Saskatchewan Wheat Pool shareholders seemed less concerned about share prices and more worried about elevator closures at the annual Class B shareholders meeting Monday in Regina.
Pool shares have dropped to about half what they were worth at this time last year, yet more questions focused on the co-operative’s plans to close 235 elevators over the next two years.
Shareholders wanted to know why the elevators couldn’t be turned into gathering stations for certain crops, used to feed the high-throughput facilities on the main lines or sold to community groups. The company was cautioned about social losses to communities, and about road impact.
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“When we are closing facilities, we are closing facilities that are not viable,” said chief executive officer Don Loewen.
But he reiterated the pool’s position that the company would consider any proposals by communities, if they make business sense.
Loewen noted the company is not closing all its wooden elevators.
“We will still have well over 200 elevators in Saskatchewan and most will be wooden,” he said. Competitors, on the other hand, are building concrete.
“We cannot compete with a 1926 model,” he said.
But Darrell Dutchak, shareholder and a new delegate from Rama, said the closure plans don’t sit well with his local pool members.
Dutchak, who is also mayor, said the Rama elevator was moved in and renovated in 1976.
“It’s in great shape. . .and it’s not going to be utilized for anything,” he said. “It’s really brutal.”
He said the pool’s Project Horizon won’t help his area much. There are no concrete high-throughput facilities planned for east-central Saskatchewan, he said, and people will have to drive nearly 200 kilometres to deliver at Raymore.
Sask Pool has a high-volume concrete terminal at Kamsack, about 80 km from Rama, as well as traditional elevators at Canora, about 40 kilometres from Rama, and at Yorkton, about 90 kilometres southeast of Rama.
Loewen said he wasn’t surprised to hear the comments, given the diversity of opinion within the delegate body.
Other shareholders wanted to know why United Grain Growers share prices dropped marginally compared to pool shares.
Loewen said UGG shares are thinly traded because about 40 percent are held by Archer Daniels Midland.
He later told reporters UGG is a “small cap company” with a smaller capital asset base than the pool, a “mid cap company.”
“Mid caps on the whole took a stronger, bigger hit,” he said.
