Infra Ready Food Products, a subsidiary of Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, is about to be sold.
The Saskatoon plant employed 12 people and had sales of $1.5 million last year. It processes peas and lentils, using micronizing technology that cracks the endosperm and allows quick moisture absorption.
The processed legumes are used in products such as dry soup mixes.
Mark Pickard of Infra Ready told an agri-business conference of the Saskatoon and District Chamber of Commerce that the business does not fit the pool’s strategic plans and will be sold this month.
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The pool declined to comment on the proposed deal.
The buyers are farmers who have supplied grain to the plant and are interested in investing upwards on the food processing chain, Pickard said.
The Saskatchewan Agrifood Equity Fund is assisting in the financing plan, he said.
UFA moves into Sask.
Saskatoon newsroom
United Farmers of Alberta has opened its first petroleum agency in Saskatchewan at Kindersley.
It has a 24-hour cardlock system for fuels, as well as bulk fuel delivery, retail fuel and a line of oil and lubricants.
The project is a result of the 1997 alliance of UFA and Saskatchewan Wheat Pool.
Implement dealer grows
Saskatoon newsroom
Peace Tractor in Dawson Creek, B.C., is expanding.
The John Deere dealership has acquired a new location in the Heritage Industrial Park on Highway 49 where construction will begin next spring.
A company news release said the new shop, showroom and parts department should be completed by the summer of 1999.
John Deere wins award
Saskatoon newsroom
John Deere Ltd. has received a Trophy for Quality award from the National Quality Institute.
The company began a total quality program in 1989 at its facilities in Grimsby, Ont., and Regina.
The quality program is targeted at meeting customer needs and continuous improvement through measurement and monitoring of key processes.
Performance office opens
Saskatoon newsroom
Performance Plants Inc. officially opened a new office in Saskatoon last week.
The research company focuses on increasing the productivity, nutritive value and tolerance to environmental stress of crops such as canola, alfalfa, corn and soybeans.
The company has been in Saskatoon since September 1997. It has eight employees in the city and another 17 in Kingston, Ont. where it has its head office.
In September, Performance Plants announced a partnership with Dow AgroSciences Canada.
Once focus of the alliance is to genetically manipulate canola to increase yield and oil content.
Ridley earnings up
Saskatoon newsroom
Ridley Canada has reported first quarter net earnings of $2.47 million, up 17 percent from the same period last year.
Sales for the quarter were $99.7 million, up nine percent from last year’s $91.2 million.
Ed Moloney, president and chief executive officer, said the results reflect the success of the Hubbard Feeds operation in the United States and the Daco feed business in Western Canada.
“In addition to the solid contributions of these operations, Ridley’s results also reflect the July 1998 acquisition of Macleod Feed Mill, which has given the company better access to customers in southern Alberta and northern Montana, as well as the ongoing strong performance of the other Canadian feed operations,” Moloney said in a release.
The company expects that due to the feed industry’s seasonality, more than two-thirds of Ridley’s earnings will be generated in the colder second and third quarters.
Ridley’s board of directors also declared a quarterly dividend of four cents per share, on Nov. 27, 1998, to shareholders of record on Nov. 20, 1998.
Ridley, headquartered in Winnipeg, makes livestock feed products and has a swine genetics company.
