Canadian Prairie Garden Puree Products (CPGPP), based at the Food Development Centre in Portage la Prairie, has been placed into receivership by its creditors.

This is according to documents from the Queen's Bench Winnipeg Centre. The Vegetable Growers Association of Manitoba (VGAM) says the closure has potentially devastating consequences for many of the province's vegetable growers, as well as many related business and sectors.

"I think there are about seven or eight producers affected and we are all owed money from products we delivered, with most of it occurring from October up until February," says VGAM President Roland Jeffries. "The other thing is a lot of us have invested a lot of money and time into our operations in order to support the product they were looking for. We were expecting to do quite a lot of business with them this year, and now that's not happening, so we're scrambling to see what we can plant in those acres to recoup some of the cost. Overall for the producers, it's quite a big hit for us."

In addition to those losses, VGAM says local farmers are owed a significant amount of money for the vegetables they have delivered in 2016.

"I'm not going to give you total values but it is fairly substantial. I know some of the producers have been hurt pretty bad by this," says Jeffries. "The only way something would happen is if the government steps in, and I don't see them doing that at this point because there has been other situations where there were bankruptcies and the farmers are just kind of on the short end of the stick."

"We're waiting to hear back from the receiver for some more information on compensation," adds Jeffries. "They are looking at selling off the assets of the corporation and our hope is that an investor will come in and purchase all of the assets and leave the plant in Manitoba. It's all here already, it was fairly close to making money, and the producers are all here and invested ready to go. We just need something clear from someone to tell us go ahead and plant your acres but we don't have a lot of time for that."

MNP Ltd., one of Canada's largest insolvency firms, has been appointed as receiver of all the company’s assets, property, and undertakings.