USDA Report Casts New Doubt on Planned Viterra Crush Plant

The death knell could be sounding for another Prairie canola crush project. 

A March 31 report from the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service has cast doubt on whether a new 2.5-million tonne capacity crush plant announced by Viterra back in 2021 will in fact go ahead. To be built near Regina, the facility was expected to be the world’s largest integrated canola crush plant and seen as a significant investment in the future of western Canadian canola production. 

However, the report said plans for the plant are in limbo, following the multi-billion dollar merger between Viterra and Bunge that was greenlighted by the Canadian government earlier this year. 

“It is under review, but industry contacts say plant construction is unlikely to go ahead,” the FAS report said. 

If accurate, the Viterra plant would represent the third major new processing project to be put on hold or scrapped. 

In early 2025, Federated Co-op Ltd. and AGT Foods announced plans to jointly build a new 1.1-million tonne canola crush plant were on hold, citing "regulatory and political uncertainty, potential shifts in low-carbon public policy, and escalating costs.” Ceres Global Ag previously also shelved its crush plant plans, announcing in June 2022 that it was suspending a new 1.1-million tonne capacity plant at Northgate SK.  

Still, other plans have moved forward. When Cargill’s new facility in Regina is complete later this year, the FAS said total national canola crush capacity will reach 14.46 million tonnes, a 28% increase since 2021. But that pales in comparison to the 59% increase to 16.86 million tonnes that was originally projected for domestic processing capacity between 2021 and 2025.