However, the potential for farmers not getting what they are owed has been reduced, CGC spokesman Remi Gosselin said in an interview Friday.

“We do believe the company has returned the majority of their inventory back to producers who hold primary elevator receipts,” he said.

Gosselin couldn’t specify the volume, but said “it’s significant.”

Why it matters: While CGC-licensed grain companies are obliged to post security to cover what farmers are owed for grain they deliver, but haven’t been paid for during a specified period, sometimes it’s not enough. The more beans farmers retrieved from the elevator means fewer farmers will have to rely on the security to be made whole.

The CGC on Oct. 30 suspended Global Grain’s license, and that of two related companies — Globeways Canada Inc. and Canpulse Foods Ltd., located at Mississauga. Ont. and Kindersley, Sask., respectively — after being notified the firms no longer had security to cover money owed to farmers.

All three companies were placed in receivership Thursday, Gosselin said.

Meanwhile, the CGC has access to $1.25 million in security from Global Grain, $6.5 million from Canpulse Foods and $50,000 from Globeways Canada.

The latter was not doing much direct business with farmers, while the former had not been buying much grain from farmers during the three months before the CGC suspended its license, Gosselin said.

“It may not be an overall good situation, but what it’s doing is making a potentially bad situation a little better,” Daryl Domitruk, executive director of the Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers Association, said in an interview Thursday.

“From the grower perspective the ideal would be the company would remain in business and everyone gets paid, but given the circumstances it was fortunate that a lot of growers, apparently, were able to retrieve their beans. That’s going to be helpful to the sector. I have no idea of numbers, but we know there were lineups of trucks at Plum Coulee. There obviously are some people in the system that were being good actors. I think that’s helpful for the industry.”

The CGC has long contended grain sitting in elevators that hasn’t been paid for remains the property of the farmers who delivered it. That’s spelled out in the Canada Grains Act: “The holder of an elevator receipt is entitled to the delivery of grain of the same kind, grade and quantity as referred to in the elevator receipt.”

However, failed grain companies’ secured creditors have argued stored grain is just another asset to be liquidated to cover what they are owed.

With Global Grain it appears the beans were retrieved by farmers before it went into receivership.

“Our view is that if producers delivered grain to an elevator, but they had not been paid for it, it’s theirs,” Gosselin said.

Last year the CGC was preparing to put the issue to a legal test after another pulse crop buyer, ILTA Grain, went into creditor protection while owing farmers millions of dollars for their crops.

“That matter was never settled, but what happened there sort of tweaked producers to their rights as to grain in inventory,” Gosselin said.

The best way to ensure farmers get paid for their grain is to request payment upon delivery, he said.

CGC security only applies for 90 days after a farmer receives an elevator or grain receipt. Farmers have just 30 days of protection after getting a cheque, but within that 90-day period.

“Let’s say for example you are on day 89, you’ve got one day left to cash a cheque to remain eligible,” Gosselin said.

If the cheque is cashed on day 91 and bounces the farmer is ineligible for security payments, he said.

“We have tremendous respect when the Canadian Grain Commission gets involved in these things,” Domitruk said. “We’d advise growers to heed their advice. It’s better to heed their advice than to learn the hard way.”

— Allan Dawson is a reporter for the Manitoba Co-operator at Miami, Man.

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Agrifoods Cooperative announced Wednesday it has an exclusive licensing agreement with New Zealand-based a2 Milk Co. to process and sell dairy products under the a2 Milk brand in Canada.

a2 Milk Co., in a separate release, said it’s expected that “a range of liquid milk products will be launched (in Canada) later this calendar year.”

“A1 protein-free” refers to cows’ milk that exhibits only the A2 beta-casein protein, rather than the combinations of A1 and A2 beta-casein proteins in most milk.

Studies cited by producers of A1 protein-free milk suggest certain people who get gastrointestinal (GI) discomfort from consuming milk — including some who believe they’re lactose-intolerant — may instead be sensitive to a protein that’s released as A1 is digested.

From that, Agrifoods said Wednesday, a2 Milk Co. has had “proven success in growing the dairy industries in the markets in which it operates, including Australia where it has now achieved over 11 per cent market share.”

Certain dairy cows, by virtue of their genetics, naturally produce A1 protein-free milk. Any dairy farmer wanting to produce such milk would have to select, through genetic testing, for an “A2A2” genotype in a herd, since cattle with an “A1A1” or “A1A2” genotype would produce milk containing A1 proteins or both A1 and A2.

According to the Canadian Dairy Network (CDN), which manages genetic evaluation data for the dairy sector, breeds with a higher frequency of the A2A2 genotype include Jersey, Brown Swiss and Guernsey.

Any producer who wants to supply an A1 protein-free market would need to either keep only “A2A2” cows or divert milk from “A2A2” cows into a separate milk tank, CDN said.

‘Certified’

The terms of the deal call for a2 Milk Co. to provide Agrifoods with access to its IP and marketing assets as well as its “proprietary systems and know-how relating to the sourcing and processing of a2 Milk.”

The New Zealand company, which has been in business since 2000 and already has brand presence in the U.S., China, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Korea, said it will also “work with Agrifoods and local Canadian dairy farmers to source milk locally.”

Meanwhile, Agrifoods — whose brand portfolio already includes Meadowfresh, Organic Meadow, Rolling Meadow, Happy Planet and others — “will leverage its substantial capabilities in-market to establish distribution across Canada and has primary responsibility for funding this venture,” a2 Milk Co. said.

Some Canadian dairies, such as B.C.-based D Dutchmen Dairy and Ontario’s Sheldon Creek Dairy, already market what they call “A2 milk” under their own brands. It remains to be seen how the arrival of the trademarked a2 Milk brand in Canada will affect those businesses.

Under the terms of its brand license, the A1 protein-free milks produced in Canada and marketed through Agrifoods “will be the first and only milk certified as A1 protein-free under the a2 Milk brand in Canada,” the co-operative said Wednesday.

Agrifoods, with the license in hand, “will leverage the a2 Milk brand’s global success to create and grow consumer and retailer demand for these products in Canada.”

“Agrifoods’ proven expertise and experience combined with their infrastructure, established member network of dairy farmers and focus on long-term growth makes this an excellent partnership,” A2 Milk Co. CEO Blake Waltrip said in Agrifoods’ release.

Agrifoods chair Tim Hofstra said the deal offers a “tremendous” opportunity to grow the co-operative’s overall positions in specialty milks “by offering consumers more choices for authentic, farmer-owned, Canadian dairy products.”

Also, he said, “a2 Milk-branded milks will give lapsed milk drinkers the reason needed to come back to the dairy case.”

Ben Janzen, chair of the B.C. Milk Marketing Board, also hailed the Agrifoods announcement as “a big win for Canadian dairy, highlighting both the future focus and innovation of our industry.”

Dairy Farmers of Canada, as recently as 2017, has said evidence is limited to some small clinical trials in humans to assess GI tolerance of milk with A1 and/or A2 proteins, and that the evidence is “weak and inconclusive” on whether A1 may affect digestive function in some people with milk intolerance.

“More research is needed… in order to establish the validity of this hypothesis,” DFC said in a 2017 sheet distributed to health educators. Alberta Milk, on its website, agrees on the need for more research and noted such research is happening.

DFC also noted that other milks, including goat, sheep and water buffalo milk as well as human breast milk, can also be considered “A2.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The Toronto company, along with St. Ann’s Food, announced a recall Tuesday of a long list of its products because of concerns with E. coli O157:H7. More products were added to the recall on Thursday.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) says it suspended the licence of the company because the beef processor “failed to implement effective control measures in accordance with Part 4 of the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR).” Part 4 describes controls that have to be applied in order to reduce risks.

Why it matters: Ontario farmers already have limited options for selling their beef cattle for processing. One less makes the market even tighter.

CFIA says the plant’s original licence suspension, in late September, related to ground pork, ground beef and burger products that were recalled by Alpha Meat Packers/Salaison Alpha at Anjou, Que.

The company got the affected products from Ryding-Regency Meat Packers.

“While Beef Farmers of Ontario (BFO) is very concerned about this situation and the impact on Ontario beef producers, we have full confidence in our regulatory system and will be reviewing the findings of the CFIA investigation when they become available,” the organization said in a statement.

“We have been assured by the leadership at Ryding-Regency that they are actively working with CFIA to resolve the issues that have been identified, with the goal of minimizing time out of the market.”

BFO encourages beef producers who ship to Ryding-Regency to contact the buyer they deal with.

— John Greig is editor of Farmtario.

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CannTrust had delayed its second-quarter results last month awaiting a decision from Canada’s health regulator on a large amount of inventory put on hold after discovery of illegal cultivation by the company.

Last month, Health Canada found fault with cannabis production at a second CannTrust facility, a month after the regulator froze sales of several tonnes of marijuana grown at another one of its Ontario operations.

Since Health Canada found the unlicensed pot cultivation, CannTrust fired Peter Aceto as CEO, while Eric Paul resigned as chairman.

The company had said in July it was exploring a possible sale.

On Tuesday, CannTrust said its management and board were reviewing the notice with the company’s counsel and other advisers.

— Reporting for Reuters by Arundhati Sarkar and Debroop Roy in Bangalore.

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