SaskCanola pleased with LDC expansion

The move helps provide stability in the sector, Tracy Broughton says

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

A Saskatchewan ag organization is happy with news that a food processing company is expanding operations in the province.

Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC) announcing it is investing in its Yorkton, Sask. facility to double the plant’s canola crush capacity to over 2 million metric tons is good news for the province’s canola sector, said Tracy Broughton, executive director of SaskCanola.

“The expansion on this plant is a great opportunity to diversify market options in the local market,” she told Farms.com. “We do export 90 per cent of the canola that’s grown in Saskatchewan, but having an opportunity to have it processed in the province is a positive step for farmers.”

The provincial government has set a target of crushing 75 per cent of canola produced in the province as part of its 2030 Growth Plan.

Saskatchewan farmers produced about 9.5 million tonnes of canola in 2022.

To crush 75 per cent of that figure, about 7.12 million tonnes would have to be crushed in the province.

Another factor of the LDC expansion is increased stability within Saskatchewan’s canola sector.

Increasing processing capacity domestically also removes some dependability on foreign markets.

China suspended licenses for Richardson International and Viterra in 2019, alleging pests in canola shipments, and lifted the ban in 2022.

Increasing capacity “provides more stability should another geopolitical issue with a trading partner arise,” Broughton said. “If we’re able to process canola here in the province, the crop and sector will benefit.”

The LDC facility on 500 Sully Ave. opened in 2009 with a crush capacity of about 850,000 tonnes. It currently employs about 120 people.

Construction of a new canola crushing line is expected to begin sometime in 2023.