Cargill opens doors at new Alberta canola processing facility

WINNIPEG—Food processing and commodity behemoth, Cargill, has officially opened its newest investment in Alberta – a state-of-the-art canola processing facility in Camrose.

“We are very excited to mark the official opening of our newest state-of-the-art canola crush facility in Canada. This plant has the capacity to process over 1 million metric tonnes of canola per year and will provide Alberta canola growers with a competitive point of delivery in this region,” said Ken Stone, Assistant Vice President for Cargill’s Canadian canola processing business.

Cargill said the canola processing facility is the first major investment in Alberta’s grains and oilseed sector in 30 years and further diversifies Alberta’s agriculture sector and competitiveness in the global marketplace.

“The global demand for canola is on the rise, and we’re targeting an increase to 26 million metric tonnes by the year 2025,” Patti Miller, president of the Canola Council of Canada, said. “More than half of this will be processed in Canada for markets around the world. Cargill’s new plant takes us a step closer to achieving this goal.”

Cargill operates eight businesses in Alberta at 22 locations and employs over 3,000 people. Alberta represents 34 per cent of the company’s Canadian investment. Throughout construction, it noted approximately 1 million hours of employment were created in addition to 60 new permanent positions in Camrose.

Cargill said the crush facility will place Alberta’s canola sector at a competitive advantage in the global marketplace as markets become available through the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership.