Friday, September 14, 2012

Puratone owes FCC $40 million

I find it amazing that Farm Credit Canada is on the hook for more than $40 million in the bankruptcy protection filed this week by Puratone Corp. of Niverville, Manitoba.

The company has 40 farms, 28,000 sows and markets 500,000 pigs per year.

At losses topping $40 per hog now, it's little wonder that the company has filed for court protection from its creditors.

Farm Credit Canada is also on the hook with Big Sky Farms of Humboldt, Sask., Canada's second-largest hog producer, which filed for bankruptcy a few days before Puratone.

What disgusts me is that taxpayers are ultimately at risk if Farm Credit Canada is unable to pay its loans from the federal government.

That's not likely to happen in the near future because so much of Canadian agriculture is on solid financial footing. But if supply management loses tariff protection during current trade negotiations, look out!

I've said it before; the federal government ought to sell Farm Credit Canada ASAP.