The Saskatchewan Wheat Pool was a grain handling, agri-food processing and marketing company based in

Regina, Saskatchewan Regina ( ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 Canadian census, ...

. 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. Before becoming Viterra, SWP had operated 276 retail outlets and more than 100 grain handling and marketing centres. The Saskatchewan Wheat Pool operated under the name of AgPro in the prairie provinces of

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

and

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

. 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 Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

-based Agricore United, the Pool name was retired. The merged company operated under the name

Viterra Viterra Limited is a Canadian grain handling business, that began as the nation's largest grain handler, with its historic formative roots in prairie grain-handling cooperatives, among them the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool. Viterra Inc grew into a g ...

until 2013, when it was acquired by Glencore International.

Establishment and growth

Grain Elevator Saskatchewan Royal Visit 1939

180px, A now-obsolete wooden grain elevator once owned by SWP in Gainsborough 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 Territorial Grain Growers' Association (TGGA) was a farmer's association that was active in Western Canada at the start of the 20th century, in what was then the Northwest Territories and later became Saskatchewan and Alberta. It provided a voi ...

. The TGGA split into

Alberta Farmers' Association The Alberta Farmers' Association (AFA) was a farmer's association that was active in Alberta, Canada from 1905 to 1909. It was formed from the Alberta branch of the Territorial Grain Growers' Association (TGGA) when Alberta became a province in 190 ...

and the Saskatchewan Grain Growers' Association (SGGA) in 1906. Also established at this time was the farmers' co-operative elevator company called the Grain Growers' Grain Company (GGGC), which later merged into the United Grain Growers. In 1911 the Saskatchewan Co-operative Elevator Company was formed. The SGGA met with the

United Farmers of Alberta The United Farmers of Alberta (UFA) is an association of Alberta farmers that has served different roles in its 100-year history – as a lobby group, a successful political party, and as a farm-supply retail chain. As a political party, it forme ...

and United Farmers of Manitoba and formed the Saskatchewan Co-operative Wheat Producers Ltd. on August 25, 1923. Informally it was known as the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, as it collectively helped farmers to obtain a decent price for wheat. The first president was Alexander James McPhail, and the first

grain elevator A grain elevator or grain terminal is a facility designed to stockpile or store grain. In the grain trade, the term "grain elevator" also describes a tower containing a bucket elevator or a pneumatic conveyor, which scoops up grain from a lowe ...

was built in Bulyea in 1925 (in the area of Section 36, Township 16, Range 15, W of the 2nd meridian). The Saskatchewan Co-operative Wheat Producers Ltd. bought out the Saskatchewan Co-operative 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 numerous prairie landscapes and photographs. The Wheat Pool calendar map or Country Elevator System calendar maps were a mainstay of many pioneer households. These calendar maps depicted the networking of the early CNR and CPR rail lines, the many early incorporated areas, and the locations 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. 180px, A concrete terminal built by SWP in Carnduff In the early 20th century, grain elevators dotted the prairies every 6 to 10 miles (10–15 km) apart, a distance that was a good

day's journey A day's journey in pre-modern literature, including the Bible and ancient geographers and ethnographers such as Herodotus, is a measurement of distance. In the Bible, it is not as precisely defined as other Biblical measurements of distance; the ...

for farmer and horse with a full load. Farmers could find services available to buy and grade grain at the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool elevators. The Pool Farm Service Centers provided a place for farmers to pick up fertilizer and chemicals. Highways, trucks,

tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a Trailer (vehicle), trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or constructio ...

s, and combines revolutionized the farming industry after World War II. These changes gradually led to the rail system facing deregulation and consolidation changes: many branch lines closed down, and there were 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 can 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. 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. 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 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 and cash offer from the Pool and an all-cash offer from JRI to form a private company; a higher, $20.50 all-cash offer from the Pool in May eventually prevailed, 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. AU's CEO, Brian Hayward, resigned, as did the Board of Directors, and the Pool's CEO and Board were voted in. The Pool had Agricore United's common and preferred shares delisted from the

Toronto Stock Exchange The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX; ) is a stock exchange located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the List of stock exchanges, 10th largest exchange in the world and the third largest in North America based on market capitalization. Based in th ...

(TSX) on June 20, 2007, and the members of the senior management team for the amalgamated company were announced the next day. The new company was headquartered in Regina, under the name of

Presidents

* A. E. Wilson 1923–1924 (Provisional) * Alexander James McPhail 1924–1931 * Louis C. Brouillette 1931–1937 * John Henry (Jack) Wesson 1937–1960 * Charles W. Gibbings 1960–1969 * E. K. Turner 1969–1987 * Garfield Stevenson 1987–1993 * Leroy Larsen 1993–1999 * Marvin Weins 1999–2004 * Terry Baker 2004–?Saskatchewan Wheat Pool
sask.uregina.ca * Mayo Schmidt 2005–2007

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 Fairbairn Hardcover: 318 pages Publisher: HarperCollins Canada / Greystone Book (Jan 1 1984) Language: English ''Wheat Kings: Vanishing Landmarks of the Canadian Prairies'' (Hardcover) by Greg McDonnell Hardcover: 120 pages Publisher: Boston Mills Press (October 2, 2004) ''The Diary of Alexander James McPhail'' by Harold A. Innis, Alexander James McPhail Review author Harald S. Patton Canadian 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

Former website
(June 23, 2007 snapshot from the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...