New canola agreement could help area farmers

WARDEN — Viterra announced a supply and marketing agreement with Pacific Coast Canola last week that could give the area’s canola farmers a boost. The agreement states that PCC will crush canola for Viterra at its plant in Warden.

With headquarters in Regina, Saskatchewan, Viterra is part of Glencore’s Agricultural Business Segment. Glencore produces 90 commodities and employs nearly 200,000 people in its 90 offices, worldwide. Viterra buys, markets, and handles the leading share of western Canadian grain, according to Viterra’s website.

Viterra was also announced that Glencore Grain Investment LLC, an affiliate of Viterra, increased its ownership of PCC to 50 percent and entered into an amended and restated Limited Liability Operating Agreement with McKinstry Holdings, Inc., which owns the other half of PCC.

LWP Capital Inc. announced this week its divestiture of its ownership interest in PCC to GGI and McKinstry, an affiliate of the Industrial Construction Group, Inc., for no cash consideration.

As part of the deal, ICG provided PCC with a release of its lien on the PCC plant and of its claims against PCC. PCC’s creditors agreed to terms of repayment. With the completion of the divestiture, LWP “no longer carries on an active business,” according to their press release.

Kyle Jeworski, Viterra’s president and CEO for North America, said: “”This is a great opportunity for our company, allowing us to expand our processing capacity...we look forward to helping PCC achieve its full potential, through delivery of consistent seed supply, expansion of our existing relationships with thousands of canola producers to include local PCC market producers, our focus on continuous improvement, and connections with domestic and international end users.”

According to Viterra’s press release, PCC’s facility opened in 2013 and is the largest expeller-press canola processing facility in North America. It produces various healthy, non-GMO, halal- and kosher-certified canola oils, as well as meal products for dairy cattle and livestock.

PCC’s expeller press enables the facility to produce more than 300 million pounds of food grade-quality canola oil per year. “Expeller-pressed canola oil does not use any solvent or chemical extraction of the canola oil from the seed or meal,” according to PCC’s website.