December 21, 2007

Cargill to close grain elevators in Saskatchewan

US agri-giant Cargill Limited said it will discontinue operations at its Cut Knife, Saskatchewan, farm service centre, effective Dec. 31, 2007.

Cargill will transition the services of the Cut Knife facility to three nearby, regional Cargill facilities: the newly expanded North Battleford facility, the recently acquired Vermilion facility (for crop inputs and grain handling) and its existing facility in Unity (for crop inputs only). Cargill officials note that the three alternate facilities are committed to ensuring a seamless transition in handling local farm customers' needs.

According to Bert Benoit, farm service group manager of Cargill's Twin Rivers Farm Service Group, the decision on closing Cut Knife -- much to the dismay of the company-- is one of the realignment strategies to provide distinctive solutions to farmers.

Cargill Cut Knife farm marketing representatives Randy Brackenbury and Ames Leslie will still continue to perform their duties in working with area farmers. Cut Knife Facility Manager Shane Sigstad will transfer to North Battleford as assistant facility manager, and Administrative Manager Lori Braun at Cut Knife will become administrative manager for the Twin Rivers Farm Service Group. Cargill plans to add a new customer service representative to serve the Cut Knife area. An announcement relating to a new Cargill office location in Cut Knife is expected at a later date.

Benoit indicated that he expects many of the remaining assets and materials from the local site to be utilized, with the land available for sale at a later date.

Cargill, which operates grain handling and crop input facilities across Ontario and the Prairies, employs over 10,000 people across Canada and has business interests in meat, egg and oilseed processing, animal feed, salt, chocolate, natural gas, crop inputs, as well as grain handling, merchandising and milling.