Updated — Commodities and agrifood giant Louis Dreyfus Co. is stepping out of the grain handling business it built in Canada with a deal to sell its Prairie elevator network. Louis Dreyfus (LDC) announced Wednesday it has an agreement in place to sell its 10 elevators across Western Canada to Winnipeg grain company Parrish and […] Read more

P+H to buy Louis Dreyfus’ Prairie elevators

How one farm put data analytics to work
Saskatchewan grain farm makes money by assessing data on everything from employees to soil moisture
Reading Time: 6 minutes Most people say, “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.” But at Hebert Grain Ventures, their motto is, “If it’s not broke, you haven’t looked hard enough.” “We don’t believe that, just because we had a good year or a good yield, that’s enough,” said Evan Shout, the Saskatchewan farm’s chief financial officer. “If we […] Read more

Sylvite set to buy Thompsons agronomy business
Ontario grain and bean handler Thompsons Ltd. is set to sell its crop agronomy business to a retail business partner in that province. U.S. grain firm The Andersons, the owner of Thompsons since January, announced Tuesday in its second-quarter report it plans to sell Thompsons’ “agronomy assets” to Burlington, Ont.-based Sylvite Holdings. Financial terms of […] Read more

Richardson buys Peace-region input retailer
Grain handler Richardson Pioneer has moved to shore up its presence in northern Alberta’s crop input market with a deal for a Peace-region dealership. Winnipeg-based Richardson announced Wednesday it has bought Agland Seed and Chemical at La Crete, Alta., about 320 km north of Peace River. The deal, which closed Tuesday, will see all of […] Read more

If this is the future, it can’t come soon enough
Unless you love writing cheques for inputs, you’ll want to cheer on the work of these three scientists
Reading Time: 7 minutes Grow more with less — that’s the goal of three Alberta researchers whose work could revolutionize the way we grow cereals. “Canadian agriculture will be facing quite high demand for food production because of the growing global population and reduction in arable land,” said federal research biologist Alicja Ziemienowicz. “We’re trying to give you the […] Read more

La Coop federee’s Ontario grain play cleared
La Coop federee’s plans to expand into southern Ontario’s grain handling and crop input retail sectors are now down by four retail sites. The federal Competition Bureau said Tuesday it has an agreement in place for its approval of a deal which will see Cargill’s Ontario grain and ag retail outlets and its joint-venture stake […] Read more

Richardson to retail in west-central Saskatchewan
Prairie grain firm Richardson International plans to build out its retail market share in west-central Saskatchewan with a new inputs centre southwest of Saskatoon. Privately-held Richardson said July 30 it would begin construction shortly on the new facility in Delisle, about 35 km southwest of the city, to open for the 2019 growing season. The […] Read more

P+H to double down on northwestern Manitoba grain
UPDATED/CORRECTED, Aug. 17 — Winnipeg grain company Parrish and Heimbecker has plans to double its grain handle out of northwestern Manitoba with a new elevator and crop input centre. The company announced Aug. 1 it will put up a new facility in the RM of Gilbert Plains, with 25,000 to 30,000 tonnes of storage capacity […] Read more

Richardson moves further into eastern Alberta retail
Grain firm Richardson Pioneer’s crop input retail business is expanding into an area of eastern Alberta its network hasn’t yet reached. The company, an arm of Winnipeg-based agrifood firm Richardson International, closed a deal April 4 to buy Eagle Agro Services, an inputs dealer at Veteran, Alta., about 200 km east of Red Deer. The […] Read more

CPS outlets to take merged parent’s name
A well-known and unusually literal brand in Canadian and U.S. agribusiness is set to disappear this summer under the name of its new parent firm. Crop input retail stores and facilities run by Crop Production Services (CPS) — the brand today used across North America by the retail arm of the company formerly known as […] Read more