By Terry Meagher
NORTH GOWER — For years, Dwight Foster had dreamed about building a grain elevator. One evening last December, he thought, prayed and fretted over 400 acres of corn still standing in his fields because he had no place to store it.
For more than a decade, he had sent 12 truckloads of grain to his corn buyer over the harvest season, but when his buyer cut him down to three loads per day, he had to extend his trucking season. His costs went up and the efficiency for getting the grain to market had disappeared.
Grain storage has been in short supply for a decade, but "This was the straw that broke the camel’s back," he said in an interview.
The next morning he went over to his neighbour, Casey Dania, and asked if he would consider selling his farm. Dania said he might. The farm had access to hydro, natural gas, and was next door.
They closed the deal in April and Dwight was open for business the end of August. There were no engineering studies. There was no need. He had rented the land before, and "when you work the soil you know the land," he said.
The facility has three storage bins with a capacity for 6,000 tonnes of corn each and a wet bin with a capacity of 1,000 tonnes. At the end of the season, he’ll fill the wet bin with dry corn. The three bins can hold, at today’s prices, about $5 million worth of corn or $8 million worth of soybeans.
Built with plenty of room for expansion, the facility will add more bins next year.
He calls himself an entrepreneur. He says "Open your eyes and use common sense, and you’ll see opportunities in agriculture wherever you look." He took it upon himself to approach Iogen, an Ottawa bio-fuel company, and now sells it straw for its cellulose ethanol process. He took it upon himself to approach GreenField Ethanol in Johnstown. As a result, he is the only private agent handling GreenField corn.
His open house the end of August was attended by more than 200 people, mostly growers, some of them attracted by the presence of GreenField, which is offering a $30 bonus on a tonne of corn.
He has already made agreements with growers. But his first interest is to keep things right with neighbors close by. His philosophy is that farmers must be treated with respect and "There’s no culture without agriculture."
Among other things, he grows 2,000 acres of corn and finishes 2,400 beef animals on contract. His machinery is used on winter contracts.
He runs the operation with his wife Ruth Ann. They have five children.