The bankruptcy of Canadian Prairie Garden Puree Products means more than the loss of a dozen good jobs; the closure of CPGPP’s facility has potentially devastating consequences for many of the province’s vegetable growers, as well as many related businesses and sectors, says the Vegetable Growers Association of Manitoba.
The bankruptcy could be devastating for vegetable farmers who invested in their operations to supply additional demand from Canadian Prairie Garden, VGAM says.
Jeffries Bros. Vegetable Growers, and Mayfair Farms, for example, are on the list of creditors. Canadian Prairie Garden owes $191,000 to Jeffries Bros. Vegetable Growers and $128,000 to Mayfair Farms.
Many of Manitoba’s vegetable farmers have invested sizeable dollars in equipment, buildings and other related infrastructure to help CPGPP meet its capacity requirements. In addition to these losses, local farmers are owed a significant amount of money for the vegetables they have delivered to CPGPP in 2016.
“Our hope is that whichever company or group of investors decides to pick up what is left of CPGPP, they will leave the facility in Manitoba,” says Jeffries. “There is still time to get the plant up and running again for this year’s crop.”
