CWB, formerly known as the Canadian Wheat Board, announced Thursday that it's building another "state-of-the-art" grain elevator, this one near Colonsay, Saskatchewan.
The elevator, on the Yellowhead Highway about 65 kilometers east of Saskatoon, will have 42,000 metric tons of storage and will open in time for the 2015 harvest. Construction already has begun one mile southeast of Colonsay.
"I'm excited to be able to announce the construction of our second elevator in Colonsay so fast on the heels of our Bloom elevator announcement," CWB president and CEO Ian White said in a news release.
"We see significant opportunity in the Colonsay area for a fast and efficient grain-handling facility that will provide the customer service that farmers have come to expect from CWB. CWB's growing network of modern grain-handling facilities across the prairies will provide farmers with more choice out in the country during a critical time in the ongoing transformation of the grain industry," he said.
CWB announced previously that it's building a state-of-the-art grain elevator west of Portage La Prairie in Bloom, Manitoba. The Bloom elevator is also expected to be ready for the 2015 harvest.
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CWB, based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, markets crops such as wheat, durum, barley, canola and peas to customers around the world. The organization, which lost its marketing monopoly on Canadian wheat and barley in August 2012, has been relying on grain-handling facilities owned by rivals.
CWB now is building its own network of grain-handling facilities and the Colonsay elevator will be a part of that.
Farmers who deliver grain to CWB will receive an equity interest in the privatized organization.
"CWB's farmer ownership plan is designed to give farmers a stake in their value chain after privatization simply by delivering against our contracts. We have been tracking deliveries for all our farmer-customers since the 2013 harvest. As we continue to grow, the benefits to farmers will grow with us," White said.
