Grant to help Bothwell Cheese grow

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This article was published 21/05/2019 (2574 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The federal government has committed $3.9 billion to increase the competitiveness of the dairy industries across the country and Manitoba’s Bothwell Cheese is the latest recipient of that support.

The award-winning Manitoba cheese producer has received a $1.132-million grant from the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, funded 60-40 between the federal and provincial governments, to enhance sales and marketing efforts and upgrade waste-water treatment facilities.

With tariffs coming down on imported cheeses from Europe and greater access to the Canadian market for U.S. dairy producers looming, the $14-billion Canadian dairy industry is about to face greater competition.

Since acquiring Bothwell Cheese in 2014, Kevin Thomson, the owner of Paradise Island Foods in Nanaimo, B.C., has invested about $8 million in the processing operation in New Bothwell, Man.

Thomson said the government grant is exciting for the company and will spur on an additional $3-million investment by ownership.

Manitoba Agriculture Minister Ralph Eichler said the province’s goal is to retain and grow world-class food enterprises in Manitoba “to meet growing demand for protein-rich foods while fostering job creation within the agriculture sector.”

The new capital injection is going to mean the creation of an additional 20 jobs on top of the current 135 at the company’s production plant in New Bothwell and likely another 30 after the project is completed. Bothwell Cheese is the largest independent cheese company in the country.

Among other things, the implementation of CETA (Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement) with the European Union means more European cheese is allowed into the Canadian market tariff-free. As well, when the renegotiated NAFTA is enacted, it will also give U.S. dairy producers greater access to Canadian markets.

With CETA now one year old, Thomson said there is already evidence of more competition in the deli sections of Canadian supermarkets.

“We are getting squeezed,” Thomson said. “We are definitely seeing a lot more European cheese coming in.”

Miriam Sweetnam, a member of the board of directors of Dairy Farmers of Manitoba and a producer near Winkler, said the support for a company like Bothwell is good news for all dairy producers in the province.

“Yes we do feel it (the impact of new European imports),” she said. “But of course, we have to keep going forward. Just because access has been given (to international exporters) doesn’t mean we don’t produce quality milk. We will still uphold our standards.”

Financial support from governments for successful companies like Bothwell Cheese is sometimes frowned upon by some referring to it as corporate welfare.

Dan Vandal, Liberal MP for St. Boniface-St. Vital, whose riding Bothwell Cheese has a retail location in, said the federal and provincial governments are glad to team up to help a growing industry.

“The money we’re investing is matched many times over by private sector investment in modernizing a local company, creating jobs making their business more (environmentally) sustainable by using less water,” he said. “These are the sorts of investment that makes sense for Canadians.”

Eichler agreed, saying, “We look at return on investment, that is critical. It’s taxpayers’ money. We want to make sure there’s a return on our investment. We’re very pleased with this one.”

Bothwell has doubled its capacity in the past five years and is now available in stores across the country. In addition to investing in new waste-water systems, the company will use part of the new government funding to develop new varieties and initiate some international sales of its own. The company is looking to increase export sales by $24 million in the next three years.

Bothwell now makes 25 different varieties of premium cheese and uses only Manitoba-produced milk and, unlike many cheese producers, uses no milk ingredients like protein concentrates or whole milk powder. It consistently wins awards in international cheese competitions like the British Empire Cheese Show and the American Cheese Society competition.

Since being acquired by Paradise Island in 2014, Bothwell has increased production dramatically. Paradise is a cheese-packaging operation that services mostly the B.C. market, effectively re-packaging Bothwell product.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca