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38-641: In 1917, the Grain Growers' Grain Company (GGGC) merged with the Alberta Farmers' Co-operative Elevator Company , founded in 1913, to form the United Grain Growers (UGG), which provided grain marketing, handling and supply. UGG was active in grain sales, crop inputs and livestock production services. In 2001, UGG merged with Agricore to form Agricore United in a deal brokered by Archer Daniels Midland ,

76-611: A farmers' publication. The Grain Growers' Guide first appeared in June 1908, edited by Partridge. It was published by the Grain Growers' Grain Company through its subsidiary, Public Press Limited. The Guide represented the interests of the three provincial grain growers' associations, the MGGA, SGGA and United Farmers of Alberta (UFA). This created a sense of solidarity and unity of purpose among

114-482: A group that wrote an open letter to the grain growers in which they accused Crerar of "lack of industry and business ability," and of failure "in carrying out the wishes of the directors." Partridge was concerned about a speculative purchase that one of the executives had made and felt that Crerar, the president of the GGGC, should be forced to leave. Instead Partridge left the GGGC and tried to launch another grain company, but

152-569: A majority stakeholder in the new company. Alberta British Columbia Manitoba Saskatchewan Grain Growers%27 Grain Company The Grain Growers' Grain Company (GGGC) was a farmers' cooperative founded in the prairie provinces of western Canada in 1906. The GGGC met strong resistance from existing grain dealers. It was forced off the Winnipeg Grain Exchange and almost failed. With help from

190-475: A political party. At the start of the 20th century the North-West Elevator Association, closely associated with the Winnipeg Grain Exchange , controlled over two thirds of the grain elevators on the prairies. The elevator companies, working together, could force the farmers to accept low prices for their grain. When there were shortages of rail cars the railways gave preferential treatment to

228-589: A position in favor of women's suffrage in 1911. In 1912 women were admitted as associate members, and in 1914 the constitution was changed to recognize women as full members. In 1917 a women's section was organized as the United Farm Women of Manitoba. During the January 1917 annual meeting of the MGGA there was much discussion of the question of conscription. Chipman took the position that if there were to be conscription, wealth should be conscripted first, and this

266-778: The Alberta Farmers' Association was founded. In 1906 the TGGA renamed itself the Saskatchewan Grain Growers' Association (SGGA). In 1909 the Alberta Farmers' Association combined with the American Society of Equity, another Alberta group, to form the United Farmers of Alberta (UFA). The first local grain grower association in Manitoba was founded at Virden, Manitoba on 7 January 1903. The Manitoba Grain Growers' Association

304-587: The Grain Growers' Guide . The Saskatchewan Co-operative Elevator Company was involved in the merger discussions, but in the end decided not to join the UGG. Crerar continued as president of the UGG. Manitoba Grain Growers%27 Association The Manitoba Grain Growers' Association ( MGGA ) was a farmer's association that was active in Manitoba , Canada, in the first two decades of

342-511: The Social Gospel movement began to spread among organized farmers, particularly Methodists. The basic concept was that Christianity should be concerned with eradicating injustice and promoting cooperation rather than competition. In 1915 Salem Bland of Wesley College in Winnipeg addressed delegates to the MGGA convention. He supported their decision to demand taxation of unused land, and said that

380-539: The Winnipeg Grain Exchange . He was treated poorly and became convinced that the exchange was not interested in the farmers, who needed their own grain company. He called the Exchange the "House of the Closed Shutters." He described it as "a combine" with "a gambling hell thrown in." Patridge spoke at the Saskatchewan Grain Growers' Association (SGGA) convention in 1906, and attacked the grain handling system. He said

418-504: The $ 2,500 needed for the seat, so five of the founders had to sign personal notes to make up the amount. The first car of grain was received on 21 September 1906. The GGGC immediately found itself engaged in a struggle with the existing grain companies. On 8 November 1906 it was expelled from the exchange due to its practice as a cooperative of paying patronage dividends to its member clients. In December 1906 Partridge and other officers were forced to pledge their personal assets to prevent

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456-481: The 1907 convention, in part because the company's original cooperative structure had been modified to meet the requirements of the Grain Exchange, in part because he was not interested in running the company he had launched. Early in 1908 Partridge convinced the Saskatchewan Grain Growers' Association (SGGA) to endorse the principle that inland grain elevators should be owned by the province and terminal elevators by

494-482: The 20th century. It provided a voice for farmers in their struggle with grain dealers and the railways, and was influential in obtaining favorable legislation. The MGGA supported the Grain Growers' Grain Company , a cooperative of prairie farmers, and its organ the Grain Growers' Guide . At first it remained neutral politically, but in 1920 it restructured as the United Farmers of Manitoba in preparation for becoming

532-515: The Dominion of Canada. The Manitoba association passed a resolution supporting this proposal at their convention. In 1917 the GGGC merged with the Alberta Farmers' Co-operative Elevator Company , founded in 1913, to form the United Grain Growers (UGG), which provided grain marketing, handling and supply until 2001. The Grain Growers' Guide first appeared in 1908, edited by Partridge. It

570-430: The GGGC made arrangements with the elevator companies to handle the grain, which it sold on a commission basis on the exchange and returned profits to the investors. The GGGC made no effort to sell direct to foreign buyers, and was criticized by Partridge and others for its cautious approach. The growers' associations often asserted that the GGGC officials were inefficient and lacked judgement. In 1912 Partridge organized

608-553: The GGGC merged with the Alberta Farmers' Co-operative Elevator Company (AFCEC) to form the United Grain Growers (UGG). The AFCEC had been established in 1913 and at once began construction. At the time of the merger it owned 103 elevators, 122 coals sheds and 145 warehouses. The GGGC owned 60 elevators in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, leased and operated 137 elevators owned by the Manitoba Government, and had 55 coal sheds and 78 warehouses for flour and farm supplies. It also owned

646-542: The Grain Growers' Grain Company (GGGC) was held in Sintaluta on 27 January 1906. At first it was an uphill battle to gain support. Less than a thousand shares had been sold by midsummer 1906. In June the Secretary of State at Ottawa refused to grant the company a Dominion charter on technical grounds. The GGGC was forced to apply for incorporation in Manitoba, which would handicap inter-provincial operations. The original charter

684-477: The MGGA, D.W. McCuaig, sued three of the exchange's members for combining to obstruct trade. The farmers saw the reinstatement of the GGGC and a forced reorganization of the exchange as a vindication of their criticisms of the trading companies. However, the GGGC quickly adapted to following the same practices that the farmers had attacked. The first annual meeting of the GGGC was held on 16 July 1907. Partridge resigned as president at this meeting, in part because

722-507: The MGGA. The next year the guide was made a weekly, and George F. Chipman was appointed associate editor. The Guide was tightly controlled by the parent company and the associations of grain growers, who ensured that it was independent of political parties. From 1911 the editor in chief was George Fisher Chipman . By 1918 it was the largest farm publication on the prairies by circulation. The Manitoba Grain Growers Association took

760-468: The Manitoba government it regained its seat on the exchange, and soon had a profitable grain trading business. The company founded the Grain Growers' Guide , which became the most popular farmer's newspaper in the region. In 1912 the GGGC began operating inland and terminal grain elevators, and in 1913 moved into the farm supply business. The GGGC was financially secure and owned or operated almost 200 elevators as well as 122 coals sheds and 145 warehouses by

798-435: The act which was passed that year. Duncan William McCuaig was president from 1904 to 1910. For many years the former clergyman Richard Coe Henders (1853–1932) was president of the association. The farmers were mainly Protestant, including Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians and Anglicans. Church attendance was high, and the churches served as important social institutions. By the start of World War I (1914–18)

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836-487: The bank from closing the company's account. The first general meeting of shareholders was held on 5 February 1907. The company was reorganized along lines that were no longer explicitly cooperative. The GGGC was reinstated on the exchange when the Manitoba Grain Growers' Association (MGGA) exerted pressure on the government of Rodmond Roblin . Trading privileges were restored on 15 April 1907. The president of

874-455: The co-op movement was "part of the divine plan of human brotherhood." The Grain Act did not solve the problems of the grading system and re-inspection machinery. On 27 January 1906 the Grain Growers' Grain Company (GGGC) was founded as a cooperative company to handle marketing of the grain, under the leadership of Edward Alexander Partridge . The GGGC found itself engaged in a lengthy struggle with

912-578: The companies over the farmers. The 1908 "Partridge Plan" of the Manitoba Grain Growers listed other "ill practices" that included "the taking of heavy dockage, the giving of light weight, misgrading the farmers' grain sold on the street or graded into store, failure to provide cleaning apparatus, changing the identity of the farmers' special binned grain, declining to allot space for special binning and refusing to ship grain to owner's order, even when storage charges are tended. The Manitoba Grain Act

950-423: The company's original cooperative structure had been modified to meet the requirements of the Grain Exchange, in part because he was not interested in running the company he had launched. Partridge was succeeded by Thomas Crerar of Manitoba, who was president and general manager until 1917. Partridge felt that the press had given unfair treatment of the struggle to get the GGGC off the ground, and helped organize

988-572: The elevator companies, millers and exporters rigged grain prices so they were low during the fall harvest period, when farmers had to sell to obtain cash to pay their debts. They then made future contracts to the English buyers for delivery at far higher prices. Many of his audience were convinced by his argument. The leaders of the SGGA were opposed to Partridge's plan to establish a farmer-owned company, but he ignored their objections. The organization meeting for

1026-401: The existing grain companies over its seats on the Winnipeg Grain Exchange . It was expelled for paying patronage dividends to its member clients, then reinstated when the MGGA exerted pressure on the government of Rodmond Roblin . The president of the MGGA, D. W. McCuaig, sued three of the exchange's members for combining to obstruct trade. Partridge resigned as president of the GGGC at

1064-607: The government of Manitoba, and began to operate 135 of them. The GGGC started to build new country elevators. The GGGC leased two terminal elevators from the Canadian Pacific Railway at Fort William, Ontario , on Lake Superior . They started to operate the terminals in October 1912 as one unit with a capacity of 2,300,000 imperial bushels. In 1913 the company bought another terminal in Fort William. It burned down in 1916 and

1102-461: The prairie farmers. The GGGC gave subsidies of CAN$ 25,000 to programs ran by the provincial growers' associations between 1909 and 1914, and provided CAN$ 60,000 for education in the same period. On 19 May 1911 the GGGC received a Dominion charter. The company grew fast, from 1,800 shareholders in 1907 to more than 27,000 in 1912. The volume of grain handled by the company increased in that period from 2.3 million to almost 28 million bushels. At first

1140-625: The time it merged with the Alberta Farmers' Co-operative Elevator Company to form the United Grain Growers in 1917. The GGGC was largely the creation of the agrarian activist Edward Alexander Partridge , an "impetuous and idealistic" man. He was called "the sage of Sintaluta". Partridge was sent by the Sintaluta , Saskatchewan local of the Territorial Grain Growers' Association (TGGA) to Winnipeg in January–February 1905 to observe

1178-404: Was agreed after some debate. Fred Dixon was known to support the rights on conscientious objectors, which was an unpopular position with most of the delegates, but was allowed to talk on the question of trade. The association was in favor of free trade rather than a protectionist system that would first favor Britain and her allies, next neutral countries and last the enemies of Britain. In 1920

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1216-440: Was dated 20 July 1906. No farmer was allowed to own more than four of the $ 25 shares, and each farmer received just one vote at the meetings. The provisional directors held their first meeting on 26 July 1906, where they elected Partridge president. The GGGC was officially launched on 5 September 1906. The company set up its headquarters in Winnipeg and purchased a seat on the Winnipeg Grain Exchange . The company did not have

1254-513: Was formed at a meeting March 3–4 in Brandon, Manitoba . The first president was James William Scallion (1847–1926) from Virden. In 1903 two officers of the MGGA accompanied Motherwell and J.B. Gillespie of the TGGA to Ottawa where they met with representatives of the railways and grain companies to tighten up the wording of the Manitoba Grain Act. The next text was introduced as an amendment to

1292-642: Was founded in Indian Head , in what is now Saskatchewan , in a meeting of farmers organized to address the issue. William Richard Motherwell was the driving force behind the TGGA. In 1902 the TGGA won a case against the CPR that forced it to comply with the Manitoba Grain Act. Farmers became increasingly interested in the TGGA, and the Manitoba Grain Growers Association was formed as a TGGA branch. In 1905 Alberta and Saskatchewan became provinces, and

1330-440: Was not successful. The GGGC provided a pension to Partridge from 1916. Although the company operated in all three prairie provinces, it was mainly concentrated in Manitoba. The Saskatchewan Co-operative Elevator Company was founded in 1911 to provide elevator services for local farmers, and later expanded into selling grain. In July 1912 the GGGC also entered the elevator business when it leased 174 country grain elevators from

1368-421: Was passed in 1901, designed to prevent these abuses and ensure fair practices and prices in the booming grain trade in the prairie provinces of Canada. There was a bumper crop that year, and farmers found they could not get their produce to market because the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) and the grain companies were still failing to conform to the act. In 1901 the Territorial Grain Growers' Association (TGGA)

1406-419: Was published by the Grain Growers' Grain Company through its subsidiary, Public Press Limited. The Guide represented the interests of the MGGA and its sister organizations the SGGA and the United Farmers of Alberta (UFA). Partridge thought the guide should be a militant paper, but was not supported in this view. He resigned after the first issue, and was temporarily succeeded by Roderick McKenzie, secretary of

1444-586: Was replaced by a terminal in Port Arthur with a capacity of 300,000 imperial bushels. In May 1913 the GGGC leased a flour mill in Rapid City, Manitoba and entered the farm supply business, selling other products such as coal and apples. After a slow start the business began to flourish as vendors of supplies came to realize the value of the farmer-owned outlets. The GGGC opened a livestock branch in March 1916. In 1917

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