While some farmers fear losing the Manitoba Co-operator’s independent voice, Agricore’s board of directors is mulling over a number of bids to buy the popular newspaper.
But no decision on what to do with the paper will be made until after the Agricore-United Grain Growers merger has been approved, said Agricore chair Neil Silver.
“Suddenly there is some interest in that publication, so the board of directors is going to do some examination of how sincere the offers are and move forward only if the value that’s offered fits in with Agricore United,” said Silver.
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Last week, Agricore’s board of directors deferred a decision on whether to accept an employee buyout of the newspaper. Silver refused to discuss details of the offer.
Silver said “more than one” other bidder is also showing interest in buying the newspaper.
Manitoba’s biggest farm voice, Keystone Agricultural Producers, is worried about losing the Manitoba Co-operator’s editorial independence.
Representatives passed a resolution at the organization’s general council meeting asking that “the independence of the Manitoba Co-operator be maintained in the merger of Agricore-United.”
Portage La Prairie farmer Ian Wishart, who proposed the resolution, said he is worried that the Co-operator’s distinct voice will be lost if it’s lumped in with other publications.
“We have a good debate that goes on in the farm media, and if you stifle that we’ll have even a harder time figuring out what we should do with agriculture in the West,” said Wishart.
The Manitoba Co-operator was owned by Manitoba Pool Elevators. When that company merged with Alberta Pool, the newly formed Agricore kept publishing the paper in Manitoba, where it enjoys strong loyalty from Manitoba farm readers.
UGG, which hopes to merge with Agricore, owns Grainnews, Country Guide and other farm publications.
If the merger is approved by the federal competition bureau, the Manitoba Co-operator may be put inside a common publishing division with UGG publications, and be overseen by UGG’s Farm Business Communications managers, sources say.
But Silver denied that the newspaper will definitely be managed by Farm Business Communications.
“There is a good chance the paper could stand alone as it is. It’s obviously been an earner for Agricore so that would be one of the first considerations that would occur before we’d even think about amalgamating it with the UGG publications.”
