Cargill plans to close two grain elevators east of Saskatoon within the next four months and route the business to a larger elevator nearby, the company announced Tuesday.
The company has scheduled “discontinuation” of its elevator at Humboldt, Sask., by the end of this month. Its elevator at Aberdeen, about 100 km west of Humboldt, is to follow by the end of May.
Cargill Ltd., the Winnipeg-based Canadian arm of the U.S. agri-food firm, said Tuesday it will still provide customer service and crop input sales at its Aberdeen office. The company last year also signed a long-term lease to operate a specialty canola research farm near the community.
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The company also said Tuesday that it will also offer customer service, pricing, grain sampling and moisture testing and issue grain cheques through its Horizon Fertilizers office at Humboldt.
But to ensure a “seamless transition,” Cargill plans to use its recently-expanded elevator at Clavet, 100 km southwest of Humboldt and about a 60-km trip south from Aberdeen, to handle area farmers’ business.
Cargill expanded its Clavet site in 2005, adding 17 bins to nearly double its storage capacity to just under 42,000 tonnes. The Clavet facility, which has operated for over six years, took in grain from a 300-km catchment radius before the expansion.
The company also operates a major canola crushing plant at Clavet, with processing capacity of about 2,450 tonnes per day.
According to a recent grain elevator inventory by the Saskatchewan Heritage Foundation, Cargill’s Aberdeen and Humboldt elevators had operated since 1981 and 1978, respectively.
