Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food
With its 1,000 shareholders from across Saskatchewan, West Central Pelleting Ltd. (WCP) is the kind of success story that would make many communities envious.
The company has processed grain screenings, weed seeds and feed grains into quality livestock feeds for the beef, horse, bison, elk and deer industries since 1998, out of Wilkie. WCP opened another plant in Wolseley in November of 2002.
As she drives the combine to bring in this year’s harvest, WCP President and Acting General Manager Margaret Skinner has lots of time to ponder how much ground the company she runs has covered over the years.
“The concept for West Central Pelleting had its origins in November of 1995, as my family discussed the potential spin-offs from another economic development project we were involved in: a producer-owned inland terminal (North West Terminal Ltd.) near Unity,” Skinner says.
“We found that a pelleting plant would allow us to make local use of an abundance of screenings in the area. It would make sense in terms of a logical next step in economic development. Hundreds of tons of screenings were already available from a specialty crop cleaning facility in the area. Plus, the new terminal would just add to that supply.
Up until that time, screenings produced locally were either making their way west for value-added processing in other provinces, being dumped as refuse in farmer’s sloughs, or being shipped to port as part of the uncleaned grain in rail cars. That frustrated Skinner and others.
“Farmers were paying freight and cleaning costs on weed seeds delivered to port, and they were not even being paid for them - an expensive arrangement, not only for farmers, but also for the economy ofSaskatchewan
That’s when a number of rural and urban municipalities in the Northwest region of the province started to look beyond the confines of their individual communities and worked together to build the regional value-added diversification project, explains Skinner.
“Later on, the regional concept was expanded to a provincial concept—in February 2001— when a committee from the Wolseley area asked if they could join the company, providing they raised $1,000,000 toward the construction of a second plant,” Skinner says.
“Thirty-six promoters from 12 communities in the Northwest region raised the capital for the first plant; 47 promoters from 15 communities raised the capital for the second facility.”
WCP became the first community-based grain screening pelletization plant in the province. The facilities were built specifically to handle products with flow ability problems. Together, both plants produce 150,000 tons of pellets annually.
“Sufficient storage is available on site so that raw materials can be binned separately when they are delivered from an assortment of grain terminals and specialty crop cleaning plants,” Skinner says. “The processed feed is mixed specifically to meet the requirements of the livestock producer who places the order. Protein, energy levels and pellet durability are guaranteed. Only 100 per cent plant protein is used.”
WCP’s vision includes feeding livestock within thePrairie Provinces
“There are no corporate partners and there is no government ownership in WCP. On September 1, 2004, a strategic alliance was formed with Cargill Animal Nutrition. As a result of the Alliance, WCP has gained access to additional nutritional, processing and marketing expertise.”
What does Skinner feel about these achievements?
“Optimism and a sense of empowerment. The community-based success story raised the spirits of those who, until then, had been resigned to the steady decline in the population, economic viability and regional importance of rural Saskatchewan. The employment opportunities generated by WCP and the other new companies that followed opened an assortment of positions for highly educated and skilled employees. Value-added agricultural initiatives are the future in rural Saskatchewan.”
There is an apparent sense of pride with the shareholders in each region. They built the processing plants and they own the company. The future looks bright for West Central Pelleting.
For more information, contact:
Margaret Skinner
President
West Central Pelleting
(306) 843-2810
With its 1,000 shareholders from across Saskatchewan, West Central Pelleting Ltd. (WCP) is the kind of success story that would make many communities envious.
The company has processed grain screenings, weed seeds and feed grains into quality livestock feeds for the beef, horse, bison, elk and deer industries since 1998, out of Wilkie. WCP opened another plant in Wolseley in November of 2002.
As she drives the combine to bring in this year’s harvest, WCP President and Acting General Manager Margaret Skinner has lots of time to ponder how much ground the company she runs has covered over the years.
“The concept for West Central Pelleting had its origins in November of 1995, as my family discussed the potential spin-offs from another economic development project we were involved in: a producer-owned inland terminal (North West Terminal Ltd.) near Unity,” Skinner says.
“We found that a pelleting plant would allow us to make local use of an abundance of screenings in the area. It would make sense in terms of a logical next step in economic development. Hundreds of tons of screenings were already available from a specialty crop cleaning facility in the area. Plus, the new terminal would just add to that supply.
Up until that time, screenings produced locally were either making their way west for value-added processing in other provinces, being dumped as refuse in farmer’s sloughs, or being shipped to port as part of the uncleaned grain in rail cars. That frustrated Skinner and others.
“Farmers were paying freight and cleaning costs on weed seeds delivered to port, and they were not even being paid for them - an expensive arrangement, not only for farmers, but also for the economy of
That’s when a number of rural and urban municipalities in the Northwest region of the province started to look beyond the confines of their individual communities and worked together to build the regional value-added diversification project, explains Skinner.
“Later on, the regional concept was expanded to a provincial concept—in February 2001— when a committee from the Wolseley area asked if they could join the company, providing they raised $1,000,000 toward the construction of a second plant,” Skinner says.
“Thirty-six promoters from 12 communities in the Northwest region raised the capital for the first plant; 47 promoters from 15 communities raised the capital for the second facility.”
WCP became the first community-based grain screening pelletization plant in the province. The facilities were built specifically to handle products with flow ability problems. Together, both plants produce 150,000 tons of pellets annually.
“Sufficient storage is available on site so that raw materials can be binned separately when they are delivered from an assortment of grain terminals and specialty crop cleaning plants,” Skinner says. “The processed feed is mixed specifically to meet the requirements of the livestock producer who places the order. Protein, energy levels and pellet durability are guaranteed. Only 100 per cent plant protein is used.”
WCP’s vision includes feeding livestock within the
“There are no corporate partners and there is no government ownership in WCP. On September 1, 2004, a strategic alliance was formed with Cargill Animal Nutrition. As a result of the Alliance, WCP has gained access to additional nutritional, processing and marketing expertise.”
What does Skinner feel about these achievements?
“Optimism and a sense of empowerment. The community-based success story raised the spirits of those who, until then, had been resigned to the steady decline in the population, economic viability and regional importance of rural Saskatchewan. The employment opportunities generated by WCP and the other new companies that followed opened an assortment of positions for highly educated and skilled employees. Value-added agricultural initiatives are the future in rural Saskatchewan.”
There is an apparent sense of pride with the shareholders in each region. They built the processing plants and they own the company. The future looks bright for West Central Pelleting.
For more information, contact:
Margaret Skinner
President
West Central Pelleting
(306) 843-2810
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