Eastern Manitoba farmers sick of paying to ship their canola overseas will be happy if a new crush plant is built in La Broquerie.
“If it’s true, it’s good news,” said Bill Ross, executive director of the Manitoba Canola Growers Association.
“It means that Manitoba canola will probably be hanging around Manitoba or going down to the United States, rather than being exported to places like Japan.”
No official announcement of a plant for La Broquerie has been made. But sources in the canola industry say a group of local businesspeople have been organizing financing for a $60 million crush plant that will produce canola oil for the biodiesel industry.
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The businesspeople could not be reached for comment.
If a plant is built in La Broquerie, it will be in the heart of the area farthest from export ports, so a value-added venture there would be great, Ross said.
“It should help with the basis. We usually pay the biggest basis when we ship it to Vancouver,” Ross said.
But he was surprised that people would consider building a crush plant on the eastern fringe of the Prairies.
“If you look at where canola is grown in Manitoba, it’s not there,” he said.
