True North Foods, a beef slaughter plant in Carman, Man., may have found a lucrative conduit into the Chinese beef market.
Calvin Vaags, principal owner of True North, is working with a company called WYNN Agricultural Investment Management. They are discussing a partnership in which WYNN raises cattle in Manitoba, True North processes the beef and WYNN helps secure buyers in China.
WYNN, led by a Chinese immigrant to Manitoba, bought ranchland near St. Laurent, Man., a couple of years ago. The company has helped other Chinese investors buy farmland and plans to develop a network of farms in Manitoba.
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“Our goal is to set up a special region, to set up a Chinese agricultural community,” said Will Yue, WYNN president and a University of Manitoba economics graduate.
“If we go to cattle and grain together … maybe 100,000 acres., or maybe bigger than that.”
Vaags has been talking with WYNN leaders for more than two years.
“They are planning to have a complete supply chain,” he said.
“They’re investing dollars into Manitoba into cattle production infrastructure. They want to have that link through our plant and want to ship beef back to China.”
Vaags also has his eyes on the Manitoba market. True North is slaughtering 75 to 125 animals a week, but the plant’s owners will expand production when it becomes federally certified, hopefully in the next few months.
“About 75 to 80 percent of the provincial market demands a federally certified product,” Vaags said.
“The day we get our (federal) stamp, we have a significant amount of business lined up in the Winnipeg area.”
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robert.arnason@producer.com
