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 and a loop track for a 150-rail car spot connecting to Canadian National Railway’s (CN) line.
By comparison, the company’s existing site at Dutton, on the CN line about 40 km west of Dauphin on Highway 5, between Gilbert Plains and Grandview, sports 16,600 tonnes of storage capacity and a 56-car spot.
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The new facility, which P+H said it will name Grand Plains, is expected to offer farmers a receiving capacity of 550 tonnes per hour, with load-out capacity of 1,500 tonnes per hour.
Grand Plains’ new crop input centre is expected to include a 6,000-tonne capacity bulk fertilizer shed, with up to 250 tonnes per hour of blending capability. A chemical storage shed and a new grain drying system will also be set up at the site, the company said.
On-site seed treating facilities will also be available, the company said, to serve the “direct-to-grower” market and to supply P+H’s existing ag input centre at Swan River, Man., about 150 km northwest of Dutton.
A firm timeline hasn’t yet been set for Grand Plains’ construction, but Crystal Baker, the company’s general manager at Dutton, said P+H hopes to start building in the spring.
The existing Dutton site, built up around a traditional-style wooden elevator, will continue to operate at least until Grand Plains is built, Baker said.
Past that, the company has no plans to sell the older site but specific plans haven’t yet been made for its future use.
“Our investment in the Grand Plains location is key to bringing complete crop input and grain solutions to growers in the Parkland region,” John Heimbecker, president of P+H’s grain division, said in a release.
“The facility will not only provide crop input products and services, it will also expand the grain marketing opportunities for farmers in this area.”
Apart from Dutton, P+H’s grain handling space in the region includes elevators at Yorkton, Sask., about 140 km west; near Strathclair, Man., about 160 km south; at Moosomin, Sask., about 200 km southwest; and at Gladstone, Man., about 210 km southeast.
Other major grain handling players active in Manitoba’s northwest include Richardson Pioneer, at Dauphin and Swan River; Cargill, at Dauphin; and Viterra, at Roblin. — Glacier FarmMedia Network
CORRECTION, Aug. 17, 2018 — An earlier version of this article incorrectly quoted the Dauphin Herald newspaper as quoting P+H staff that the Grand Plains facility would be up, rather than started, as early as May next year. We regret the error.
