Saskatchewan Wheat Pool

Infobox Defunct Company
company_name = Saskatchewan Wheat Pool
company_
slogan =
fate = Merged with Agricore United
successor = Viterra
foundation = 1953
defunct = 2007
location = Regina, Saskatchewan
industry = Agriculture
key_people =
products = Grain buying
num_employees =
parent =
subsid =

The Saskatchewan Wheat Pool was a grain handling, agri-food processing and marketing company based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Pool created a network of marketing alliances in North America and internationally which made it the largest agricultural grain handling operation in the province of Saskatchewan. The Sask Wheat Pool operated under the name of AgPro in the prairie provinces of Manitoba and Alberta. Begun as a co-operative in the 1920s, the company became a publicly traded corporation in the 1990s. After the 2007 takeover of its competitor, Winnipeg-based Agricore United, the Pool name was retired. The merged company now operates under the name Viterra.

Establishment and growth

Farmers, frustrated in their attempts to win a fair price for their wheat, started to look to various marketing systems between 1900 and 1920. The co-operative style of organizing farm operations was one of them. As early as 1902, farmers banded together as the Territorial Grain Growers Association The TGGA became the Saskatchewan Grain Grower's Association in 1906 and also at this time and established the farmers co-operative elevator company called the Grain Growers Grain Company. From the GGGC expansion came the United Grain Growers and the Saskatchewan Co-operative Elevator Company. In 1911 The Saskatchewan Cooperative Elevator Company was formed. The Farmers Union of Canada launched the Wheat Pool in 1924. Saskatchewan Grain Growers Association (SGGA) met with the United Farmers of Alberta and United Farmers of Manitoba and formed the Saskatchewan Co-operative Wheat Producers Ltd. on Aug 25, 1923. Informally it was known as the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool as it collectively helped farmers get a decent price for wheat. The first president was A.J. McPhail and the first elevator was built in Bulyea in 1925 (in the area of Section 36, Township 16, Range 15, W of the 2nd meridian). The Saskatchewan Cooperative Wheat Producers Ltd. bought out the Saskatchewan Cooperative Elevator Company in 1926. In 1953 The Saskatchewan Co-operative Wheat Producers Ltd. was renamed the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool.

The Wheat Pool elevators have been sentinels in many prairie towns since the early 1900s. They are the topic of several prairie landscapes and photographs. The Wheat pool calendar map or Country Elevator System calendar maps were a mainstay of many pioneer household. These calendar maps showed the networking of the early CNR and CPR rail lines, the many early incorporated areas, as well as the location of the grain elevators. The pictures which surround the elevator map of grain delivered by horse and wagon, early truck, and grain handling at the ports along the calendars show the evolution of the grain handling industry. In the early 20th century, grain elevators dotted the prairies every 6 to 10 miles (10–15 km) apart, as that was a good day's journey for farmer and horse with a full load. Farmers can find services available to buy and grade grain at the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool elevators. The Pool Farm Service Centers provide a place for farmers to pick up fertilizer and chemicals. Highways, trucks, tractors, and combines revolutionized the farming industry after the industrial revolution in and around the era of World War II. These changes gradually led to the rail system facing deregulation and consolidation changes, many branch lines closed down, and there was increased loading quotas available to railcars for grain, specialty crops and even oilseeds. These developments led to newer and more advanced state-of-the-art grain handling systems called SWP Terminals which serve larger surrounding farming areas.

The 'crib' style wood elevator of the 1920s could handle 100 tonnes of grain per hour. The elevator pit could contain approximately 10 tonnes of grain, which would be about the load delivered by one farmer's grain truck. In comparison, the new "high-throughput" elevators constructed of slip-formed cylindrical concrete. have a 418,000 bushel (11,500 tonne) capacity, whereas the condominium storage facility is able to contain 582,000 bushels (15,800 tonnes).

Co-Operative to corporation

In March 1996, the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool became a publicly-traded company, breaking from its roots as a co-operative. While decent profits were realized in the first two years, the company incurred huge losses between 1999 and 2003 because of low commodity prices. [cite web
last = Lang
first = Kathy
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan
work =
publisher =
year=2006
url = http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/saskatchewan_wheat_pool.html
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2007-08-30 ] It also faced increased competition when the Alberta Wheat Pool and Manitoba Pool Elevators merged to form Agricore. The Pool lost its position as the country's top grain handler when Agricore took over United Grain Growers in 2002 to form Agricore United. [cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Saskatchewan Wheat Pool - CBC Saskatchewan
work =
publisher = CBC
year=2004
url = http://www.cbc.ca/sask/features/saskpool/4.html
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2007-08-30 ]

In November 2006, the company launched a campaign to take over Agricore United. Winnipeg-based James Richardson International ("JRI") launched its own takeover bid at the same time. The initial and subsequent offers from the Pool involved a stock swap, with no or little cash being offered, prompting the AU Board of Directors to reject them. In February of 2007, AU and JRI announced that they had negotiated a merger arrangement to form a publicly traded company to be known as "Richardson Agricore", subject to shareholder agreement.

A subsequent bidding war led to a stock+cash offer from the Pool and an all-cash offer from JRI to form a private company [ [http://stockgroup.canada.com/sn_newsreleases.asp?symbol=T.AU&newsid=8423050 Agricore United Accepts James Richardson All-Cash Bid of $19.25 Per Share] URL accessed June 19, 2007] ; a higher, $20.50 all-cash offer from the Pool in May eventually prevailed [ [http://www.canada.com/topics/news/agriculture/story.html?id=17120655-ebc8-4843-9d46-71b7d7379831&k=56943 Sask. Wheat Pool strikes deal to acquire Agricore United for nearly $2B] URL accessed May 9, 2007] , with 81% of the limited voting shares being tendered to the Pool by shareholders by the end of May, including all the ADM shares. This exceeded the 75% required by the terms of AU's incorporation to change the corporate structure and, after a special shareholders' meeting in June, AU became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool [ [http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/business/story.html?id=e3c5e1a7-0b05-4821-8497-c797794cefcb Agricore takeover OK'd] URL accessed June 19, 2007] . AU's CEO, Brian Hayward, resigned, as did the Board of Directors, and SaskPool's CEO and Board were voted in. SaskPool had Agricore United's common and preferred shares delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) on June 20, 2007, and the members of the senior management team for the amalgamated company were announced the next day.Fact|date=October 2007 The new company will be headquartered in Regina, under the name of Viterra. [cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Saskpool breaks with past, becomes Viterra
work =
publisher = Reuters
date=August 30, 2007
url = http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=businessNews&storyID=2007-08-30T173502Z_01_N30243937_RTRIDST_0_BUSINESS-SASKPOOL-VITERRA-COL.XML
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2007-08-30 ]

See also

* Viterra
* Agricore United
* Alberta Wheat Pool
* United Grain Growers

Books

"25 Years with the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool" by Saskatchewan Wheat Pool employees' Association Publisher: Saskatchewan Co-Operative Producers Limited Place: Regina, Saskatchewan Date published: 1949

"From prairie roots: The remarkable story of Saskatchewan Wheat Pool" (Hardcover) by Garry Lawrence FairbairnHardcover: 318 pages Publisher: HarperCollins Canada / Greystone Book (Jan 1 1984) Language: English ISBN 0-88833-127-4

"Wheat Kings: Vanishing Landmarks of the Canadian Prairies" (Hardcover) by Greg McDonnell Hardcover: 120 pages Publisher: Boston Mills Press (October 2, 2004) ISBN 1-55046-249-0

"The Diary of Alexander James McPhail" by Harold A. Innis, Alexander James McPhail Review author [s] : Harald S. PattonCanadian Journal of Economics and Political Science / Revue canadienne d'Economique et de Science politique, Vol. 7, No. 1 (Feb., 1941), pp. 122-124

References

External links

* [http://www.viterra.ca/ Viterra]
* [http://www.swp.com/ Saskatchewan Wheat Pool]
* [http://scaa.usask.ca/gallery/wheatpool/University of Saskatchewn Archives - Saskatchewan Wheat Pool: A History in PicturesSaskatchewan Wheat Pool Inc.]
* [http://www.civilization.ca/hist/phase2/mod2e.html Civilization.ca - Canada Hall - King Wheat -Saskatchewan Grain Elevator]
* [http://www.rootsweb.com/~skwheat/ Saskatchewan Country Elevator System Maps with Index Years:1924-25, 1947-48, 1950-51, 1952-53, 1984]
* [http://www.cbc.ca/sask/features/saskpool/ Saskatchewan Wheat Pool |CBC Saskatchewan]
* [http://www.sasktelwebsite.net/sema/farming.html Semans, Saskatchewan - Always A Hometown]
* [http://www.sahf.ca/profile.php?id=13 Saskatchewan Agricultural Hall of Fame - Thomas Griffin Bobier]
* [http://www.schneider-electric.ca/www/txt/crns/html/sask.htm Saskatchewan Wheat Pool - Schneider Electric in Canada]
* [http://www.smokylake.com/history/politics/wheatpool.htm Alberta Wheat Pool]
* [http://www.year01.com/pixelgrain/ Pixelgrain: Mapping Transition in the Canadian Prairies]
* [http://www.virtualsk.com/current_issue/look_its_something_vertical.html Virtual Saskatchewan - Look! It's something vertical!]
* [http://library2.usask.ca/sni/stories/agr5.html Saskatchewan's Top News Stories: Agriculture News And Views Of The Farmers' Union Of Canada ur Elevator Policy Western Producer ebruary 25, 1926. p.9]
* [http://www.sasksettlement.com/display.php?cat=Agriculture&subcat=Agricultural%20Organizations&id=138 Saskatchewan Settlement Experience]
* [http://www.collectionscanada.ca/archivianet/post-offices/001001-100.01-e.php Post Offices and Postmasters]
* [http://www.sasked.gov.sk.ca/docs/midlsoc/gr7/72info.html Grade Seven Social Studies: Unit Two]
* [http://olc.spsd.sk.ca/DE/Saskatchewan100/1915.html Saskatchewan History 1915 - 1924]
* [http://cap.estevan.sk.ca/grassroots/grass67.html Changing Population in Saskatchewan]
* [http://interactive.usask.ca/Ski/agriculture/history/chronolo.html Agriculture :History Chronology]
* [http://www.graintransportmuseum.ca/corner.html Learning Corner]
* [http://library2.usask.ca/sni/stories/agr4.html Saskatchewan's Top News Stories: AgricultureHistory Of The Saskatchewan Grain Growers’ Movement What Farmers Of Canada Have Done Towards Entering Politics From Small Beginnings A Body With Allied Members Numbering 75,000 Built Up Score Of Farmers Who Met In Indian Head Planing Mill December 18, 1901,Have Reason To Be Proud]