Having started 2018 with zero grain elevators in the Alberta market, grain handler G3 expects to soon have five in progress.
The Winnipeg company announced Wednesday it plans to start construction by this summer, pending regulatory approvals, on a pair of 42,000-tonne capacity elevators in the province, near Stettler and Irricana, for completion in 2020.
The Stettler County elevator is to be built near the Canadian Pacific Railway line just south of Erskine, about 10 km west of Stettler in east-central Alberta.
The Irricana elevator is to be built near the Canadian National Railway line about eight km south of the community, off Highway 9. Irricana is about 45 km northeast of Calgary.
Both elevators are to include a railway loop track which can accommodate a 150-car unit train and “will be able to unload a Super B truck in less than five minutes,” G3 said in a release.
The company during 2018 announced plans to build three Alberta elevators, near Morinville, Wetaskiwin and Carmangay, and another near Maidstone, Sask., southeast of Lloydminster, Alta.
The Wetaskiwin and Maidstone elevators are due to be open this year, followed by the Morinville and Carmangay elevators in 2020.
G3 — jointly owned by Bunge, Saudi Arabia’s state ag investment firm SALIC and Class B farmer-shareholders through the Farmers Equity Trust — has already built and opened several elevators in the Saskatchewan and Manitoba markets since 2013, when it was known as CWB.
“Central Alberta is one of the most important grain growing regions in Canada,” company CEO Don Chapman said in Wednesday’s release.
“We are excited to be able to provide farmers in the region a new choice to market their grain through modern facilities that will save them time and money.”
Other primary grain elevators in the Irricana area include the Louis Dreyfus site at Lyalta and Canada Malting’s facilities at Beiseker and Lyalta.
At Stettler, Viterra operates a smaller elevator but announced plans in November for a major expansion at that site. Other nearby facilities include the W.A. Grain elevator at Bashaw. — Glacier FarmMedia Network
