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Giving Western farmers freedom of choice
The Government remains focused on strengthening the economy. This includes working hard to create new opportunities for Western farmers. To this end, the Government of Canada is committed to giving Western farmers the freedom to choose to sell their product on the open market or through a voluntary Canadian Wheat Board.
As demonstrated by the new Alliance Grain Traders Inc. multi-purpose durum wheat and pulse milling facility, an open market would attract investment, encourage innovation and create value-added jobs. It would do so by enabling processors to more readily secure supply, and by allowing farmers to customize their business plans to suit demand for specific quality or quantity. It would give them the opportunity to sell to multiple buyers at the time and at the price of their choosing, as they do with other crops such as pulses or canola. Most importantly, farmers and processors would be able to negotiate directly, cutting out costly red tape, administration fees and logistical inefficiencies.
Alliance Grain Traders Inc. Pasta Plant
Alliance Grain Traders Inc. is investing $50 million to build its first multi-purpose durum wheat and pulse milling facility in Canada. This facility will build on the new economic opportunities created by the Government’s commitment to give Western Canadian farmers the freedom to choose how to market and sell their wheat, durum and barley.
The construction of a facility in Regina that will process wheat and pulse crops will be funded through a $50 million private investment and will be completed by mid-2012. This project demonstrates how opening up the grain market can attract investment and drive economic growth in Western Canada’s grain industry, encouraging innovation, creating value-added jobs, and building a stronger economy for all Canadians. It will directly benefit the region’s economy through the creation of 150 construction jobs and 60 full-time plant jobs.
Alliance Grain Traders Inc., publicly traded Canadian company (TSX:AGT), is the largest pulse and pasta processor exporter in the world and also one of the largest pasta processors in the world. The company currently employs 400 full-time staff worldwide and generates more than $650 million in sales annually. Their activities include buying lentils, peas, beans and chickpeas from farmers around their 27 facilities located in Canada, the United States, Turkey, China and Australia, as well as shipping those commodities to over 100 countries around the globe.
