Photo credit: Amelia Martin/Dreamstime.

By Curtis Galbraith

Agriculture

NFU calls on federal cabinet to stop proposed sale of Viterra to Bunge

May 31, 2024 | 6:00 AM

The National Farmers Union says in an op-ed piece that; “it is not possible to mitigate the negative impacts” if Bunge is allowed to buy Viterra.

The NFU is calling on the federal cabinet to not approve what it refers to as “a harmful merger.”

The group says 70 per cent of the elevator capacity on the prairies, plus more than half of the total port capacity, is controlled by four companies: Cargill, Richardson, G3, and Viterra. The NFU says if the sale goes ahead, Bunge will become Canada’s largest grain trading company, which could lead the others to try to expand.

The union also quotes a report commissioned by some commodity groups, including Alberta Grains, that this sale would reduce farm incomes by $770 million per year and mean 15 per cent higher discounts for prices at the elevator.

That report also says farmers selling to canola crushers would see incomes drop by $200 million to $325 million every year, depending on if the new company was able to build a crushing plant.

The full op-ed by the NFU can be found here. The report cited above can be found here.