Grain: The Entrepreneurs

George Jackson is a retired professional agrologist.

With the opening up of Western Canada in the 1880s came the production
of wheat. Soon came the agents who bought and sold wheat and started the
export trade. These were the entrepreneurs.

This work is a history of those beginnings, the rise, and in some cases
the fall, of the private grain companies. They operated as line-elevator
operators, millers, or exporters or various combinations thereof. These
companies were privately held (as opposed to the co-operative,
farmer-owned pools). Company names such as Ogilvie, Lake of the Woods,
Cargill, Western, Federal, Richardson and Parish and Heimbecker flow
through the pages.

Anderson profiles the many entrepreneurs who headed up these companies.
Their roles in risk-taking, industry leadership, cross-membership on
boards of directors, amalgamations, diversification, and community
responsibility are well documented. We also learn of the various factors
that influenced management decisions, such as wartime regulations, the
formation of the Wheat Board, the competition from the provincial wheat
pools, the opening of the Panama Canal, and the Vancouver terminal
elevators.

In the 1920s there were sixty grain companies operating. By 1972 this
number had shrunk to four as a result of amalgamations, takeovers, and
departures from the scene. This gives a measure of the significant
changes in the grain industry as our economy has diversified.

Anderson comes from a rural background and has been associated with the
grain trade during his entire career. The detail in this book reflects
the accurate research that was undertaken. A timely work that was able
to draw on the experiences of many who were directly involved.