The Port of Halifax is moving ahead with an ambitious expansion plan aimed at increasing container cargo and cruise ship traffic. But this growth may come at the cost of a century-old facility that has long been a backbone of agriculture and exports in the Maritimes — the Halifax Grain Elevator.
The Halifax Grain Elevator, built in 1924, has served as the only large-scale grain storage and export terminal in the Maritime provinces. The facility has 365 silos with the capacity to store up to 140,000 tonnes of grain at a time. Last year alone, it handled 500,000 tonnes of products, including soybeans, milling grain, and wood pellets.
For farmers and exporters across Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, the grain elevator is not just a convenience — it is essential.
The Halifax Grain Elevator’s lease with the port authority expires at the end of 2026. According to General Manager Kim Batherson, uncertainty over renewal is already creating problems.
“If the port takes away our ability to export, they would be taking away 60 per cent of our business,” Batherson explained. “We are not going to be a viable business anymore.”
The port’s 50-year master plan, released in 2022, proposes filling in the elevator’s export docking berth to expand the container terminal. This would effectively end the elevator’s ability to load ships directly, cutting off much of its export activity.
The port authority has said it is seeking a solution that allows both the elevator and the port’s expansion to continue. Meetings are ongoing with provincial and federal officials, as well as industry representatives. Still, no final decision has been made.
Soybean farmer Bill Biggs, from the Annapolis Valley, stressed the urgency of the issue. Farmers plan crop rotations and order seed months in advance, usually by December. Without clarity on the elevator’s future, planning for next year becomes impossible.
Biggs said farms in his area produce up to 3,000 tonnes of soybeans annually, most of which are shipped through the Halifax facility. “If we lost the Halifax grain elevator altogether, it’s definitely going to hurt the soybean industry in the Maritimes,” he warned.
Shipping through Montreal would be the next option, but it would significantly raise costs for farmers and reduce competitiveness.
The grain elevator is equally vital for forestry exports. Great Northern Timber Holdings, based in Upper Musquodoboit, relies on the elevator to export more than 100,000 tonnes of wood pellets each year to the European Union.
“It is critical to our business in various ways, one of them being the actual storage,” said COO Veselin Milosevic. “Without the storage and export terminal, we just cannot be in business.”
Alternative ports, like Belledune in New Brunswick, are too far away, making transportation costs unsustainable. “If you don’t have a local solution within 100 kilometres of your plant, you are basically out of business,” Milosevic said.
The Halifax Grain Elevator isn’t just important to one company or sector. It supports a network of farmers, exporters, truckers, and Maritime communities. Batherson emphasized that the decision should not only be about rent paid to the port but about the wider economic ripple effect.
“It’s about all of the business that goes through here,” she said.
Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston has publicly backed the grain elevator, calling it “incredibly important” to the province. “We will fight tooth and nail to keep it,” Houston said earlier this summer.
His comments reflect growing political pressure to balance Halifax’s ambitions as a global container hub with the need to support agriculture and forestry industries that depend on the grain elevator.
For now, the future of the Halifax Grain Elevator remains undecided. Farmers and exporters say they cannot wait until 2026 for answers — they need clarity within months to prepare for next year’s harvests and contracts.
As the Port of Halifax looks to grow its role in global shipping, the challenge will be finding space for the grain elevator in its vision. Its survival may determine the future of Maritime farming and forestry exports for decades to come.
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