The company owes $5.067 million to the 181 creditors listed in bankruptcy filings released Nov. 26. Many of the creditors are farmers who sold grain through Agfinity but were never paid. Employees out their last paycheques are also listed in the filing. Listed assets totalled $162,593.

MNP Ltd. has been appointed as the Licensed Insolvency Trustee. Creditors can contact MNP to complete a proof of claim prior to a meeting of creditors scheduled to take place via teleconference on Dec. 16. The meeting is a formality in the bankruptcy process, with the purpose of affirming the trustee’s appointment, appointing inspectors to the bankrupt estate and providing direction to the trustee.

While Agfinity had once operated as a typical grain broker — matching buyers and sellers through broker notes but never handling any money directly aside from their fee — in recent years the company began using grain purchase contracts where they took the payment from the buyer and paid the seller later. In a July blog post, Agfinity’s president Joseph Billett said the newer contracts were necessary to support cash flow due to narrow margins. However, the company was unable to generate enough trade volumes to match costs.

In a draft letter to be sent to creditors provided by Billett, he acknowledged mistakes made over the past year and offered “sincerest apologies for the pain and stress this situation has caused.”

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“We’re constantly looking for new ways to bring Canadian farmers the expertise they need to succeed,” said Marvin Slingerland, MNP’s senior vice president, agriculture, said in a news release.

MNP said it will join forces with 4R Agronomy, Annex Agro, Arrow Crop Management, Elite Ag, Max Ag Consulting and Sure Growth Solutions. Calgary-based consulting firm Convergence Growth will lead the agronomy practice.

All the agronomy companies will stay in their current locations while connecting with MNP’s 125 offices across the country, including 47 Prairie locations, MNP said.

“We all saw the huge potential to quickly scale up our agronomy services and provide even more Canadian farmers with the critical support they need to succeed,” said Warren Bills, CEO and co-founder of Convergence Growth.

Bills is also listed as an “agri-coach” on Sure Growth Solutions’ website.

“There are more than 34,000 farms in Canada that exceed 1,120 acres in size, many of which need specialized agronomic advice,” he said.

Fewer than 20 per cent of these farms use professional agronomy services, he added.

Bills had already been in talks with the six agronomy companies about joining forces when MNP entered the picture, the news release said.

The geographic spread of the merging-in firms—which collectively manage about1.5 million acres, is part of MNP’s strategy to reach farms, said Tanya Knight, MNP’s executive vice president of clients and services.

“These mergers are really about helping us to reach and support more Canadian farmers with their journeys and so we’re delighted to welcome all six businesses into the MNP family,” she said.

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