Hensall, Ontario, Canada - February 7th, 2023

Hensall Co-op Enters New Seed Distribution Agreement with

Syngenta Seeds

Hensall Co-op has entered into a new agreement with Syngenta Seeds IP high-protein soybean distribution. This agreement, which is effective beginning the 2024 growing season, offers benefits directly to IP soybean growers as well as global end use customers. This agreement will give the entire supply chain the tools needed to achieve a higher level of success as a food ingredient industry. Put simply, it offers a full, value-added supply chain of growing, processing, marketing, and distributing Syngenta high-protein soybean varieties in conjunction with grower and end-use customer communications, seed forecasting and traceability for farm members and the end-use markets served by Hensall Co-op.

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The Board of Directors and staff are pleased to announce the recipients of the second annual Hensall Co-op Bright Futures Scholarship.

Speaking with Brad Chandler, CEO, Hensall Co-op: “We would like to congratulate the winners of the Bright Futures Scholarships. The youth have a passion for our rural communities and supporting our rural economies. The Bright Futures Scholarship allows us to directly impact and support the education of our members’ families.” Hensall Co-op is Proud to be Farmer Owned and proud to support education.

Jennifer Barclay from Lambton Shores is enrolled at Western University in the Bachelor of Medical Sciences program. With her education path Barclay says: “I hope to start a pediatric medical clinic in my community in order to bring higher quality care to rural communities.”

Attending University of Guelph (Ridgetown Campus) is Ericka Van Dongen, who is from Comber, ON. Working towards an Associate Diploma in Agriculture Van Dongen has future career goals of becoming an agronomist to “help farmers efficiently grow the best quality of crops using relevant knowledge and research.” She also wishes to “combine my interest in science, with my passion for agriculture.”

The third recipient is Shawna Terpstra from Huron East, ON, who is attending the University of Guelph for the Bachelor of Commerce (Food and Agricultural Business co-op) program. With her degree, Terpstra hopes “to become a finance manager working in agricultural finance and advisory.”

The Hensall Co-op Bright Futures Scholarship provides post-secondary scholarships to students who are entering their first year of post-secondary education and have shown a career interest in agriculture or a field or trade that will advance rural communities and economies. Up to three $2,500 scholarships are awarded to students who are children or grandchildren of individuals who were a member of Hensall Co-op or employee as of March 1 of the year of application.

In 2021 Hensall Co-op launched the Strong Communities Initiative to support projects that help to protect and build the strength of rural communities. Now in its second-year, applications were open to registered charities and the winners were selected by Hensall Co-op. Selection criteria was used to measure the impact the project would have on the local community and the sustainability of the project.

Speaking with Brad Chandler, CEO of Hensall Co-op: “We were extremely pleased with the number of submissions we received this year, including projects from across southwestern Ontario and parts of Manitoba. While this did make the selection process difficult for our team, it indicates the need for funding in rural communities. Hensall Co-op is dedicated to the communities we serve and will continue to direct sponsorship funds into rural healthcare and healthy living initiatives, agricultural societies and the education of rural youth.”

Two projects were selected as the winners of the 2022 Strong Communities Initiative, and both will receive a $10,000 grant towards their projects. One of the winning projects support healthcare in our community while the other helps to promote a healthy lifestyle and providing family activities, which were important criteria for the selection committee.

The Stratford General Hospital Foundation (Stratford, Ontario) will receive $10,000 towards their Hospital Beds for Surgery Unit program, which is working towards replacing the beds within the surgery unit. This grant will cover the cost of one state-of-the-art Hill-Rom bed. The Tiger Mountain Pool Inc. (Treherne, Manitoba) will receive $10,000 towards their Treherne Aquatic Centre Shade Structures project, which will allow for an additional shade sail and awnings to be added. This is a busy community aquatic centre that swimming lessons, public swimming, aquafit, and coordinates a youth Swim Club.

Several runner ups were selected and will receive a $1,000 grant towards their project. These include:

• North Huron Community Food Share, Wingham, Ontario
• YMCA SW Ontario (Thriving Kids and Youth Community Partnership), Goderich, Ontario
• Community Centre of Reinland, Reinland, Manitoba
• South Huron Hospital Foundation, Exeter, Ontario
• Huron Hospice, Clinton, Ontario

Applications for the 2023 Strong Communities Initiative will be available in April 2023.

EXETER, Ontario — February 14, 2022. Hensall District Co-operative, Inc. (Hensall Co-op), a leading independent farmer-owned co-operative in the Canadian agricultural sector, today announced its subsidiary, Hensall Foods Inc. (Hensall Foods) has begun manufacturing of convenient ready-to-eat meals at its Exeter, Ontario facility.

Selling under the brand name The Screaming Chef ™, Hensall Foods is the first to bring an innovative, in-pack steam cooking technology to consumers in Canada. The proprietary production process means a longer shelf life with no added preservatives. The meals are not frozen and can be enjoyed in under four minutes. Another exciting and unique feature of the meals is that they “scream” when they are done. Hensall Foods currently offers seven meals including the “Here’s the Beef” fajita bowl and “Lip Smackin” chicken and noodles.

The meals are manufactured at 210 Wellington Drive in Exeter, Ontario. This location is well known in the area as it was a cannery for over 100 years; last operated by Cangro until it was closed in 2008. Hensall Co-op acquired the property in 2010 and uses the location as a multi-purpose facility.

“We are extremely excited to bring food manufacturing back to Exeter. Our local communities have been critical to our success and we are committed to continuing to invest in rural Canada.” said Brad Chandler, CEO of Hensall Co-op. He continued “This is the first project in a strategy to bring more value-added food processing to Canada. In addition to creating jobs, our goal is to provide Canadian producers with more channels for their products.”

“Hensall Foods was established last year with a vision of launching innovative food products for both retail and industrial consumers in Canada and abroad” said Amir Naveed, General Manager of Hensall Foods. He continued “Our team is incredibly proud of what has been achieved with the successful launch of an entirely new product for the Hensall organization. We look forward to continuing to expand our product portfolio.”

The product is currently available in over 30 retail outlets in southwestern Ontario with more locations being added weekly.

More information, including locations where you can find The Screaming Chef ™ products can be found at www.thescreamingchef.ca.

Manufacturing plant in Exeter, ON          Steam cooking container

The Board of Directors and staff are pleased to announce the recipients of the inaugural Hensall Co-op Bright Futures Scholarship.

Jill Ohm and Ryan Dinsmore are both enrolled in the Bachelor of Science in Agriculture program at Guelph. “My work as an agronomist will allow me to assist farmers to grow the crops that are best for their land to produce the highest yield” says Ohm, who hails from Monkton, ON.

Dinsmore hopes to learn “new and innovative ways to increase crop productivity and food animal farming to help increase yield and profitability for farmers.”

Niklas Juhnke from South Huron received the third scholarship. His plan is to become a Chartered Professional Accountant after completing his Bachelor of Commerce at Carleton University. “My goal is to move back to the countryside to help individual farmers or work for a local business as an accountant” says Juhnke.

The Hensall Co-op Bright Futures Scholarship provides post-secondary scholarships to students who are entering their first year of post-secondary education and have shown a career interest in agriculture or a field or trade that will advance rural communities and economies. Up to three $2,500 scholarships are awarded to students who are children or grandchildren of individuals who were a member of Hensall Co-op or an employee as of March 1 of the year of application.

From left: Jill Ohm, Ryan Dinsmore, Niklas Juhnke

Today we have a special video recapping the October 12th USDA WASDE Report.

Watch as Brian Basting, Michael Reginelli, and Drew Moore unpack the details of today’s report here.

The Strong Communities Initiative was launched in 2021 to support projects that boost the resilience of rural communities. Projects were open to registered charities and were judged by Hensall Co-op on specific criteria that measured the impact on the local community and the sustainability of the project.

Speaking about the initiative, Brad Chandler, CEO of Hensall Co-op, stated “We are passionate about protecting our local communities which is why we direct the bulk of our sponsorship investment to supporting rural healthcare and healthy living initiatives, agricultural societies and the education of rural youth. The Strong Communities Initiative grew out of our commitment to the communities we serve. We were extremely pleased with the quality of the submissions we received
although it made selecting a winner very difficult for our team.”

Two projects were selected as winners in the inaugural year of the initiative. The winners will receive $10,000 towards their projects. Both projects support wellness and family activities. The selections committee considered this to be vitally important as we rebound from the COVID restrictions. Applications for the 2022 Strong Communities Initiative will be available in April 2022.

The Miami Parks Board in Miami, Manitoba will receive $10,000 to build a pavilion in their camping park. The Optimist Club of Moorefield in Moorefield, Ontario will
receive $10,000 towards their project to build a roof over their outdoor rink and recreation pad.

Read the full article on page 26 here. 

HENSALL Hensall Co-op Chief Executive Officer Brad Chandler appeared before the International Trade Committee on Monday February 22nd to provide our perspective on Bill C18, “An Act to implement the Agreement on Trade Continuity between Canada and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”.

The UK and Northern Ireland are critical markets for Hensall Co-op and Brad outlined the importance of free trade with them. The plant protein market is forecast to grow by a factor of 18 times by 2030 and it is critical that we are not faced with tariffs or quotas as this would substantially reduce growth opportunities for Canadian farmers. 

We are grateful to Huron-Bruce Member of Parliament Ben Lobb who is on the committee. Mr. Lobb asked several questions to reinforce the key issues. This was extremely important given some members of the committee are not very familiar with agriculture.

We are pleased to have been given the opportunity to stand for Canadian farmers at the House of Commons and we will continue to do so whenever and wherever we can. 

We are pleased to announce our Bloom processing facility has been certified under the SQF Level 3 program requirements.

The Safe Quality Food (SQF) Program is a rigorous and credible food safety and quality program recognized by Global Foods Safety Initiative (GFSI) and by our customers world-wide. The SQF food safety and quality codes are designed to meet industry, customer, and regulatory requirements for all sectors of the food supply chain – from the farm all the way to the retail stores.

“The team in Bloom worked very hard to implement the program in in a very compressed timeframe” said Amir Naveed, Corporate QA & Product Development Manager “Our excellent rating is a result of their diligence and their recognition of the importance of maintaining high standards for food safety.”

Hensall Co-op celebrated the opening of its new fertilizer blending facility at its Open House and Plot Tour held on July 10th. Attendees were given the opportunity to tour the new state of the art fertilizer blender that can blend up to 750 MT in an hour.  Dekalb, C&M, NK and Croplan provided informative sessions overlooking the plots that are finally coming along following our incredibly wet spring. 

This was followed by the official ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by all four levels of government to illustrate a strong commitment to agriculture in Ontario. Gregg Davidson (Mayor of Mapleton Township), Randy Pettapiece (MPP Perth Wellington), John Nater (MP Perth Wellington) and Senator Rob Black all gave greetings to the audience. 

Brad Chandler, CEO of Hensall Co-op, spoke to the crowd about the key role that the co-operative plays in growing agriculture in Ontario. He stated, “Politics aside, Canadian foodstuffs are sought after because consumers around the world are confident in their quality. The market for plant-based proteins is expanding and the consumption of meat in developing countries continues to grow. We want to see the Canadian Farmer gain from this opportunity and that is why we are focused on growth. This investment was made in our Eastern frontier. We recently entered the market in Tilbury and Harrow to the south. To the west, we have added a processing facility in Manitoba to improve our value stream to get to the Asian Market.” 

Mr. Chandler also congratulated the team on completing the facility on time in tough circumstances. “We believe this is a fantastic facility with innovative equipment and the best employees. The fact it was completed in time despite the challenge of a winter build following a wet spring is a testament to what we can offer to add value to your farms. It's not just the tower – we have new concrete in the warehouse, new liquid fertilizer capability and an office. Thank you to Neil Driscoll and the entire the Drayton team for your dedication throughout Plant19 – it's one we will all remember.”