The $2.5 million deal represents a 17 per cent stake in the company’s common shares. UFA purchased the shares from Ceres Global Ag Corp.

“Over the last several years UFA has demonstrated strong results and built a balance sheet that will enable continued investment in western Canadian agriculture that benefits our member-owners,” said UFA president and CEO Scott Bolton in an UFA news release.

Bolton has been appointed to Canterra’s board of directors. Jeff Wildeman, who represented Ceres, has resigned from the board.

In a news release, Canterra said Ceres was looking to “streamline their asset footprint,” and UFA, already a partner of Canterra seeds, jumped at the chance to pick up the shares.

The purchase won’t affect day-to-day operations or the seed varieties available at UFA, the release said.

“Our board of directors understands the unique challenges faced by farmers and ranchers, and this announcement demonstrates our commitment to the long-term vitality of member-owners,” said UFA board chair Kevin Hoppins.

The investment will also allow UFA to increase its focus on research and innovation, said Bolton in the Canterra release.

UFA is an Alberta-based agricultural co-operative that owns farm and ranch supply stores and petroleum locations in Alberta, Saskatchewan and B.C. It has more than 120,000 members.

—Updated July 5. Adds information about purchase from Ceres Global Ag Corp. 

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“Our members are committed to minimizing disruptions to the Canadian fuel supply as a result of the pandemic response,” Canadian Fuels Association spokesperson Jason Vaillant said in an email.

“Our members are working tirelessly to maintain operations while keeping our employees and communities safe through this challenging time.”

Association members have all activated their existing business continuity plans in response to the pandemic.

Federated Co-operatives, now in the midst of a labour lockout as well as pandemic protocols at its Regina fuel refinery, said Wednesday its on-site work camp “will continue to ensure that the temporary operations personnel on site are isolated” and not travelling in and out of the facility.

FCL on Tuesday also announced it would defer the refinery’s spring turnaround until at least May 15. The turnaround “typically sees an influx of hundreds of additional workers on site.”

The Co-op Refinery Complex (CRC) is part of Saskatchewan’s critical infrastructure network, FCL said, and “wants to assure residents that the refinery will continue to produce fuel during this time.”

FCL also said March 6 it had already launched early spring delivery of fuel to Prairie farmers. Ron Healey, the co-op’s vice-president of ag and consumer business, said “we have positioned fuel to be as close to our farm customers as possible.”

Alberta’s UFA, one of Canada’s largest distributors of fuel for the agriculture industry, has increased cleaning in all of its stores and facilities. And while the co-operative has seen increased demand for products such as cleaning supplies and face masks, fuel supplies so far seem unaffected.

But that could change, Vaillant added.

“This is a very dynamic situation, and we will continue to monitor and respond accordingly,” he said.

“We are part of Canada’s critical infrastructure, and we will continue to work collaboratively with federal and provincial governments to maintain the operation of refineries, terminals, and the fuel supply chain.

“Our focus remains on continuing to provide secure and reliable access to transportation fuels for Canadians.”

— Jennifer Blair reports for Alberta Farmer from Red Deer. Includes files from Glacier FarmMedia Network staff.

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Alberta farmer co-op UFA (United Farmers of Alberta) announced Tuesday it’s buying CHS’s interest in the two firms’ joint ag retail venture, Bridgeland Limited Partnership, for an undisclosed sum.

Bridgeland was set up in late 2015 in what the two companies described as “a competitive crop input value proposition to UFA and CHS members and customers” in the Peace region of northwestern Alberta.

“After almost two years of building a strong and collaborative relationship for the benefit of our customers, both organizations have mutually decided to enter into this transaction.”

Once the deal closes, UFA will fully own and operate Bridgeland’s assets at LaCrete, Sexsmith, Baytree, Fairview, Falher, Eaglesham and Grande Prairie and rebrand them under the UFA banner over the next month.

The sites will continue to offer crop inputs such as seed, chemicals and fertilizers, grain storage and handling equipment and livestock inputs, and will retain all Bridgeland staff as UFA employees, the Alberta co-op said.

“Complete ownership of these assets and sites allows us to realign that business back to the UFA brand — a brand that our membership and customers know and trust,” UFA CEO Carol Kitchen said in a release Tuesday.

The move, she said, “reinforces UFA’s commitment to its core business and to its members and customers in one of our most important geographies.”

Winnipeg grain company Richardson International also announced a deal for CHS assets Tuesday, buying the St. Paul, Minn.-based co-operative’s 10 wholly-owned crop input retail sites in Alberta and Saskatchewan for an undisclosed sum.

Of the Richardson deal, a CHS representative said via email late Tuesday that the co-operative is “grateful to the growers and employees who have been loyal to its Canadian retail business” and it was “with their best, long-term interests in mind that we pursued this agreement.” — AGCanada.com Network

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The co-operative, which bought what was then a seven-store chain in 2008, announced Thursday it would start inventory liquidation sales Friday at all 12 of its remaining Wholesale Sports locations in the four western provinces.

“This was an all-inclusive business decision that, while difficult, was made in the best interest of UFA on behalf of our members,” UFA CEO Carol Kitchen said in a release.

The farmer co-operative, which dates back to 1909, today deals in crop inputs and seed, livestock feed, drugs and supplies, farm equipment, bins, farm building construction, construction materials and bulk fuel.

UFA emphasized the parent co-operative is “still showing strong financial results” and the wind-down of Wholesale Sports is “a strategic business decision” following an “extensive review process… which included evaluating numerous options for the Wholesale Sports business.”

“There were numerous external factors that led to this decision including an increasingly competitive environment, the continued shift to online purchases and an overall slowing of consumer discretionary spending as a whole, including the outdoor industry,” Kitchen said Thursday.

The Wholesale Sports chain bills itself as the “largest multi-channel outdoor retailer in Western Canada dedicated to the outdoors,” dealing in hunting, fishing and camping gear and clothing. It includes two stores in Edmonton and one each in Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Calgary, Grande Prairie, Lethbridge, Prince George, Kamloops, Nanaimo, Langley and Westbank, B.C.

Wholesale Sports in 2016 booked a nine per cent drop in sales, to $102.7 million, and contributed about $900,000 to UFA’s EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) for the fiscal year.

The chain last year noted a “very challenging economic and competitive environment,” with reduced consumer spending on “high-ticket purchases” such as guns, archery and optics across the network, though its e-commerce business showed “positive growth” of 21 per cent.

That said, the chain in 2016 also sought to “manage and control expenses” through various means, including the closing of its Regina store at the end of the year.

The chain had also invested in U.S. expansion in 2009, buying 13 stores in the Pacific Northwest, but UFA sold off that part of the business in 2013.

The wind-down of Wholesale Sports, Kitchen said Thursday, “will allow UFA to focus on its core business of agriculture and petroleum.”

The liquidation sales, to be managed by asset management firm Gordon Bros., will run until Dec. 28 or until the stores are cleared of inventory. Pending online sales will be completed, but the chain stopped accepting new online purchases effective Thursday afternoon. — AGCanada.com Network

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CHS Canada and Alberta’s UFA announced a partnership deal Wednesday for a seed and crop input retail operation, plus agronomic and advisory services, in the province’s Peace region.

The partnership will start with a new fertilizer plant already being built at the RedTail Business Park south of Sexsmith, about 20 km north of Grande Prairie.

The plant, with a high-speed blending facility, is expected to be complete early next year and to provide UFA members and customers in the Peace region with “local access to a range of dry fertilizer products,” the two co-ops said.

The UFA/CHS joint venture will operate as an “independent organization” under the name Bridgeland, to be governed by a board with two representatives each from UFA and CHS.

“The new venture brings new capabilities to both organizations and will position us more competitively in the marketplace,” UFA CEO Carol Kitchen said in a release. “Ultimately this will help farmers in the Peace Country grow and prosper.”

Partnering with Minnesota-based CHS in the Peace region “will allow us to support agricultural investment and enhance the services we provide here.”

“CHS is always looking for partnerships that will enhance our efforts to help farmers grow their operations,” Lynden Johnson, executive vice-president for CHS Country Operations, said in the same release.

“This new venture blends the best of both organizations to strengthen what our local experts with global connections can deliver for producers in Peace Country.”

CHS Country Operations first entered the Alberta ag retail market in 2012, buying DynAgra’s four Alberta retail outlets, now branded “CHS Dynagra.”

CHS in 2014 also took over four former Viterra ag retail stores, three Agrium CPS stores and three Viterra anhydrous outlets in Alberta.

Last year’s sale was part of a divestiture of Viterra and Agrium assets, required by the federal Competition Bureau following Agrium’s 2013 purchase of Viterra’s ag retail business. — AGCanada.com Network

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