SASKATOON – The Northern Plains Premium Beef plant is a step closer to reality and Manitoba cattle producers are proving to be one its biggest backers.
“I was surprised how well Manitoba came across,” said McGregor, Man. farmer Robert Smith, who organized the provincial campaign for the proposed producer-owned slaughter plant, expected to be built somewhere in the Dakotas.
Manitoba cattle producers made up 219 of 2,142 American and Canadian producers who provided more than $275,000 (U.S.) the backers need to complete a business plan and forge a prospectus.
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Fifty-two Saskatchewan producers also anted up a share of the money.
The biggest backers came from the two Dakotas. North Dakota brought in 968 producers and South Dakota 463. Minnesota has 237 interested producers. Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska and Iowa also have producers who came up with cash.
Each dollar a producer provided is meant to represent a commitment of one finished animal for the proposed plant. It also represents an option to buy shares when the prospectus is complete, with each share committing the producer to selling an animal to the plant.
Although the original goal was to build a plant to slaughter 275,000 animals per year, the proponents want to expand that to 300,000. And producers still have time to get in on the first segment of fund raising, since the deadline has been extended to the end of March.
Smith said getting producers to commit money to the project before a business plan was completed was essential.
“The support is obvious,” he said. “I’m continuously getting calls from producers wanting to get involved.”
The plant is expected to cost about $40 million (U.S.) Smith said the organizers hope to have a prospectus out by the end of the year.
