Picton Terminals and Canadian agriculture giant Parrish & Heimbecker (P&H) are partnering on a new bulk agricultural terminal.

The Terminals says the state-of-the-art facility will offer crucial shipping and marketing opportunities to Eastern Ontario farmers, along with efficient transportation for corn, wheat, and soybeans.

Local grain farmer Dean Foster said the opportunity to realize massive savings on trucking will be a boon for local farmers. The announcement, he said, was some of the biggest news for local agriculture in many  years.

“It’s going to benefit someone like me who is dealing with grain marketers who will probably begin working with P&H. They are major players in this industry. This terminal will take so many trucks off the road.”

No Permit Required?

A battle is brewing, however, over building permits. The Terminals says construction of storage silos and receiving buildings will start this fall, and the port will be operational by 2026.

According to the County, however, no building permit has been applied for. 

“At this time, the Building Department has not received any applications for proposed construction for the site. All buildings, as defined in the Building Code Act, require a permit. 

“A permit application would be subject to planning approval and compliance with the Ontario Building Code,” said Don Butwell, the County’s Chief Building Officer.

Any structure with a footprint of more than 10 sq. m requires a building permit – even larger backyard sheds.

The Terminals and the County have reached a settlement that requires an MZO be granted by the Housing and Municipal Affairs Minister, Paul Callandra.

Even with an MZO on its properties, the Terminals would be required to apply for a building permit.

All structures already on the property, should an MZO be granted, would be grandfathered. As Picton Terminals continues to claim the municipality has no jurisdiction over its lands, it may try to build without any permits. The Terminals did not respond to requests for comment. 

Major Market

Most local harvests are transported via truck to the Port of Johnstown near Prescott, where they are shipped to larger ports. Corn is processed at the nearby Cardinal Biorefinery adjacent to the port. 

The new agricultural port would mark a major investment in the future of regional agriculture as well as the local economy. A typical bulk grain freighter can carry 29,000 tonnes — or 725 tractor trailer loads.

The Crying of ’49

Should the project win approval, semis pulling loaded grain hoppers from farms across Durham and Kingston will head to Picton Bay.

The increased heavy truck traffic would severely strain the damaged and cracking concrete of Hwy 49, already in need of $30 million dollars of rehabilitation and repair work.

Good news for local farmers

P&H has customers in two dozen countries and more than 1,500 employees. It has 40 grain and crop input sites, seven export terminals, seven flour mills and five animal feed production facilities across Canada. Created in 1909 by two grain-trading families, led by W.L. Parrish from Brandon, Manitoba and Norman Heimbecker from Hanover, Ontario, the company is still owned and managed by the same families.

Steve Kell is a Simcoe County crop farmer who also writes for Farmer’s Forum. He said the partnership between P&H and Picton Terminals was encouraging news for local grain growers who will now have an option other than trucking to distant ports.

“Any opportunity to improve local farmers’ access to global markets is great for both farmers and the local economy. Each year more than 3 million tonnes of Ontario-grown soybeans, corn, and wheat are exported by vessel to overseas markets. That a well established player in Canadian grain exports like P&H is planning to make a long term investment in Picton to provide a marine gateway for local crops to reach the world’s markets is fantastic,” Mr. Kell told the Gazette.

Mr. Foster, a third-generation County farmer, with land in the shadow of Sandbanks, pointed to nearby Athol Bay, where some of the footings from the McDonald-Hyatt pier still exist. “That’s where barley was loaded on ships and sent off to ports in New York state in the late 1800’s,” he notes. “Soup Harbour got its name because of the grain that was loaded and shipped there.

“This certainly isn’t the beginning of shipping grain from Prince Edward County, it’s just a new chapter and one local farmers have been waiting for.” 

—With files from Karen Valihora