P&H Milling Group — a division of Parrish & Heimbecker, Limited — is building $241 million facility in the Red Deer County hamlet of Springbrook, with $27.3 million of that to come from the Province of Alberta’s Agri-Processing Investment Tax Credit program for Alberta’s food processing industry.

According to a September 6 Government of Alberta news release, the project is expected to create about 27 permanent and 200 temporary jobs. Milling by-products will be sold to livestock feed operations across Canada to create products for cattle, poultry, swine, bison, goats and fish.

The new facility will complement P&H’s wheat and durum milling operation in Lethbridge, said the release. It also has capacity to add two more flour mills as demand for the product increases.

“This new facility not only strengthens our position in the Canadian milling industry, but also boosts Alberta’s baking industry by supplying high-quality flour to a diverse range of customers,” wrote P&H Limited CEO John Heimbecker.

“We are proud to contribute to the local economy and support the agricultural community by sourcing 230,000 metric tonnes of locally grown wheat each year.”

Eligibility for the credit depends on corporations investing at least $10 million in the building or expansion of a value-added agri-processing facility in Alberta. It offers a 12 per cent non-refundable tax credit based on eligible capital expenditures.

“P&H Milling Group’s new flour mill project is proof our Agri-Processing Investment Tax Credit program is doing its job to attract large-scale investments in value-added agricultural manufacturing,” said Alberta Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation RJ Sigurdson.

“With incentives like the ag tax credit, we’re providing the right conditions for processors to invest in Alberta, expand their business and help stimulate our economy.”

Mayor Jim Wood praised P&H for choosing Red Deer County as the facility’s location.

“We are grateful P&H Milling Group selected to build here in Red Deer County. This partnership will bolster our local economy and provide invaluable support to our farmers, while showcasing the advantage of our centralized location in Alberta.”

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“We are not just expanding our infrastructure; we are investing in the future of Canadian agriculture and the baking industry,” CEO John Heimbecker said in news release.

P&H Milling Group and Winnipeg-based grain handler Parrish & Heimbecker, Limited (P&H) said the expansion comes in response to “ever-growing demands” from the baking industry.

Along with a third flour mill, which is scheduled to begin construction in March, the company will add two storage silos which it said would would handle feed ingredients like soymeal, distillers dried grains, and wheat for the mills.

The existing P&H Hamilton flour mill opened in 2017, and construction began on a second mill in 2019, which opened in 2020. This doubled its capacity, the news release said.

Further expansion “reaffirms our dedication to meeting the needs of both our valued agricultural partners and our business partners,” Heimbecker said.

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“P&H has been a great equity partner and a strong supporter of seed genetics in Canada, and we thank them for their many contributions to Alliance and the industry,” said Shane Paterson, director of trading and transportation at Paterson in a news release.

Winnipeg-based Alliance Seed began in 2009 as a joint venture between Paterson Grain (a division of Paterson GlobalFoods), Parrish and Heimbecker, Weyburn Inland Terminal of Weyburn, Sask.; North West Terminal (NWT) of Unity, Sask.; Prairie West Terminal of Plenty, Sask.; and Great Sandhills Terminal at Leader, Sask.

With the recent sale, North West Terminal and Paterson are the two remaining shareholders.

“The joint venture, established in 2009, has proven to be mutually beneficial, creating synergies
that have contributed to the success of all shareholders. P&H looks forward to continuing on as a
channel partner with Alliance.” said Anthony Kulbacki, president of P&H’s grain division.

Alliance operations will not change as a result of this transaction, the news release said.

—Geralyn Wichers is associate digital editor of AGCanada.com. She writes from southeastern Manitoba.

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Winnipeg-based P+H said Tuesday the work already underway at its inland facility on Highway 21 just south of Kincardine will boost unloading speeds on grain deliveries and “expand storage capacity for farmers and customers in the region.”

P+H said the enhanced site “will be dedicated to serving the robust demand for high-quality wheat” from the company’s four southern Ontario flour mills.

The site upgrades, which are expected to be completed early next year, will be done in two phases, a company representative said Thursday via email.

The first phase will include automated systems to increase loading speeds. Those plans call for bigger receiving pits, a new dryer and wet storage system, a self-weighing kiosk for trucks, and a probing station, P+H said.

“Once completed, the new facility will offer faster unload times for producers eliminating lineups and enhancing food safety and quality control capabilities.”

Also, P+H said, self-loading capability for outbound trucks will be added, so as to “reduce wait times and improve overall efficiency.”

In the second phase, P+H said Thursday, the facility’s storage will be expanded to double its current capacity of 10,000 tonnes.

On top of the efficiency boost the upgrades will provide, “they will also benefit our customers by allowing them to unload their grain quickly and easily, reducing wait times and improving their overall experience,” Bruce Humphries, the Kincardine site’s general manager, said Tuesday in the company’s release. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

UPDATE, April 6: Article updated to include comment from P+H.

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In a decision dated Oct. 31, the Competition Tribunal — the federal quasi-judicial body with the power of approval over any antitrust actions proposed by the federal Competition Bureau — dismissed an application from the bureau that would have ordered P+H to sell either the former Dreyfus elevator at Virden, Man. or the P+H elevator at Moosomin, Sask., about 60 km northwest.

“While we are disappointed that the tribunal has ruled against our challenge, we are carefully reviewing the tribunal’s decision to determine appropriate next steps,” the Competition Bureau said in a release Nov. 1.

The bureau proposed the order following Winnipeg-based P+H’s September 2019 deal to buy all 10 of the primary grain elevators Dreyfus built in the four western provinces between 1998 and 2003.

Of the 10, six of the Dreyfus sites are about an hour’s drive or less from at least one other P+H elevator, but the bureau in December 2019 said it would ask the tribunal to make an order only regarding the Virden and Moosomin sites. The bureau also sought an order preventing P+H from buying any other elevator in those markets for a set period of time.

The Moosomin and Virden elevators “were close competitors due to their proximity” along the Trans-Canada Highway, the bureau said at the time, as the companies “closely monitored each other’s wheat and canola prices and responded to competitive activity from each other by offering farmers better prices.”

The deal “eliminates this rivalry,” meaning “farmers in the corridor between Moosomin and Virden will earn less for their wheat and canola,” the bureau said.

P+H, through its Dreyfus deal, got “the ability and incentive to unilaterally exercise market power in the relevant markets,” the bureau said in its application, adding that P+H already “no longer intends” to follow through on previous plans to expand its rail car spot at Moosomin.

P+H challenged the bureau’s proposed order shortly after closing its deal with Dreyfus in December 2019. According to Competition Tribunal filings in January 2020, P+H said there was no evidence of any alleged imminent harm to farmers, other than allegations by the bureau that the company said “are based on a misunderstanding of the grain handling industry.”

The tribunal, in its Oct. 31 ruling, said the Competition Bureau’s commissioner “had not established that the acquisition lessened competition substantially in any relevant market, or was likely to do so in the future.”

Focusing on wheat and canola purchases from farmers in the Virden-Moosomin corridor, the tribunal said it found the “relevant geographic market for the purchase of wheat” was more likely than not to include “at least seven” elevators in that area. For canola, meanwhile, the area included “at least 10 elevators as well as four crushing plants.”

The tribunal said its evidence shows the price effects of the P+H deal for the Dreyfus elevators were “immaterial” and “several effective remaining competitors remained” in the market. It also found the relevant grain companies’ “post-merger” market shares to be below the 35 per cent safe harbour threshold for such cases.

The tribunal kept its specific reasons “confidential at this time.” It said it plans release a full public version of its decision at a later date, after it reaches consensus with the involved parties about what exact information would still have to be kept confidential going forward. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Privately-held P+H said Thursday it plans to expand to a 100-car spot, up from 50, at its elevator at Quill Lake, Sask., about 60 km east of Humboldt.

Work on that expansion, connecting to Canadian National Railway’s (CN) Margo subdivision at its site east of town, is expected to start this month for completion in November, the company said.

“The upgrade allows us to clear twice as much grain out of the facility,” P+H said in a release. “Increased shipping will provide more consistent and higher-volume marketing plans to our customers.”

Also, work will begin in August on a new rail car unloading system at the elevator, “which will allow us to unload a rail car off either track at 272 tonnes per hour,” P+H said.

That new system, due for completion in September, would also allow the elevator to unload an “improperly loaded” car or to receive cars loaded elsewhere, the company added.

P+H’s grain handling capacity at Quill Lake was expanded in 2000 from 3,500 tonnes to 9,000, and again to 21,000 tonnes in 2011 with the addition of seven new steel bins.

Separately, the company said Thursday, work is already underway on a fertilizer rail unload tunnel, able to empty a rail car at 20 tonnes per hour — along with what it described as the “first phase of increasing the speed of the facilities’ rail loadout capacity.”

The company has expanded the Quill Lake site’s fertilizer retail business in recent years, having installed a new shed there in 2016. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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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

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The Winnipeg company announced Friday it has completed a new mooring dolphin at its terminal at Goderich, Ont., as well as a new vessel-loading spout designed to cut down on dust emissions.

A “dolphin” refers to an isolated structure built on piles at a port terminal, allowing a facility to accept longer vessels where it’s impractical to build out a pier, wharf or shoreline.

The dolphin structure is used to secure and stabilize a longer vessel attending a terminal as it loads or discharges cargo, and also allows for safer manoeuvring by larger vessels in the harbour area.

P+H said it reworked its “entire site layout” at Goderich for the mooring dolphin project, noting “extensive collaboration” between the company, Goderich town staff and Goderich Port Management Corp. on the design.

The terminal’s new vessel-loading spout, meanwhile, uses digital sensors to monitor and control grain flow at the discharge end.

From the deck, P+H said, its operators are thus able to manage a “concentrated cylinder” of grain, placing it much closer to the bottom of the vessel and “reducing unwanted dust emissions.”

The Goderich terminal, which P+H has owned since 2012 when it took over Ontario grain handler Thirdcoast, is served by Canadian National Railway and has 105,000 tonnes of grain storage capacity.

P+H describes the site as a “vital link” for southwestern Ontario producers to export grain, as well as to move eastbound wheat from the Prairies to Ontario flour mills.

“These two significant investments will allow P+H to handle increasing volumes of Canadian grain while doing so in an environmentally responsible manner,” Matt Gardner, P+H’s director of Ontario terminal operations, said Friday in a release. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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“All of the members of the Western Grain Elevator Association are doing everything in their power to keep the grain supply chain functioning” during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, Wade Sobkowich said Tuesday.

“That means we’ll continue to take farmer deliveries, but there will be some differences when the farmer delivers to the country elevators in how he or she interacts with the elevator staff.”

When you arrive at the elevator to deliver grain, you may be asked to stay inside your vehicle if you’re feeling ill or if you’ve been in contact with someone who is sick. Some elevators might ask you to stay inside your vehicle, regardless of how you’re feeling.

Either way, farmers should avoid entering the receiving office, said Sobkowich. Many elevators are operating with a skeleton crew right now and others have put procedures in place to ensure workers maintain the proper distance from each other.

“That keeps employees at safe distances from each other, and it also allows workers to be kept in the wings in case somebody falls ill and they need to be replaced by another worker who is trained and skilled at that particular function,” he said.

Any load receipts, he said, would be brought out to the truck.

“Those types of procedures are being implemented throughout the grain supply chain in order to keep people safe and to keep grain flowing,” said Sobkowich, adding each elevator’s protocols might differ slightly.

“Each company is taking a look at it and trying to implement procedures, but it’s fluid. It’s evolving over time as we learn more and as circumstances change.”

Parrish and Heimbecker, for example, said last week it would be “limiting the amount of customers at our location(s)” and asking farmers making deliveries to remain in their trucks wherever possible. Effective Monday it added a “locked-door policy” for its elevator offices.

The company’s locations are still operating, but grain cheques are now being put in the mail daily and farmers visiting P+H locations are now asked to call ahead to discuss methods to deliver grain, make payments or pick up or drop off seed or inputs.

Cargill’s Prairie grain elevators and ag retail sites are still open, but the offices at those sites are closed to walk-in traffic and farmers are asked to call ahead to co-ordinate deliveries and pickups.

Paterson Grain elevators are also still open but staff are “eliminating all but the most critical face-to-face meetings with customers,” CEO Andrew Paterson said on the company’s website.

Changes in company policy may cause delays when delivering grain, but so far things are going smoothly, Sobkowich said.

“I haven’t heard of any delays yet,” he said. “In the month of March, we’ve been moving a lot of grain trying to recover from the blockades, but that’s not to say there haven’t been delays when it comes to producer deliveries.”

That could change if supply chain workers are forced to stay at home, he added.

“If there is a place where the grain supply chain is going to start to show delays, it’s going to be workers refusing to come to work,” he said.

“The government has been making it known that it wants people to stay at home — but it needs to be clear that the grain supply chain is critical. It’s very important that the language coming out of the provincial governments and the federal government be clear that, if grain is essential, these workers need to work with these new safety protocols that are being implemented.

“We’re operating on the basis that we are essential and that, when the government tells the people to stay at home, they’re not talking about critical people in the supply chain.”

— Jennifer Blair reports for Alberta Farmer from Sylvan Lake. Includes files from Glacier FarmMedia Network staff.

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Cargill, in a email to customers Wednesday, said its Canadian grain elevators, crush plants and ag input retail sites will remain open for deliveries and pickups, but under new “precautionary procedures.”

While all Cargill locations are still open, their offices “are closed to walk-in traffic” effective immediately, the company said.

Farmers visiting the sites are asked to “call ahead so we can have your documents prepared,” the company said. “Our teams will use electronic documentation where possible, but if that does not work for you, we will use traditional methods with additional safety protocols to protect your health and that of our employees.”

“Small teams” will staff the company’s facilities, Cargill said, with “signage and barriers in place to ensure everyone’s safety.” If the door at a Cargill facility is locked, the company said, “it’s because we have identified higher risks at this location” and farmers should instead call the number on a posted sign for immediate service.

Cheques will be printed and mailed, or farmers can arrange for electronic payments, the company said.

Remain in vehicle

Grain handler Parrish and Heimbecker, for another, said Tuesday it plans to have its locations “cleaned more thoroughly on a daily basis” and has asked staff to take “proper measures” for the safety of employees and customers.

Staff who feel ill will be asked to stay home, and those who have travelled outside the country have been asked to self-quarantine for at least 14 days.

Meanwhile, farmers and others who plan to visit P+H facilities are asked to consult the Public Health Agency of Canada’s website on processes for reducing the spread of COVID-19.

Farmers and other visitors to the company’s sites are asked to “avoid meeting face-to-face with us” as staff “will be available via phone and text.”

Farmers delivering grain or picking up crop inputs or seed at P+H sites are also asked to “call ahead to ensure we are able to assist you,” as the company “will be limiting the amount of customers at our location at this time.”

P+H customers doing business at a company site are also asked to “remain in your vehicle wherever possible” and anyone who feels ill or has recently been out of the country is asked to “please reschedule your visit.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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