ROSETOWN, Sask. – The big new Saskatchewan Wheat Pool elevator here is built for volume.
Big super-B trucks bring the grain in and 25, 50 and 100-car unit trains ship the grain out.
But what happens when bad weather slashes yields, producing little grain to feed the concrete giant?
That is the case this year as Rosetown lies in a rural municipality where spring wheat yields range from zero to 60 percent of the 10-year average, according to Saskatchewan Agriculture.
Sometimes in the past, grain companies responded to crop failures by temporarily closing elevators.
Read Also
Agriculture ministers agree to AgriStability changes
federal government proposed several months ago to increase the compensation rate from 80 to 90 per cent and double the maximum payment from $3 million to $6 million
Mayo Schmidt, SWP chief executive officer, said the drought in the western Prairies and problems with too much moisture in parts of the east pose a challenge for the entire grain industry.
Pool management will draft an operating plan once harvest is complete and a clear picture emerges about how much grain will be available to move prairie-wide, he said.
“We will have to give consideration to how we want to operate during the year in terms of number of employees and facilities that will remain open.”
But the pool’s concrete elevators draw grain from a much wider area than their wooden predecessors, making them less vulnerable to the effects of local crop failures.
“We feel good that we’ve spent the last year and a half adjusting our business so that we will be able to weather through these challenges along with the producers,” Schmidt said.
“To a certain extent, we will suffer together.
“But the reach of the terminals that we operate is great enough that that will help moderate the impact of the significant weather challenges that we’ve had this year.”
He said a pool terminal such as Rosetown can reach up to 100 kilometres for grain, so the company’s customer service representatives will be working a wide area to get the grain it needs.
