“We see incredible potential in combining our networks and growing in new ways with the resources that Ceres brings to our portfolio,” said President and CEO of Savage Jeff Roberts in a May 20 news release. “With their great team and assets, we’ll build on our robust supply chain for our current and new customers alike.”

Bartlett Grain, part of the Savage family of companies, completed the purchase through the newly formed numbered company for US$4.50 per share, valuing Ceres at US$140.19 million.

Minnesota-based Ceres is an international agricultural, energy and industrial products merchandising and supply chain company with 10 locations in Minnesota, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The company also owns membership interests in three agricultural joint ventures in Minnesota and North Dakota.

Bartlett joined the Utah-based Savage family of companies in 2018. Its diverse agribusiness is focused on the acquisition, storage, transportation, processing and merchandising of grain, with nearly 200 locations across the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Saudi Arabia.

“Bartlett’s acquisition of Ceres vindicates the strategy we set out to achieve 12 years ago, which is to build the company into one of North America’s leading merchandisers of durum, oats, spring wheat and canola,” said Ceres chairman Jim Vanasek in May. “I believe Bartlett is a perfect fit in terms of geography, business lines and culture, and will take Ceres to the next level.”

With the closing of the transaction, it is expected that the shares will be delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange at the close of trading on July 8, 2025 and that the company will promptly apply for an order to cease to be a reporting issuer in each of the applicable jurisdictions in Canada.

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“Bartlett’s acquisition of Ceres is vindication of the strategy we set out to achieve 12 years ago, which is to build the company into one of North America’s leading merchandisers of durum, oats, spring wheat and canola,” said Ceres board chair Jim Vanasek in a news release.

Why it matters: Ceres has operations in Manitoba and Saskatchewan

Ceres is a Minnesota-based grain buyer and logistics company with locations in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. It also owns Delmar Commodities, based in Winkler, Man., and Jordan Mills in Roland, Man.

Bartlett is headquartered in Kansas City with locations in the American Midwest and East Coast, and Mexico. It is part of the Savage group of companies.

“We see incredible potential in combining our networks,” said Savage president and CEO Jeff Roberts.

Ceres’ network and assets are a “natural complement to the Bartlett business,” said Bartlett executive director Bob Knief in a separate news release.

Its assets include a combined grain and oilseed storage of about 45 million bushels.

“We see incredible potential in combining our networks

Bartlett has agreed to purchase Ceres at US$4.50 per share, which would value the sale at roughly US$140 million. The transaction is subject to court approval and closing conditions.

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Minneapolis-based Ceres Global Ag announced Wednesday it has sold the well-known terminal at Port Colborne, Ont., about 30 km west of Buffalo, N.Y., to London Agricultural Commodities (LAC) for US$4 million.

The flour mill, built at what was then known as Humberstone to produce Robin Hood Flour during the Second World War, was shut down in 2008 by its then-owner, Horizon Milling (now part of Ardent Mills).

Ceres took over the facility in 2010 and repurposed its two million bushels of storage capacity as a grain export terminal. In 2019 Ceres began a long-term storage and handling services agreement with LAC, committing most of the terminal’s capacity to LAC traffic.

Ceres’ employees at the terminal will now transition to work for LAC, the companies said Wednesday.

“This strategic move to take ownership of a facility we have previously leased further demonstrates our commitment to the industry and exercises our ability to efficiently plan for more internationally bound cargo shipments,” LAC president Richard Smibert said in a release.

LAC noted its deal to buy the site comes in the wake of a $45.3 million project announced Jan. 11 by the federal government and St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. for reconstruction and rehab work on three wharf sites at Port Colborne.

Port Colborne is at the south end of the Welland Canal connecting Lake Ontario to Lake Erie. The federal government, which put up $22.7 million for that project under the National Trade Corridors Fund, said the project will help relieve “supply chain congestion” in the region.

“It is expected the facility will in time see increased cargo volumes to export markets served by southern Ontario farming exports of soybeans, wheat and corn,” LAC said Wednesday in its release.

The Port Colborne terminal’s storage capacity is the equivalent of about 50,000 tonnes of grain, with capability to handle truck, rail and vessel traffic as well as corn drying capacity of up to 1,200 bushels per hour at 10 points moisture removal.

London-based LAC, operating since 1985, runs a cash grain trading business focused on corn, wheat, food-grade identity-preserved soybeans and feed ingredients and byproducts. Along with Port Colborne, it owns two southwestern Ontario inland grain handling and processing sites, at Thamesville and Tupperville, and partners with 15 other inland grain handling facilities in the province.

On Ceres’ part, the deal “aligns with our long-term strategy of optimizing our footprint around our core products and the locations where we operate,” CEO Carlos Paz said in a release.

Ceres has recently dialed back on some of its business plans. Last summer it indefinitely shelved its previously announced plans to build a canola crush plant in southeastern Saskatchewan as it “re-examine(s) the economics” of that project.

The company last June also closed a deal to sell its special crops handling facility specializing in bird food at Ste. Agathe, Man., to Orenda Commodity Services. Ceres reported a gain of $3.7 million on the sale of the former Delmar Commodities site.

Ceres’ assets in the Canadian crops sector today include Manitoba-based Delmar Commodities’ other grain handling and soybean crush facilities, plus a U.S. border grain terminal at Northgate, Sask.; a former Cargill grain elevator north of Tisdale, Sask.; and minority stakes in Canterra Seeds and Saskatchewan shortline Stewart Southern Railway.

Last March, Ceres also extended its reach into North Dakota, picking up a 50 per cent stake in Berthold Farmers Elevator previously held by Columbia Grain. The Berthold business has grain handling sites at Berthold and Carpio, N.D., about an hour southeast of Northgate. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Minneapolis-based Ceres said Friday it’s suspending the crush project it announced in May last year and will terminate a related equipment design and supply contract, so as to reduce “project-related contract liabilities.”

The proposed plant had been expected to be up and running by summer 2024, adjacent to the company’s grain terminal near the North Dakota border at Northgate, Sask., about 60 km southeast of Estevan.

Ceres had said in May 2021 it expected to spend US$350 million to build the plant, with capacity to handle 1.1 million tonnes of canola per year. The company had also said it was “engaged in discussions with other interested financial and industry players to fund the project.”

On Friday, however, Ceres said its decision to suspend the project was due to “a variety of factors, including but not limited to, inflationary pressures resulting in higher costs than initially projected” as well as “shifting macroeconomic conditions.”

Ceres said Friday it still plans to “continue to explore avenues” toward some form of canola crush project in the future — but emphasized in a release that “there is no guarantee that such a project will come to fruition or would be similar to the previously announced project.”

Meanwhile, however, Ceres said it expects to take an impairment charge on its fourth-quarter and year-end results this fall in the neighbourhood of $25 million to $30 million, due to terminating the equipment supply and design contract and suspending the project.

That charge, Ceres said, will be “in relation to certain earlier expenditures made in connection with the project.”

Aside from its grain hub at Northgate, Ceres’ other existing assets in the Canadian crops business include its Welland Canal grain terminal at Port Colborne, Ont.; the grain handling and soybean crush assets of Manitoba grain firm Delmar Commodities; and a former Cargill grain elevator north of Tisdale, Sask. It also holds minority stakes in Canterra Seeds and Saskatchewan shortline Stewart Southern Railway. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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But the newcomer grain company made headlines May 25, announcing plans to build a 1.1-million-tonne, US$350-million canola-crushing plant at Northgate, Sask.

That move brought the firm into clearer focus for many market participants, and the picture that’s emerged is a company with a unique focus.

While Ceres has country elevators in Saskatchewan and Minnesota, most are in Manitoba, after acquiring Delmar Commodities in July 2020.

The deal included Jordan Mills, a soybean extrusion plant that makes meal and oil located at Jordan Corner near Roland, Man.

“We’re constantly looking at what we can do with our footprint (in Manitoba),” Robert Day, Ceres’ president and CEO said in an interview earlier this spring.

“The Delmar acquisition was really exciting. We’ve connected Delmar to a bigger network. Those elevators are operating more efficiently with more volume moving through them so that’s been really exciting and we’re always looking for ways to make investments to increase the capacity… Manitoba continues to be a very important province for us as a company. We are looking at some opportunities. We are going to increase our footprint in Canada and Manitoba specifically.”

Why it matters: Grain handling and merchandising is a low-margin, capital-intensive business with high barriers to entry. New entrants can increase competition resulting in better service and prices for farmers.

Growth

Work is underway to expand Jordan Mills’ annual 70,000-tonne soybean-processing capacity 50 per cent to 105,000 tonnes, Day said.

To attract a major, one-million-tonne-a-year soybean-crushing plant, Manitoba needs a lot more soybean production, he added.

Crop-insured production the last five years averaged 1.5 million tonnes.

“So we are appropriately sized for that market,” Day said, but added when there’s enough production, Ceres would consider building a large soybean-crushing plant in Manitoba.

“As the oilseed crush story evolves in North America it does make the prospects for that more attractive. We’re pretty excited about that business.”

Ceres might be best known for its grain, fertilizer and energy export facility at Northgate on the Saskatchewan-North Dakota border.

Situated on about 1,300 acres of land on the Canadian side, it has two rail loops, each capable of handling 210 unit trains and two ladder tracks for up to 65 rail cars, connected to the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway.

Ceres Global has a 50 per cent interest in Savage Riverport, a joint venture with Consolidated Grain and Barge Co., a 50 per cent interest in Gateway Energy Terminal, a joint operation with Steel Reef Infrastructure Corp., a 25 per cent interest in Stewart Southern Railway Inc., a short line railway located in southeast Saskatchewan and a 17 per cent interest in Canterra Seed Holdings Ltd.

Ceres has terminals in Minnesota, including Duluth and Port Colborne, Ont., giving the company access to the Mississippi and ultimately the Gulf of Mexico and the St. Lawrence Seaway.

Focus

Ceres is focused on grain markets — especially for oats, spring wheat and durum — in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

“Our goal is to be No. 1 in those products in North America,” Day said. “We are serving customers in North America but also internationally. We are broadly positioned from an origination standpoint in the U.S. and Canada and that makes us unique. Our competitors tend to be all Canadian or all American. We can kind of be a bigger fish in a smaller pond.”

Day added the company has the infrastructure to compete on scale, cross-border supply chains and can provide transloading services in other commodity sectors, giving it a unique position.

That’s why Ceres isn’t as active in Alberta and exports very little through Vancouver, Canada’s biggest grain port, he said.

Ceres has a 50 per cent interest in Farmers Grain, LLC (a joint venture with Farmer’s Cooperative Grain and Seed Association) in Thief River Falls, Minn. and is exploring grain business opportunities in the Dakotas, Day said.

“We want to be very balanced between the U.S. and Canada,” he said. “Over time we think that’s a competitive advantage.”

Upstart

So how does a new grain company compete against patient, private firms, some of which have existed more than 100 years surviving two world wars, the Dirty ’30s and the Canadian Wheat Board?

By having a plan, putting it into action, some “blind faith,” said Day.

“What we found was if we clearly understand what our customer needs… we can be (a) cost competitive and then (b) that we can bring the unique value that they are looking for and add to that over time. Then we’re less concerned about the competition as long as we are really listening to the customer… and we can stay in front of that,” he said. “I think that’s what has allowed us to be successful and increase our confidence as we increase volumes and build those relationships.”

Focusing on oats, spring wheat and durum allows Ceres to be a “market-maker,” managing the supply chain between farmers and processor, Day said.

Ceres has been building its canola seed business too, moving the crop from Canada to a customer in Mexico City via Northgate.

While it’s still largely a commodity business, Day said his customers are increasingly seeking extras.

“They want seed-specific, identity-preserved supply chains and they want low glyphosate or no glyphosate, they want a low carbon footprint,” he said. “We are really trying to provide the non-commodity type, value-add solutions that layer on top of the commodity.”

He says that strategy allows the company to be “big and efficient” in the commodities it deals with because of its infrastructure. That allows it to compete on size, scale and cost efficiency with bigger companies.

“We couldn’t do it if we were handling canola and soybeans, or trying to export out of Vancouver so that’s not our focus,” he said. “But when it comes to serving customers in the United States and Mexico and internationally through the lakes, we can compete on size, scale and efficiency.”

Getting results

The plan is working. When its 2019-20 fiscal year ended June 20, 2020 Ceres recorded $582 million in gross revenue and $4.3 million in net income, compared to a $16.9-million loss the year before.

“The increase was primarily related to $8.3 million in improved income from operations over the prior year along with $8.2 million in a legal case that was settled in the prior year,” Ceres’ 2019-20 annual report states.

Its EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) was $16.9 million versus -$4.1 million the year before.

It’s a big turnaround for a company created by a hedge fund that really didn’t understand the grain business and subsequently lost about $50 million, Day said. But about seven years ago changes were made, including in the ownership with some shareholders believing Ceres’ assets had the makings of a profitable grain company.

The company’s name Ceres, the Greek goddess of agriculture, was inherited from the hedge fund.

“It’s a great name and it’s a terrible name,” Day said. “And the reason why it’s a terrible name is because it’s such a good name, and the problem is there are so many companies around the world that have used the name.”

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“Good news all around.”

That’s how Chris Vervaet, executive director of the Canadian Oilseed Processors Association (COPA), responded when asked about Ceres Global Ag Corp.’s plans to build a 1.1-million-tonne canola-crushing plant at Northgate, Sask.

Earlier this year two other companies announced they will build new plants, and a third announced it was doubling capacity of an existing facility.

“The significant expansion of crush capacity… it’s just good news,” Vervaet said in an interview May 27. “It continues to underscore… the confidence that companies have in the ability to crush canola in Canada and to our investment in Canada.”

Canada’s canola-crushing capacity of 11 million tonnes will jump by 5.7 million tonnes, or almost 52 per cent, to 16.7 million if all the announced expansion occurs.

Vervaet said he’s confident Canada produces enough raw canola seed to meet the growing demand from domestic processors.

Now Canada’s crushers can process about half of the country’s annual canola production. After the new plants start operating they could crush 75 per cent of it. Canola production is expected to increase as well.

If more canola seed is processed domestically that could free up some grain export capacity at Vancouver, say some industry observers.

“We need to keep in mind that meal will have to find a home,” Vervaet said. “That might be moved through greater volumes off the West Coast.”

Much of the expanded crush capacity aims to meet growing biodiesel needs here, but that’s not all the value it will create.

“This isn’t just a fuel North America plays when it comes to the increased capacity of canola crushing,” he said. “There’s still a very important food aspect and canola oil does move off the West Coast. There’s still room to move product, even though it’s in a value-added format, it could still very much move to international markets in greater volumes.”

April 26 Viterra announced it’s going to build the world’s biggest canola-crushing plant with 2.5 million tonnes of capacity at Regina, Sask.

Four days earlier Cargill announced plans to build a one-million-tonne canola crusher, also at Regina.

A month before that Richardson International said it will double the capacity of its crushing plant at Yorkton, Sask. to 2.2 million tonnes annually.

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The Minneapolis company said Tuesday it plans to spend US$350 million to build an integrated crush plant with capacity to handle 1.1 million tonnes of canola per year and is “engaged in discussions with other interested financial and industry players to fund the project.”

The plant, expected to be up and running by summer 2024, would be adjacent to the company’s grain terminal near the U.S. border at Northgate, Sask., about 60 km southeast of Estevan.

Ceres’ proposed crush plant would have capacity to refine over 500,000 tonnes of canola oil per year to supply the food and biofuel markets, the company said.

“While there are multiple drivers contributing to this demand, the most important is the movement towards green energy and the need for vegetable oil as feedstock for the production of renewable diesel,” Ceres CEO Robert Day said in a release.

“We have been analyzing canola crush at Northgate for several years as its location along the Canada-U.S. border is ideally located to originate canola seed from our farmer partners, and with a direct connection to BNSF Railway, it provides the most efficient access to the U.S. market and U.S. ports.”

Ceres’ Northgate grain terminal already includes a 2.7 million-bushel shuttle-loading grain elevator and two 120-car loop tracks, which provide it with “construction-ready” infrastructure and shorten the new project’s timeline, he said.

Ceres said it expects the plant to lead to the creation of over 50 full-time jobs in Saskatchewan — where it will enter an increasingly crowded playing field for canola processing.

Winnipeg grain handler Richardson International, for one, announced in March it plans to about double the capacity of its canola crush plant at Yorkton, Sask. to over 2.2 million tonnes per year.

Last month, grain handling heavyweights Cargill and Viterra separately announced plans to build major canola crush plants at Regina, and Federated Co-operatives (FCL) announced a deal to buy the assets of renewable diesel processor True North Renewable Fuels.

FCL had said it was interested in processing renewable diesel next to its its major fuel refinery complex in Regina. However, that city’s land deal with Viterra for its crush plant site stands to break up the available land for such a project.

Major markets

Jim Titsworth, Texas-based BNSF’s director of agricultural development, said in Ceres’ release Tuesday that demand for renewable diesel feedstocks is “rapidly growing” and the Northgate site has “a unique location, both in Canada’s canola-growing region and with direct rail access to the major renewable diesel and food processing markets via BNSF’s network.”

The same rail network, he said, “also results in advantaged animal feed market access for canola meal.”

Ceres’ grain terminal was developed as part of a larger hub the company operates at Northgate, where it also handles commodities such as fertilizers and propane.

U.S. grain firm Scoular had planned in 2013 to build and operate the grain facility within the larger Ceres hub, but Ceres in 2014 cancelled that arrangement and moved to build the grain facility on its own.

Ceres — which already had set up a 2.3 million-bushel capacity grain terminal on the Welland Canal at Port Colborne, Ont., at a former Robin Hood flour mill it bought from Cargill in 2009 — has since expanded further into Prairie grain, oilseed and special crop handling and processing.

Its Prairie assets include the grain handling and soybean crush assets of Manitoba grain firm Delmar Commodities, which it bought in 2019, and a former Cargill grain elevator it bought last year north of Tisdale in northeastern Saskatchewan.

Other related Ceres assets include a 25 per cent of Saskatchewan shortline Stewart Southern Railway; a 17 per cent stake in Canterra Seeds; a Lake Superior terminal at Duluth; and grain terminals at Minneapolis and Shakopee, Minn.

To raise funds for the Northgate crush plant, Ceres said it will work in tandem with its own shareholders including New York-based firms VN Capital Management and Highbridge Capital Management and Minneapolis-based Whitebox Advisors. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The company announced Thursday it has an agreement in place to buy Cargill’s elevator and “associated assets” at Nicklen Siding, about 30 km north of Tisdale in northeastern Saskatchewan.

The elevator, on Canadian National Railway (CN) track near the intersection of Highways 35 and 335, has handling capacity of about 13,100 tonnes after its expansion from about 5,700 in 1999.

Terms of Ceres’ deal with privately-held Cargill weren’t disclosed, except that Ceres plans to pay for the purchase with “existing working capital”and the two companies expect to close the sale by the end of August.

Ceres said it will also assume Cargill’s open grain purchase contracts and the elevator’s current staff will continue to work for Ceres.

Ceres’ Prairie grain handling and processing assets so far include the Manitoba facilities it took over when it bought Delmar Commodities in August last year, plus its grain export terminal on the U.S. border at Northgate, Sask., southeast of Estevan.

Its Canadian assets also include a terminal on the Welland Canal at Port Colborne, Ont.; 25 per cent of Saskatchewan shortline Stewart Southern Railway; and a 17 per cent stake in Canterra Seeds.

Its U.S. grain operations include a Lake Superior terminal at Duluth, grain terminals at Minneapolis and Shakopee, Minn. and a joint venture with Consolidated Grain and Barge in a terminal at Savage, Minn.

With the Cargill deal, “we take another meaningful step in our broader strategy to increase core product origination directly from growers in important regions,” Ceres CEO Robert Day said in the company’s release Thursday.

The northern Saskatchewan region, he said, “is critical for Ceres due to the highly efficient grower community, its product mix and competitive access to our terminal assets and customers.”

The deal would also effectively take Cargill out of northeastern Saskatchewan as a grain handler. The agrifood firm’s next closest elevators for growers in that part of the province are at Yorkton or at Clavet, just southeast of Saskatoon. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Ceres announced Friday it has completed the deal to buy all of Delmar’s shares for about $15.25 million in cash and assume about $7.6 million in existing term debt.

The Minneapolis firm said July 8 it had an exclusive option to buy Delmar and expected to close that deal on or around Aug. 1, having already started its due diligence work back in February.

Delmar’s operations in Manitoba include its Jordan Mills soybean crush plant near Roland and elevators at Roland, Somerset, Gladstone, Westbourne, Newdale and Beausejour. It’s also the exclusive seed corn and soybean distributor in Western Canada for U.S.-based Legend Seeds.

Winkler-based Delmar dates back to 1995, founded by Martin Harder from castoff elevators during grain industry consolidation at the time. Harder sold his shares in Delmar in 2010, to an ownership group of five key employees and the Keystone Grain Group.

The deal with Ceres calls for Delmar to operate as a subsidiary, with its operations and about 55 employees “strategically integrated” into Ceres’ network.

By buying Delmar, “we have made meaningful progress on our goal to diversify our product lines, add strategic origination capabilities for our core products, and expand our geographic footprint in Canada,” Ceres CEO Robert Day said in a release Friday.

Ceres’ footprint in Canadian grains already includes a terminal on the Welland Canal at Port Colborne, Ont.; a Prairie export terminal on the U.S. border at Northgate, Sask., southeast of Estevan; 25 per cent of Saskatchewan shortline Stewart Southern Railway; and a 17 per cent stake in Canterra Seeds.

Its U.S. grain operations include a Lake Superior terminal at Duluth, grain terminals at Minneapolis and Shakopee, Minn. and a joint venture with Consolidated Grain and Barge in a terminal at Savage, Minn. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The Winkler, Man. grain, oilseed and processing firm was founded by Martin Harder in 1995 from castoff elevators during the grain sector’s consolidation push at the time.

Harder left the firm in 2010, selling his shares to an ownership group consisting of five key employees and the Keystone Grain Group.

Minnesota-based Ceres said Monday has secured an “exclusive option” to acquire the company and plans to close a deal by Aug. 1, pending due diligence.

Under the option agreement, Ceres has the right, through July 31, to purchase all of Delmar’s issued and outstanding shares for $16 million in cash paid to Delmar’s shareholders, and the assumption of about $7.6 million in existing term debt.

Delmar would operate as a subsidiary of Ceres, with Delmar’s operations and approximately 55 employees “strategically integrated into Ceres’ overall operational network” according to a media release announcing the deal.

Ceres CEO Robert Day said Delmar’s grain assets, soybean crush capacity and other business activities make them a good fit for his company.

Ceres’ other Canadian assets include a grain elevator on the Welland Canal at Port Colborne, Ont. and a Prairie export terminal on the U.S. border at Northgate, Sask., southeast of Estevan.

“We see significant value in Delmar’s capabilities, market knowledge and customer relationships, but perhaps the most attractive aspect of Delmar is its people and their talent.” Day said.

Delmar president Dale Heide said the Manitoba firm is excited to join a larger business which opens the door to new opportunities.

“Delmar’s growth ambitions and plans, combined with Ceres’ customer network and access to capital, would provide us with a unique opportunity to profitably grow together,” Heide said. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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