Dairy producer delegates have overwhelmingly approved the sale of Dairyland Foods to Saputo Inc.
More than 90 percent of the 190 delegates voted in favor of the sale, which gets the Agrifoods co-operative out of the milk processing and manufacturing business.
The board of directors only needed two-thirds support to approve its plan. Paperwork for the deal must still be completed and the federal competition bureau also needs to approve before it’s a done deal.
Agrifoods spokesperson Dan Wong said there was a “fairly rousing debate” about the idea of selling out to Saputo.
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“There’s a certain emotional side to this deal, but at the end of the day, the delegates do what makes sense for them from a business perspective.”
Wong said Agrifoods decided to make the deal with Saputo because it couldn’t get big enough, fast enough to supply national grocery retailers. The company was formed by a merger of a number of prairie dairy co-ops in the 1990s.
Many small processing plants closed and big ones expanded as the company attempted to rationalize production and compete with dairy giants.
Agrifoods will continue as a co-op and will collect raw milk from farms. Agrifoods has a long-term supply contract with Saputo.
