|
|
Grain Storage Facilities
Types of grain storage,temporary grain storage,grain storage bins
An Elevator row is a chain of more than three structure buildings used
for bulk and safe preservation of grains before processing or shipment
hence the given name “Elevator Row”.
Many years ago, most of the Canada’s good farming lands had several number
of grain storage companies that were concentrated in one agricultural
area. They had been built by the local people who wanted to make financial
gains, hence constructing their own personal grain
storage facilities. The result was mushrooming of many of
these structures in an uncontrolled and spontaneous manner.
Due to the increase in competition from the huge number of elevators there
was an urgent need for integration and acquisition of many smaller companies
to form bigger companies with higher net worth and the outcome was only
two elevators of the same company per region remained. Small towns were
proud to advertise their large storage facilities in their promotional
hand-outs in order to catch the attention of large scale farmers. This
improved the overall image of the town as a whole in that it was very
easily known when someone moved from one town to another due to the names
placed on the tall storage buildings.
There was a drastic reduction of the cost of grain in the 1990s. This
was bad news to many private grain
storage companies that were once again forced to merge in
order to bring down the cost of operation. They aimed to remain competitive
despite the reduction in profits as a result of low cost of grains. The
end product was that many of the town grain storage tanks had to be demolished
since they were no longer productive. As a result of regular destruction
of old and non productive grain facilities that was necessitated by constant
consolidation and merging of smaller ones, Canada only has two chains
of grain storage facilities existing today. One is located in Warner,
Alberta and the second one in Inglis, Manitoba. These two make the last
present Elevators in Canada.
|
