By Dori Modney (@Dori_Modney on Twitter)

Richardson International Invests $120-Million into Local Canola Plant

Aug 17, 2016 | 2:12 PM

LETHBRIDGE:  Richardson International is making another huge investment into its Lethbridge facility.
 
In 2012, the company finished a $15-million expansion of the local canola packaging plant, increasing its size by 40-per cent.  Now, a $120-million upgrade is expected to modernize the facility and significantly increase its canola crushing capability.
 
Richardson’s Director of Corporate Communications, Tracy Shelton, says they have continued to upgrade the Lethrbidge plant ever since the company acquired the facility in the late 90’s from Canbra Foods.
 
The company also operates a canola plant in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, which was built from the ground up in 2010.
 
“We want to keep Lethbridge on the same pace as Yorkton, in terms of being able to increase our processing, and now that we’ve continued to invest bits and pieces in Lethbridge, we’ve made a solid capital investment to really modernize it and increase crush capacity.”
 
Shelton noted that the current round of upgrades actually began a year.
 
“Last year we started enhancing equipment at the facility – blending equipment, bleaching facilities, a new cooker, we’ve enhanced our rail receiving and we are building a new seed receiving facility – basically a new elevator, to store canola seed once it’s delivered.”
 
The new high speed receiving system will be able to receive 800 metric tonnes of canola per hour, a significant increase from the current system, and will be ready for harvest deliveries in the fall of 2017.
 
The Lethbridge plant processes about 450,000 metric tonnes of canola annually. With these upgrades, the facility will be able to process in excess of 2,000 metric tonnes of canola per day, increasing annual crush capacity to more than 700,000 metric tonnes. Combined with its canola processing plant in Yorkton, Richardson will have the capacity to process over 1.7 million tonnes of canola per year.
 
Richardson’s two plants, in Lethbridge and Yorkton, are situated in the heart of the canola growing regions and are also close to markets for the finished canola products, which are transported by truck and rail.
 
The Lethbridge plant employees about 160 people and has a workforce of over 2,500 across Canada and the U.S. Headquartered in Winnipeg, the company has been recognized as a global leader in agriculture and food processing, and is one of Canada’s Best Managed Companies.