Briercrest Grain Ltd. went into business eight years ago shipping producer cars out of a former Saskatchewan Wheat Pool elevator at Briercrest, 50 kilometres southwest of Regina.
The company held a grand opening on July 23 for its latest venture, a new seed processing plant that will clean seed to export standards.
General manager Marv Lowe said the producer car business has been successful, and the company’s shareholders decided to expand.
“We identified a need for a seed cleaning plant and decided to build a new, stand-alone facility,” he said.
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Construction began last August and the plant was operating by March, handling durum, lentils, peas, flax and canaryseed.
The facility will custom clean for farmers and other companies.
Lowe said the lentil industry is strong in the area and will probably account for a large share of the cleaning plant’s business.
He said consolidation and amalgamation have prompted a lot of companies to look for an independent processor with space available.
The Briercrest plant is not a large facility and will have the capacity to process lentils at a rate of about eight to 10 tonnes per hour.
Lowe said the plant was designed to allow for future expansion.
The company was created when had been built in 1989 and was still
line running from Moose Jaw
Sask Pool abandoned its wood crib elevator in the community, which
good shape.
The elevator is located on the
Southern Rails Co-operative’s Avonlea
Truax.
Lowe said the producer car business has moved more grain out of the facility than Sask Pool ever did.
Briercrest Grain is a privately owned company with 60 shareholders.
