It took longer than expected, but Bunge is finally processing canola at its new plant in Altona, Man., that replaces an existing facility .
The expansion boosts the annual capacity of the operation to 875,000 tonnes from 385,000 tonnes.
The plant was originally supposed to be operating in time to process the 2012 harvest, but construction delays pushed the timeline back a couple of years.
Jack Froese, a canola grower from Winkler, Man., is happy to have more crush capacity in his area.
“Any time you get a plant close to home, it’s good news because you get a better basis,” he said.
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His other delivery options include the Northstar Agri Industries plant in Hallock, Minnesota, and the Viterra plant in Ste. Agathe, Man.
“We’ve got quite a few options now. It’s good news,” said Froese.
“We need these plants just to be able to keep up and crush what we’re growing.”
Farmers harvested an estimated 14 million tonnes of canola this year. Agriculture Canada expects half of the crop to be crushed in Canada.
Dave Dzisiak, commercial leader of grains and oils with Dow AgroSciences, believes there will be 10 million tonnes of crush capacity in Canada next year.
He thinks the crush will continue to expand until it eventually reaches 12 to 14 million tonnes.
Bunge will be part of that continued expansion. It is doubling the capacity of its plant in Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., and also operates plants in Nipawin, Sask., Harrowby, Man., and Hamilton, Ont.
