Dairy plant closes

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/04/2021 (1695 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The large Quebec dairy producer, Agropur Cooperative is closing its Winnipeg fluid milk production plant in September.

Agropur acquired the plant in 2014 from Sobeys along with plants in Edmonton and Burnaby, B.C.

The plant primarily made Lucerne-brand milk for Sobeys and Safeway. The company will consolidate its Western Canadian milk production in its other Western Canadian plants.

The closure will mean the layoff of close to 50 workers. The company, based in the Montreal area, said some will have employment opportunities at other Agropur sites and will receive severance packages.

Company CEO, Émile Cordeau, said in a statement, “Unfortunately, the level of investment required to maintain the plant’s competitiveness in the coming years was becoming too high.”

He cited “market conditions” but company officials would not specify what they are.

Earlier this year, Lactalis Canada Inc. (formerly Parmalat Canada Inc.) acquired Agropur’s Canadian yogurt business, Ultima Foods Inc.

While plant-based dairy alternatives are increasing in popularity — a Nielsen report at the end of last year showed that since the beginning of 2020 sales of vegetable protein products have increased by 31 per cent — an Agropur official declined to say the move had anything to do with that.

Diane Jubinville, director of external communications and public affairs for Agropur, said its 3,000 dairy producers, who are members of the co-operative, are committed to making quality milk.

“We are working to turn milk into dairy products that consumers value and believe that milk is a noble and nutritious product,” she said. “It is up to us to demonstrate the relevance of dairy products in a healthy and varied diet and to offer with our products an exceptional dairy experience.”

The closure of the plant — one of the largest of 11 dairy processing facilities in the province — is not going to mean a disruption in the volumes of milk produced by the 259 dairy farms in the province that work under the regulated supply management model.

David Wiens, chairman of the Dairy Farmers of Manitoba, the producer organization, said that while producers would have preferred the processor remained operating in Manitoba, it will only mean less milk will need to be shipped into Manitoba from Saskatchewan and Alberta.

When the MDI (Manitoba Dairy Ingredients) plant was opened in 2017 — that is a joint venture between Vitalus Nutrition and Gay Lea Foods — it increased dairy processing capacity in the province by 40 per cent.

Wiens said Manitoba dairy farmers’ production was not enough to meet that increased processing capacity and that meant milk has been shipped into the province as part of the Western Milk Pool, which represents the four Western provinces.

“That (the Western Milk Pool) helps mitigate the problem of plant closures,” Wiens said. “When MDI was built… we were not producing enough milk in Manitoba for all the processing.”

He said were another large plant like that to close in Manitoba, “we would start to lose the balance that we have.”

Jubinville said the decision to consolidate its milk production in Western Canada primarily in Edmonton, took into account Edmonton’s more central location to handle the region as well as the fact that the Winnipeg plant is aging and would require significant investment to remain operational and competitive.

“We made this decision because we need to increase our efficiency and equip ourselves to tackle the many challenges facing Canada’s dairy industry, in which Agropur is a leading player,” she said.

When it closes, it will leave the province with 10 dairy processors. Lactalis has a large plant in Winnipeg (and two other smaller ones) and Saputo’s plant in Brandon are the largest and Bothwell Cheese has increased its milk usage substantially over the years.

Wiens said despite the reported increase in demand for non-dairy alternatives like oat milk which can now be found in most retailers, sales volumes of milk and milk dairy products like yogurt and cheese are also on the rise.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca