New hay co-operative sees potential in export markets

Thursday, December 3, 2015

by SUSAN MANN

A newly-formed Ontario hay co-operative is looking for members.

Fritz Trauttmansdorff, chair of the Ontario Hay and Forage Co-operative Inc., says so far they have 15 members and they’re on a membership drive to recruit more. There’s no fixed number for the amount of members they’re aiming to get.

“The number ultimately will depend on how much hay each member wants to produce,” he says.

The membership fee is $1,000, plus members will have to buy shares based on the amount of hay they want to deliver to the co-op. The share prices haven’t been determined yet.

The co-op’s goal is to increase the value of producers’ hay and forages by on-farm drying. The hay will then be compacted by the co-op for sales to export markets such as Asia, the Middle East and Europe wanting high-quality hay.

The co-op is planning to study the feasibility of setting up a double-compaction hay facility in Southern Ontario, likely in the Guelph/Kitchener area. The proposed facility would handle up to 100,000 tonnes of hay annually and cost $10 million to $15 million to build.

The proposed location provides good access along Highway 401 for hay producers, and it’s within an hour’s drive of the container yard in Brampton where the overseas shipping containers are located, he says.

Trauttmansdorff says double compaction “is intended to fill shipping containers to the maximum weight.” The hay would then be transported to export markets by ships.

The study hasn’t started yet. “We are in the process of conducting our membership drive and then the feasibility study will get started.” The co-op plans to ask the federal government for funding to do the study.

Trauttmansdorff didn’t have a figure on how much it will cost to do the study. The co-op plans to have it done by the spring.

A number of recent developments have made the venture possible. One development is big bale hay-drying equipment is more reliable and affordable now. The technology has evolved to the point “where they can be used quite successfully on the farms and that will allow us to have a consistent supply of good quality hay,” he says.

Another development is the widening of the Panama Canal in Central America will allow large container ships destined for Asia to go through. This development puts Eastern North American hay producers “on a more even footing with Western producers to access those Asian markets,” he explains.

The website of the Panama Canal expansion says as of Oct. 31 the project was 95 per cent completed.

Trauttmansdorff says he doesn’t have an exact number for how many farmers grow hay in Ontario but the Ontario Forage Council has about 3,000 members. About two million acres of forages are grown in Ontario. BF