WESTLOCK – Westlock Terminals Limited (WTL), a locally-owned and operated producer and shareholder co-operative, officially announced last week the $1,471,000 purchase of the “home quarter” of land (SE quarter section 36 - Township 59 - Range 1, West of the 5th Meridian) and assets of the estate of Milwest Farms, owned by the late Albert and Florence Miller.
Terminals CEO Clifford Bell and board chair Gary Golby made the announcement last week after signing the official purchase papers with realtor Brandi Wolff — the parcel was one of nine pieces of land included in the sale of the Miller estate which fetched $8 million in total.
“The board of directors and management of Westlock Terminals (NGC) Ltd. sincerely hope that all shareholders and the Westlock community at large will view this as a positive strategy as the terminal looks for complementary and synergistic opportunities for growth and expansion of our core business,” said Golby.
At the organization’s Nov. 4 AGM it was noted that were looking at various ways and means to expand the co-operative in value-added opportunities and were exploring various ideas. With limited space and opportunities in town, that meant looking at other properties. The Milwest Farms home quarter, with ample grain storage and several large buildings on the site, fit the bill.
“Acting on our previous strategic plan, WTL will further collaborate with agriculture innovators to develop and sustain agriculture value-added opportunities at this site,” said the pair in a joint statement.
“Development of agriculture value-added, such as container loading, grain drying, cereal grain processing, upgrading and separations, Canola cold press, as well as expansion of our current transportation and logistics hub will continue to evolve as we grow and move forward.”
They note WTL plans to further work with local and long-distance agriculture service providers who wish to grow the local agriculture business and provide shareholder growth and member value.
“The need for our co-operative to grow and expand has been looked at with various options over the past several years, and this opportunity checks off all the boxes and gives WTL the financial and physical space to grown and sustain our co-op in an ever-changing and competitive environment,” said Bell.
Bell noted he felt Albert Miller would have been pleased to know Westlock Terminals had purchased the home quarter. “He was a strong supporter of Westlock Terminals, and all of his grain had been marketed through us.”
