North-east grain co-operative Aberdeen Grain Storage Ltd has
signed a marketing agreement with Frontier Agriculture, following its decision
earlier this week to end its partnership with Openfield, the Press and Journal website reports.
The move to Frontier has long been rumoured to be on the
cards following the departure of Openfield’s general manager in Scotland, Bruce
Ferguson, who at the time managed the grain businesses at both Aberdeen Grain
and Angus Cereals at Montrose.
Mr Ferguson is now Frontier’s general manager for Scotland.
Whiterashes-based Aberdeen Grain has storage and drying
capacity for 70,000 tonnes of combinable crops, and recently invested
£1.25million in a biomass heating system to dry grain.
The co-operative, which was founded in 1984 and has more
than 180 members, will start its new marketing agreement with Frontier from
harvest 2015.
Chairman Ian Cruickshank said: “As Aberdeen Grain continues
to grow we are looking to the future and feel that the time is right to make
this change. We are committed to adding value to our members’ businesses, and
this move will bring exciting new opportunities for our growers.”
Meanwhile, Angus Cereals has said it has no plans to follow
Aberdeen Grain and this week the Angus Cereals and Openfield partnership signed
a new supply agreement with Bairds Malt – Scotland’s largest maltster with
premises in Arbroath, Inverness and Penciatland.
Openfield, which trades more than 4.5million tonnes in the
UK every year, said it was “disappointed” to lose the Aberdeen Grain connection
but its strategic objectives remained unchanged.
The new Angus Cereals agreement with Bairds Malt will cover
much of the barley dried and stored and at its Montrose site. The silos and
flat stores at Montrose have a capacity of over 40,000 tonnes but that includes
some wheat and oilseed rape.
The new contract provides for a close working relationship
between the two organisations, including ensuring that members grow the
varieties most needed by Bairds Malt and that they are processed and segregated
accordingly to maximise the amount of grain that can ultimately be delivered.
Read the article HERE.
The Global Miller
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