Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 21, 2024, Winnipeg, Manitoba B4 THURSDAY MARCH 21, 2024 ● BUSINESS@FREEPRESS.MB.CA ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM BUSINESS BrettYoung builds capacity, efficiency in new $20-M south Winnipeg cleaning, sorting, packaging facility From tiny seeds grow… W HEN you spread a bag of Scotts Turf Builder on your lawn or marvel at the lushness of the fairway at your favourite golf course this spring, it’s likely the grass seed involved was processed, bagged and shipped at BrettYoung’s sprawling oper- ation west of the Brady Road landfill. The Winnipeg company — founded by Bill Brett and Reg Young — has been in the turf and forage seed business since the 1950s, and has become the largest player in the field in Canada. To do that has meant a lot of expan- sion at its 30-acre site. Six new buildings have been con- structed on the site in the last 10 years — the most recent of which is a $20-mil- lion, 60,000-square-foot cleaning, sort- ing and packaging facility featuring automated technologies that will allow for three times the capacity of its exist- ing production lines, the company says. Erik Dyck, who became BrettYoung CEO in September and is co-owner of the company, along with his father, Lloyd, said the new facility is the lar- gest and most complex of its kind in Canada. (Dyck’s grandfather bought the company in the mid-1970s.) Although it processes and markets a few dozen different kinds of seeds, its turf seed business is its largest (which the new facility will exclusively handle). “We’re the largest primary processor and producer of forage and turf seed in Canada,” Dyck said. “This new invest- ment allows us to bring a diverse range of options to farmers, like forage and turf species that provide all sorts of agronomic benefits, allowing farmers to diversify crop rotations and add to soil carbon.” The recent investment is a testimony to the company’s attention to quality and customer service, according to its leadership. “We’ve had 12 to 15 years of steadily increasing sales and volumes through this facility,” said Cory Baseraba, chief operating officer. “As our customers have wanted more and more from us, the (Dyck) family has been more than willing to invest.” Including the new, so-called North Core turf seed processing facility, the company has doubled its production footprint in the last 10 years. The new line includes a comput- er-controlled pneumatic air conveyor system, with 36 diverting valves that move seeds around the facility where it they are cleaned, blended and packaged with minimal labour required. “In our old processing plant there are 25 forklift trucks moving bins around,” said Baseraba. “There’s a few forklifts required in North Core but the effi- ciency gains are huge.” North Core — commissioned about a year ago — requires fewer than 10 people to operate. The company employs a total of about 250, with about 140 of them at the Winnipeg complex and the rest split between two Alberta and one Ontario processing and distribution operations. BrettYoung contracts with farmers, mostly in Western Canada, as well as some international, to produce 30-40 different types of highly specialized turf seed, a range of forage crops, as well as some specialized canola and soybean seeds. The company also does a big business in forage seeds, servicing reclamation sites for the oil and gas, mining and mu- nicipal sectors, offering native grasses, alfalfa and clover to regreen spaces. BrettYoung markets more than 25 var- ieties of perennial rye grass seeds alone. A partnership with German-owned DL Seeds, whose North American oper- ation is based at BrettYoung’s south Winnipeg operation, is responsible for its line of specialized canola and soy- bean seeds. This week, the company is awaiting a shipment of 38 containers of hybrid canola seed from Chile, which is grown in the winter and then shipped to Win- nipeg to be ready for spring planting on the Prairies. Its wholesale forage and turf busi- ness exports to more than 40 countries, with the U.S. and China being the lar- gest destination. The $200-million per year company had a significant spike in business during the COVID-19 pandemic when public activity options were limited but yard improvement and golfing were still on the table. (Sales in 2023 took a dip with pandemic regulations in the rear-view mirror.) Meantime, Dyck said he holds to his father’s mantra — “If you’re not grow- ing than you’re going.” He said the new Winnipeg facility will help manage the seasonal spikes in demand. “Farmers only harvest one time per year in North America,” said Baseraba. “In order for us to grow, we have to get our hands on all of it at harvest time.” Then there is cool-season grass seeds used for over-seeding golf courses in the southern U.S. that need to be plant- ed in the fall. “We only have three-to-four weeks to do that,” the COO said. “To handle that we need horsepower to push it through quick.” The Chinese market kicks in with overseas shipments usually during the winter months. The winter months are also occupied with bagging and packaging that fills more than 100,000 sq. ft. of warehouse space at its complex, with pallets of per- ennial rye grass, tall fescue, fine fescue and Kentucky Bluegrass waiting to get pushed out for spring planting. “We can never have enough ware- housing space,” said Dyck. martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca MARTIN CASH MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS BrettYoung CEO Erik Dyck (top right) and COO Cory Baseraba show off the company’s new facility west of the Brady Road landfill Wednesday. BoC expects to cut rates this year, governing council split on timing OTTAWA — The Bank of Canada expects it will be able to begin cutting interest rates sometime this year, but officials are split on timing. That’s according to the central bank’s sum- mary of deliberations detailing the discussions governing council members had in the lead-up to the March 6 interest rate announcement. The summary says governing council mem- bers agreed if the economy and inflation evolve in line with the Bank of Canada’s projections, the central bank will be able to begin cutting inter- est rates sometime this year. While members agreed on the conditions the Bank of Canada needs to start lowering its policy rate — they want to see further and sustained easing in the bundle of indicators they call “underlying inflation” — they had varying views on when those conditions will be met. “There was some diversity of views among governing council members about when there would likely be enough evidence that these con- ditions were in place, and how to weight the risks to the outlook,” the summary said. The BoC opted to continue holding its inter- est rate at five per cent earlier this month, and brushed off questions on the timing of rate cuts. Governor Tiff Macklem said the central bank did not want to move too quickly, only to have to reverse course later. Macklem has also sug- gested the central bank will not cut interest rates at the pace it raised them. In Canada, recent data shows the annual in- flation rate came in lower than expected for a second consecutive month, reaching 2.8 per cent in February. The latest inflation figures solidified econo- mists’ expectations the Bank of Canada will begin cutting interest rates around the middle of the year. However, the summary suggests the central bank is quite concerned inflation risks trending higher than expected, particularly as shelter costs continue to skyrocket. “If the housing sector rebounds in the spring, shelter price inflation could be pushed up, de- laying the return of CPI inflation to the two per cent target. If inflation proves more persistent than expected, monetary policy would likely need to remain restrictive for longer,” the sum- mary said. The Bank of Canada’s next interest rate an- nouncement is scheduled for April 10. — The Canadian Press NOJOUD AL MALLEES CRAIG RUTTLE / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday. U.S. Federal Reserve foresees three key interest rate cuts in 2024 WASHINGTON — U.S. Federal Reserve officials signalled Wednesday they still expect to cut their key interest rate three times in 2024, despite signs inflation was surprisingly high at the start of the year. Yet they foresee fewer rate cuts in 2025, and they slightly raised their inflation forecasts. After ending their latest meeting, the officials kept their benchmark rate unchanged for a fifth consecutive time. In new quarterly projections, the policy-makers forecast stronger growth and inflation above their two per cent target level would persist into next year. As a result, they suggested interest rates would have to stay slightly higher for longer. Speaking at a news conference, chairman Jerome Powell noted inflation has cooled considerably from its peak. But, he added, “inflation is still too high, ongoing progress in bringing it down is not assured and the path forward is uncertain.” “The risks are really two-sided here,” Powell said. “We’re in a situation where if we ease too much or too soon, we could see inflation come back. And if we ease too late, we could see unnecessary harm to employment.” On Wall Street, traders sent stock prices surging Wed- nesday, evidently out of relief the Fed kept its projection of three rate cuts this year. Traders had feared the Fed might downgrade the number of expected rate cuts for 2024. — The Associated Press ;