Call Number: Mss 268, Mss Sc 182, Pc 226, Mc 25 (A.03-04, A.07-46, A.08-22, A.08-72)

Title: Agricore United fonds.

Dates: 1900-2007.

Extent: 0.42 m of textual records and other material.

Administrative history:  On July 30, 2001, Agricore announced that the boards of both United Grain Growers and Agricore Cooperative had unanimously agreed to a merger that would create a new company, Agricore United, which would be modeled after U.G.G.'s share structure. On November 1, 2001, the merger took place and Agricore, the last of the prairie cooperatives, ceased to exist.

Since the merger, Agricore United became the largest agribusiness in western Canada dealing in grains, oilseeds, special crops, marketing, agri-products, agri-food processing, and feed manufacturing.  The merger also allowed for a greater ability to access public markets for additional capital.  The company has weathered adverse growing conditions like drought and floods in various parts of western Canada, low grain stocks, and growing competition from international markets.  While offering farmers management services like financing, risk management, agronomic expertise, and access to end-use markets, Agricore United has been able to capitalize on a wider system of developed infrastructure networks of port terminals, country elevators, and farm service centres.  Built on the foundation of Agricore United and Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, Viterra was formed  in 2007 through a merger.                        

Refer to the finding aids for earlier history of United Grain Growers Ltd. and Agricore Cooperative Ltd.

Custodial history: A collection of property ledgers (MSS SC 182) was transferred to University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections from Agricore United through the efforts of Tom Kirk in 2003.  The remainder of the fonds was transferred by Agricore United in 2007 and 2008.

Scope and content: The 2003 accession consists of six ledger books used by United Grain Growers in the management of their property in the three Prairie Provinces. The ledgers are organized by province and locations are organized alphabetically. Entries focus on the payment of mortgages and the cost of repairs and improvements.

The 2007 and 2008 accessions consist of a small manuscript collection (MSS 268) containing a U.G.G. operation manual for elevator managers, operating manuals for various grain elevator machinery,  blueprints, and material relating to shares, allotments, dividends, bonds, and ledgers.  The large photo collection (PC 226) contains photographs, slides, and slide scans of nearly every Agricore/U.G.G. elevator site throughout Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, six VHS video cassettes of the United Grain Growers Video Magazine, and five sheets of grower and producer lists. In total, the photograph collection consists of 1773 blueprint slides, 8758 slides, 1250 photographs, 59 CDs featuring slide shows, and the six aforementioned video cassettes.  The map collection (MC 25) holds various blueprints of grain elevators and their components.  In total, the map collection consists of 351 blueprints. 

Restrictions: Restrictions apply to some folders due to sensitive financial information.  Users must abide by relevant copyright legislation.

Accruals: As Agricore United merged with Saskatchewan Wheat Pool in 2007 to form Viterra, there are no further accruals expected.

Finding aid: Printed finding aids are available in the Archives reading room and online finding aids are available at the links below:

MSS SC 182 (A.03-04)

MSS 268, PC 226 (A.07-46)

MSS 268, MC 25 (A.08-22)

MSS 268, PC 226 (A.08-72).