Hillsburgh Stock Farm Ltd. has completed the sale of limited partnership units, raising $1 million for a 600 sow, farrow-to-finish pig production barn in the Brock, Sask., and Kindersley, Sask., areas.
Hillsburgh Stock Farm has put up another $480,000 toward the $4.75 million project. Debt financing is supplied by National Bank of Canada.
Once operating, the barn is expected to employ five people full time and produce 13,500 pigs a year. Construction, which will begin this spring, is expected to employ up to 40 people.
New ship loader planned
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Saskatoon newsroom
Prince Rupert Port Corp. is building a $2.5 million special grain ship loader at its Fairview Terminal.
The new loader will boost maximum loading capacity to 900 tonnes an hour, up from 450 tonnes. It has the flexibility to load a full range of ocean-going ships.
The port corporation has been managing specialty grain exports through Fairview Terminal since the beginning of 1998 when Continental Grain withdrew from the business.
The ports marketing team has improved exports of barley malt through the facility. It also handles lentils, peas and canola meal.
The unload is built by Texmarc of Houston, Texas, and is expected to be installed by the end of the year.
Management firms merge
Saskatoon newsroom
Backswath Management of Brandon, Man., has merged with Meyers Norris Penny, a prairie-wide management and accounting company specializing in agriculture.
Backswath, founded in 1991, provides financial management services and does business plans and feasibility studies for the agriculture industry, focusing on primary producers and the hog industry.
Don Penny, managing partner of Meyers Norris Penny, said Backswath will be a good fit with his company.
“Not only do they bring specialty services to the table, but also a great sense of forecasting trends in the agricultural sector,” he said in a news release.
Terry Betker, the founding partner of Backswath, is an agrologist and certified agriculture consultant. He has experience working with the Manitoba and Alberta Farm Debt Review Boards and the Manitoba Mediation Board.
Meyers Norris Penny has 26 offices across the Prairies offering financial, management and business advice.
Communication merger
Saskatoon newsroom
The Parker Group, a Calgary-based communications company focusing on agriculture, has joined with Flint Communications, Agricultural Division, of Fargo, North Dakota, to become AdFarm.
The joint company will have a North American focus, said Ross Harvey, president of AdFarm in Calgary.
“Farmers are recognizing that their trading area isn’t only their own country anymore, and our clients are thinking that way too.
“Having an American and Canadian office will keep us in touch with the needs of clients and ultimately their farm customers.”
Dehydration investment
Saskatoon newsroom
Agrivest Capital Corp., an Alberta-based venture capital company, has invested $250,000 in Dehydration Research Inc.
The Vancouver company has developed a vacuum microwave food-drying process in conjunction with the Department of Food Sciences at the University of British Columbia.
The technology dries foods quickly without damaging cell walls, retaining more nutrients, flavor and color.
The company said the process is good for snack foods such as potato chips because it simulates the results of frying without using oil. The chips have traditional crispness, shape and texture but have no fat.
Agrivest was started about two years ago by a group of Alberta business people. Its goal is to invest in agricultural processing.
It already has investments in five companies totaling more than $1 million.
