Field may one day be home to ethanol plant

07/20/2004

BY MICHAEL-ALLAN MARION
EXPOSITOR STAFF / BRANTFORD

It looks like so many acres of corn stubble right now, but follow little coloured pennants placed in patterns on the ground and you'll see the enormity of a farmer co-op's dream to place Ontario's largest ethanol plant in that very spot.

Step here and learn it's the place where a gigantic tank will be built. Step there and find out where the somke stacks will go.

That's what more than 100 people saw who made the trek last Tuesday to a spot in the city's northwest off Oak Park Road by the Brant County line.

As they walked the field, officials of the Integrated Grain Producers' Co-Operative helped them comprehend the work that goes into building and $86-million corn ethanol processing plant.

The footprint of the plant - which will be built on a 48-acre site at the north end of a 300-acre business park owned by developer King and Benton Developments Inc. - was laid out with the help of a global positioning system. It's the same one farmers use to map and monitor their field plantings.

IGPC is in the middle of a drive to sell up to $40-million worth of shares, but Tuesday's promotional event appeared more like the gathering of the faithful.

Along with scores of farm leaders, it garnered the attention of supportive federal, provincial and municipal politicians, including Haldimand-Norfolk-Brant MPP Toby Barret and freshly-elected MP Diane Finley, Brantford Mayor Mike Hancock and four city councillors, and Brant Mayor Ron Eddy and county Con. Willie Maertens.

"I have spent two years of my life working toward the day this project becomes reality," IGPC chairman Tom Cox told the crowd from atop a platform, with the field of his dream behind him.

He assured listeners that he and the directors of the farmer-led co-op will keep working through regulatory hurdles, water and environmental tests, to finish the project.

Finely, who toppled Liberal Agriculture Minister Bob Speller two weeks ago, reminded the crowd that the focus of her work in Ottawa will be on helping farmers and rural communities develop value-addec agriculture processing enterprises.

"This project really ties it all together," she said.

The co-op's leadership is staying resolutely mum on the amount raised so far in the equity drive. Nonetheless, the co-op has gained some high-profile investors, including a recent commitment of $1 million from process design company INC Inc. The latest, announced to applause, is King and Benton itself, which took out a $250,000 share.