page_title: Grain Growers' Grain Company
section_title: Expansion
hierarchical_section_title: Grain Growers' Grain Company / Expansion
caption_attribution_description: English: The Directors of the United Grain Growers. Back row L-R: John Edward Brownlee (Calgary, Alberta); J.J. McLennan (Purple Springs); F.J. Collyer (Welwyn, Saskatchewan); F.M. Gates (Fillmore, Saskatchewan); H.C. Wingate (Cayley); J.F. Reid (Orcadia, Saskatchewan). 2nd row L-R: G.F. Chipman (Winnipeg, Manitoba); W. Moffat (Souris); W.H. Trueman (Winnipeg, Manitoba); E.J. Fream (Calgary, Alberta); C.F. Brown (Calgary, Alberta); R. McKenzie (Brandon, Manitoba); Rice Shepard (Edmonton, Alberta); R.A. Bonnar (Winnipeg, Manitoba). 3rd row L-R: J. Kennedy (Winnipeg, Manitoba); Henry Wise Wood (Carstairs, Alberta) Thomas A. Crerar (Winnipeg, Manitoba); C. Rice-Jones (Calgary, Alberta); R.C. Henders (Culross, Manitoba). Front row L-R: R.A. Parker (Winnifred, Alberta); P.S. Austin (Ranfurly, Alberta); J Morrison (Yellowgrass), Saskatchewan); E. Carswell (Calgary, Alberta); P.P. Woodbridge (Calgary, Alberta).
context_page_description: The Grain Growers' Grain Company 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 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 the time it merged with the Alberta Farmers' Co-operative Elevator Company to form the United Grain Growers in 1917.
context_section_description: 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 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 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 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 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 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.
caption: Directors of what would become the United Grain Growers in 1916
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