More than 100 members of the agricultural community are out millions of dollars in the wake of Mitchell Grain Company Inc. filing for bankruptcy.A notice of bankruptcy distributed to creditors by the trustee, BDO Canada Limited, shows Mitchell had $2.46 million in liabilities and $162,062.22 in assets when it filed for bankruptcy on June 2.Farm Credit Canada, the only secured creditor of the 108 listed, has claim on $142,062.22 of those assets.“I guess we’re fighting over $20,000 between 107 people,” said a Saskatchewan creditor who requested anonymity.Mitchell was a Spruce Grove, Alta., company that specialized in on-farm pick up of feed grains, canola, heated and off grade grain. The firm had agents in nine Alberta locations.The company was not licensed by the Canadian Grain Commission, which means there is no security to compensate farmers who delivered their grain to Mitchell and did not get paid for it.It had been licensed in the past but that licence expired on Feb. 1, 2009. The Canadian Grain Commission subsequently deemed the company was no longer eligible to be licensed because it had no elevator facility and only dealt in feed grains that did not use Canada Grain Act grade names.The long list of creditors includes farmers, trucking companies, commodity groups, banks, seed companies, grain companies and the federal government.Claim amounts range from $58.99 to $148,870.42.“I’m not in as bad a shape as a lot of these other people. I think it could bankrupt some of these other farmers,” said the Saskatchewan producer.“It has affected at least two people within 15 miles of me.”He wonders how some of the debt climbed as high as it did. He had to fight to deliver three trucks of oats worth a few thousand dollars to Mitchell.“To get it up to $150,000 you’d have to have a fleet of trucks and not be paid for a long time,” said the producer.A spokesperson for the Canadian Grain Commission said the commission does not license a number of grain companies that deal solely with feed grains.Remi Gosselin advised producers to consult the list of licensed grain companies maintained on the commission’s website prior to making any sales.
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