Glacier FarmMedia – The new hub for Cereals Canada in downtown Winnipeg is expected to break ground this year.
That will let the incoming Global Agriculture Technology Exchange (GATE) facility officially open its doors in 2027.
Cereals Canada hopes ithe facilty will help expand Canada’s global market for wheat and other grains through research and market development.
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The project is estimated to cost approximately $100 million. Facility plans call for specialized technical spaces, including a grain mill that can replicate milling process from around the world and help tease out how Canadian products could fit into the cultural needs of international markets.
GATE capital campaign chair JoAnne Buth said the facility will allow Canada’s grain industry to grow and thrive both domestically and internationally.
“The recent volatility in trade relations underscores the urgent need for market diversification,” she said in a press release.
Canada is expected to export 26.2 million tonnes of wheat to more than 80 countries in the 2024-25 crop year, making it the world’s third-largest exporter of wheat and the top exporter in high-quality, high-protein wheat.
“Each of those markets around the world will come to Canada, and they are interested in our wheat,” said GATE campaign cabinet member David Hansen.
“Ultimately it’s about price, but it is also about quality and quantity and availability and all those other pieces of it… And it’s up to Cereals Canada to help facilitate that customer with our wheat and ensure that they’re achieving the outcomes that they need.”
Prairie producer groups have confirmed their funding for the project in recent months.
It has not been universally popular. The financial impact and proposed location of the new GATE facility drew questions from some Cereals Canada members and farmers before the capital campaign kicked off last year.
However, Hansen said a new facility was justified in order to give Cereals Canada the ability to advance its technological abilities to conduct applied research and testing. An office building, like the one where it is currently located in downtown Winnipeg, doesn’t fit those needs or allow for the growth of the Canadian grains industry, he said.
“This is very specialized. If you think about it, the air and the moisture and humidities and constants in temperatures and the ability to move a big piece of equipment in and out of the building are important. The building really has to be built around the equipment,” he said.
“It’s a very legitimate question in terms of do we need to go and build something new when there’s office space ‘here’ or empty buildings over ‘there.’ But that is not a solution for what GATE is all about or what it needs. If we’re going to continue being the player that we are in this game on a global basis, we need the tools, we need the technologies, we need the professionals that are going to be employed in this facility.”
GATE has received funding commitments of approximately $13.5 million from Canadian grower associations. Cereals Canada is also committing $5 million from its reserves.
