Monsanto corn seed plant in England closes

Officials of Monsanto Company announced they have closed their corn seed manufacturing plant in Chatham-Kent as of Monday (May 31).

 

The grain company has been in Chatham-Kent since the 1940s.

 

Monsanto has been conditioning, treating, packaging and shipping corn seed to seed retailers across Ontario and Quebec from the current facility since the 1970s, although the company's presence dates back to the 1940s. Locally grown seed corn will now be processed at Monsanto facilities in the US.

 

"The Chatham plant and its employees have served Monsanto and its farmer customers very well and the plant has a long-standing history of high performance and focus on quality,'' company spokesperson Kent Martin said.

 

But he said that over the last three decades the plant has aged, the community has grown around the plant and there are capacity limitations and cost restrictions in terms of rebuilding.

 

Martin said closing the Chatham facility will minimise the duplication of manufacturing capacity for corn seed at other Monsanto locations and still allow the company to serve customers efficiently and effectively.

 

"We regret the impact this decision will have on the people who worked at the facility and the Chatham community as a whole,'' he said. Martin said the reason for the action is in no way a failure of the plant or the people who worked there.

 

"We simply have more capacity at other locations and it is appropriate for us to make the change now to support our growing seed business,'' he said.

 

He said some of the Chatham employees were offered positions at the company's business office in Guelph.

 

The company has recently opened a new warehousing and distribution facility in Tillsonburg.

 

Company spokesperson Trish Jordan of Winnipeg said the Chatham facility is for sale but there have been no offers.