by SUSAN MANN
Heinz is willing to pay up to $1.8 million to compensate the 43 Ontario tomato growers it left in the lurch after announcing plans to close the company’s Leamington processing plant.
So far, more than 40 growers have been contacted about the terms of the deal, says Walter Brown, a member of the Ontario Processing Vegetable Growers board. He says the deal has to be approved by all 43 growers.
Heinz was bought by Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and Brazilian investors, 3G Capital, last year. In November, the company announced it was closing the 104-year-old tomato processing plant in Leamington that makes ketchup and juice. More than 1,000 unionized, salaried and seasonal staff will be out of work. The Leamington plant is Canada’s largest food processing facility and is the only plant Heinz owns worldwide that accepts raw tomatoes to make paste for ketchup. As a rule Heinz buys paste from California for its ketchup making facilities.
Brown says Heinz has agreed to pay growers $9 a ton on last year’s contracted tonnage. The company contracted just over 200,000 tons in total from local growers in 2013. “Whatever a contracted grower contracted last year” that amount will be multiplied by $9 per ton, Brown explains.
The first step in the compensation process is for the growers to sign a “confirmation of agreement.”
“We only have a handful that we need to get this (the confirmation of agreement) back from,” Brown says, adding they will likely have everyone contacted and their confirmation agreements returned by the end of this week.
The second step is Heinz will send “a release directly to each grower that will need to be returned to Heinz in order to initiate the payment.”
If some people don’t agree to the tentative deal, the whole thing falls apart, Brown says, adding, “I do not expect any issues. I really don’t.”
Growers were hoping for more money for compensation considering “what we were left with.” But the growers were willing to accept the Processing Vegetable Growers’ recommendation to take the deal, he notes.
For its part, Heinz hasn’t yet specified what it will do with the Leamington plant once it’s closed in June. Michael Mullen, corporate and government affairs senior vice president at Heinz’s world headquarters in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, says be email “Heinz continues to review all options for the facility post closure.”
In an earlier interview, Brown said he would be growing more cash crops now that Heinz is closing and many former Heinz growers will be doing the same. Heinz tomato growers were waiting to see if anything would develop with other processors or possibly the Leamington plant “but as of now there is no opportunity for any of the growers to pick up other contracts.”
Brown says there are “43 growers just left sitting with their equipment.” Brown says he’s in that boat too. “I think eventually it (the tomato equipment) will just start going to the scrap heap.”
Brown, who farms with his son-in-law, says they had a base contract of 10,000 tons and needed eight tractors for the tomato operation. Some of those will have to be sold now because “we only need a handful for grain.” For other more specialized equipment that was dedicated to tomato production “there’s just no home for it.”
The Brown tomato operation had 22 wagons for hauling the crop but now “I don’t know what we’re going to do with it all.”
Heinz’s previous owners “had promised us that we would get two years’ notice before we would be shut down,” he says.
“The shock was that not only did they shut down the receiving of tomatoes but they shut the whole factory down,” he says. BF
Comments
That is what big companies do buy out and close down. Canada is going to the dogs and we just stand by and let it. The government is too busy going all over the world to make deals that closes all our plants and leave the middle class as low income and they will say that its all for progress. These billionaires are preaching they should leave a good share of their money to charities when they die , but in the mean time they are sucking everyone dry to build their fortune. Maybe its time that the people start taking back their pride and start demanding the government start working for the people and not their pocket book. Talk about third world countries we are just a step from becoming one ourselves and someone will own us for their very own slave.
we had a closing of our plant taconite .when they closed it many unhappy things happened . bosses scavenged the choice equiptment and sold it . they kept everyone around for six months on unemployment and subpay , then announced sudden closing! 1200 families left our small town financially exhausted . the unions took the severence pay from everyone with less then 22 years. you politicians did us harm also.this is ging on in many industries .here in mn. usa. you like globbal . take a long walk . kal
One way to fix these problems is for farmers form coop's and own the food processing businesses and secure their future. Gaylea, Hensall coop, Organic Meadow, Pine River Cheese, the list goes on and on of farmers who have done this. Don't be a victim be a success story .....
Sean McGivern
PFO
Funny thing how an anti Sm proponent has 3 of his four examples of success that are tied to SM . The forth one does not process food . Only ships raw product to processors .
So what say ye now ?
Any of those three would be alive and well without SM.
As a matter of fact I know a dairy farmer that belongs to GayLea as his plan B...when there is no SM.
There are scores of co-ops that are involved food production, from flour mills in western Canada, to an oat flaking coop in SK, Coop Grocery Stores, CSA farms, or several raw milk dairies in Ontario, who process there milk in to butter, cream & cheese. We also have a dairy goat milk co-op in Ontario, And an large federally inspected organic meat marketing coop, there are tons for of examples of farmers capturing way more money from their products by taking a more value added approach to marketing.
Farm now ore then ever before have all kinds of opportunities to be able to get more value out of their products and they can either do that by independently value adding or by being a part of a value chain or by joining a co-op all of these options if done properly have the opportunity to generate more financial stability for the farmers involved.
WHAT IS OUR GOVERNMENT TO DO WITH EVERYBODY. I heard go on welfare buy a dog you get more money,if you smoke you get more money yet ,know our Canadian dollar is dropping should help manufacturers and plants oh yes there is hardly any left .
Post new comment