About PCL Feeds
The PCL Feeds company can trace its beginnings back more than 60 years, to the middle of World War II. On April 27, 1942, a group of poultry farmers made a decision to “form a co-operative egg marketing association”. The provisional committee of what was then called the Auckland Cooperative Egg Marketing Producers' Association was made up of W Spencer, M G Fort, L Paget, F Barber, F G Jackson and H Steinert.
The purpose of the cooperative was “wholesaling, pulping and chilling their own eggs”. It was not a smooth ride for the fledgling cooperative - egg merchants were opposed to newcomers while poultry farmers were initially sceptical of the new venture.
The first egg floor in Eden Terrace, Auckland, was bought from the NZ Co-op Dairy Company's Walnut butter factory in 1944.
In 1952, a property at 130 New North Road, Auckland, was bought from Crown Lands for £6,920. Land and buildings were also bought at 134-136 New North Road.
In 1959, the cooperative began construction of its first branch. Officially it was known as the Waitemata branch of PCL - the Poultrymen's Cooperative Limited (PCL) - however, informally, it became known as 'Massey'.
In 1962, the size of the building at Massey was doubled and additional silos were installed. The mill at Massey was largely destroyed by fire in October 1970 and both the Eden Terrace and New Plymouth mills were forced to operate at maximum capacity to meet demand. It was not until 1973 that the Massey mill went back into production. The Massey plant became known as the 'mill on the hill' and has stood as a landmark on the Waitakere foothills for many years.
Further plants were also built at Drury and New Plymouth.
In January 2001, PCL Feeds became part of the Mainland Poultry Group, a privately owned Dunedin based company. The group's trading activities were split into two - egg marketing under Zeagold Foods and feed marketing under PCL Feeds.
PCL Feeds products are located throughout New Zealand - manufactured in Auckland, Taranaki and Canterbury - ideally placed to provide national production capability. In addition, PCL Feeds has a national field sales team trained to assist their Agri-Retail partners and farmers with their animal nutrition needs and farm management requirements.
On July 2008, ABB Grain Ltd assumed full management of the ruminant business of PCL Feeds.
Viterra and ABB Grain reached an historic agreement in September 2009 to combine operations, creating one of the world’s leading agricultural companies.
About Viterra
Viterra provides premium quality ingredients to leading global food manufacturers. Headquartered in Canada, the global agribusiness has extensive operations across Western Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, with Adelaide, Australia as the base for Viterra’s Southeast Asian operations. Our growing international presence also extends to operations in the United States, offices in Japan, Singapore, China, and Switzerland. Driven by an entrepreneurial spirit, we operate in five interrelated business areas: grain handling and marketing, agri-products, food processing, feed products and financial services.
Our expertise, close relationships with producers and superior logistical assets allow the company to consistently meet the needs of the most discerning end-use customers, helping to fulfil the nutritional needs of people around the world.
Viterra employs approximately 1100 people across our Australian and New Zealand operations.