United Farmers of Alberta has created a grain marketing division to
connect farmers who want to sell feed grain with feedlots looking for
grain.
Kim Courtney, a member of UFA’s grain marketing team, said the Alberta
co-op created the grain marketing division in March to fill the gap
created by grain companies leaving rural communities.
“We felt there was a void being left from a local perspective on the
Western Canadian feed grain industry.”
The division is headed by Courtney, Cliff Jamieson and Grey Seamchuk,
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who used to make up Agricore’s three-member marketing team.
Agricore and United Grain Growers both eliminated their non-board grain
marketing teams after merging to form Agricore United.
The three traders approached UFA and convinced the co-op that farmers
need marketing expertise.
Courtney said the trio traded more than one million tonnes of non-board
grain a year while working for Agricore, and the demand hasn’t
disappeared.
The marketing company is licensed and bonded by the Canadian Grain
Commission. Farmers phone a toll free number and talk to traders about
markets before locking in a price.
“We are the only western Canadian grain co-op left and we’re working
with the farmer to build inroads.”
Courtney said his division will operate with little overhead and on
half the margins of large elevators. He hopes it can offer higher
prices to farmers and cheaper grain to feedlots.
“To make both survive, we’re taking smaller margins and returning those
margins back to the farmer and the feeder to try and make the industry
viable.”
Courtney told meetings with UFA members that if each of the 110,000
members shipped one load of grain, more than one million tonnes would
be sold through the new division.
“There is strength in numbers.”
