterfeeds operated four facilities in Alberta, one in Saskatchewan, one in British Columbia, one in Prince Edward Island and five in Ontario.
With 16 feed mills now under the Masterfeeds banner, the company becomes one of Canada’s largest feed processors.
Masterfeeds was formed through mergers and buyouts beginning in the early 1960s as three established southern Ontario feed mills joined forces. The company bought mills in Western Canada and the Atlantic provinces in the 1990s, including Alberta’s Maple Leaf Foods operations and Saskatoon’s Burns Foods operations.
Masterfeeds president Rob Flack said his company has been working to expand its feed mill capacity in “regions of the company where sustainable animal agriculture is going to take place.
“We are in it for the very long haul and the Prairies is going to be a place where livestock production is going to increase,” he said.
AGP’s business is based on soybean crushing and feeding. Flack said the Masterfeeds division may provide a “distribution channel for the soybean meal from the United States” in the future.
Heartland signs will remain in place for two years at least, said Flack.
He said Masterfeeds will begin spending to increase automation at the plants.
Sask Pool officials could not be reached for comment.
