Agrifood company Parrish and Heimbecker (P+H) plans to build a new and leaner grain elevator at Yorkton, Sask. to replace its 41-year-old facility there.

The privately-held Winnipeg grain firm said Wednesday it has already started work on the new build, which it expects to have ready to receive grain in June next year.

The existing elevator, put up in 1980, was expanded from 12,000 tonnes capacity in 2008-09 to its current maximum handle of 35,000 tonnes.

The new facility, however, will have 25,000 tonnes of grain storage capacity along with a new 150-car loop track served by Canadian National Railway (CN), for “continuous” grain loading and movement.

The company said the new facility “further extends” its national grain asset network, “bringing area producers the chance to leverage global grain marketing opportunities provided by the P+H grain merchandising team.”

The Yorkton site will also continue to have “a team of experts who will leverage a full suite of seed, crop protection, and crop nutrition products and provide area producers with crop input solutions that fit their farm.”

The new elevator will “complement” the existing site’s recently-built 6,000-tonne capacity fertilizer shed and 7,800-square foot heated chemical shed, the company said.

P+H, which also operates in flour and feed milling, in 2019 significantly boosted its grain handling space in the West, buying Louis Dreyfus’ 10 grain elevators to bring its total count of primary grain facilities to 29.

“This build confirms our commitment to investing in facilities and capabilities that support Canadian producers as they strive to grow and market the best crop and further solidifies our commitment to the growers in the Yorkton area,” P+H CEO John Heimbecker said in Wednesday’s release. — Glacier FarmMedia Network