The company has developed
over the past 40 years. Anton Pray was brought up by his grandparents and married
a teacher at the age of 20. As a young man, Anton graded rail-car loads
of potatoes from around the country, while operating a 50-acre farm and helping raise a growing family.
He was employed for 12
years by Canada Packers, operating their warehouse in New Denmark. In that period
of time, the company expanded into Drummond. Canada Packers had a different accounting
system than most other companies. They had a profit / loss statement at
the end of every month, which consisted of performing a full inventory of the remaining potatoes. In the potato business, you may show a loss for a few months, then possibly a profit. Sometimes a company only shows a profit at the end of the season.
Canada Packers couldn’t operate under those conditions so they decided to sell the potato operation. The late Herluf Petersen, Donny Mockler and Anton Pray bought the packing company. Donny stayed a couple of years, working on the local fresh market.
Herluf and Anton were together for 12 years, then Anton took over the Drummond operation and formed A. L. Pray &
Son Potato Co. Ltd. around 1974.
A. L. Pray & Son
bought and sold potatoes from farmers in the community. In approximately 1980,
Anton began exporting potatoes to Cuba, as a result of the experiences he gathered while working with Canada Packers, which
exported to Cuba, Venezuela and other countries. Ken Larsen (Canada Packers) brought
him to Montreal and introduced him to the Cuban buyers. Besides the export market, he had markets in the United States and
Eastern, Central and Western Canada. Today, the company has storage for 25,000
barrels and has a washing / packing plant.
The most exciting times for
Mr. Pray were the challenges the potato business presented as the competition was very keen.
You could lose an order over a penny on a 10 lb. bag of potatoes. Today,
the cost of production has skyrocketed and the methods of selling potatoes have changed very little over the years.
Anton Pray’s son,
Stephen, had always wanted to be a highway engineer. The morning he was scheduled
to leave for University, Stephen asked his father if the farming would be there
if he didn’t enjoy his then chosen profession. Mr. Pray was honest and
said, “there were no guarantees.” In the end, Stephen did not leave
for school that day. He chose to stay with his family and join the business. Stephen Pray now runs A. L. Pray & Son, with his own son, Chris, who manages the
farm operations. Keeping it in the family was always a dream for Anton. The company now grows 350 to 400 acres of potatoes and about the same amount of grain.
Mr. Pray believes that
the area in which farming has improved the most, is through transportation; which has changed tremendously. In the past, they loaded rail-cars and now with tractor trailers a shipment is loaded and leaves in the
morning and arrives at destination the next day. Our quality of transportation
in New Brunswick has improved 100% in the last 25 years.
There are many new kinds
of equipment today, which has contributed to major changes in the New Denmark farming community. We are also doing a better job at soil conservation - contouring, crop rotations and preventing erosion.
Anton Pray describes
the decline of farming in his area. In 1972, when New Denmark had its 100th
Anniversary, they took a survey and found there were 30 farmers of all sizes, whereas today you will find only eight to ten
farmers. Mr. Pray believes that the business environment and style of farming
has changed such that more and more rules, regulations, licenses, etc. are now required making it difficult for farmers to
be able to afford to operate a business.
In the future, Anton
would like to see a more orderly marketing of potatoes. We have an abundance
of potatoes and there are thousands of barrels dumped in most years. With
so many starving children throughout the world, Mr. Pray believes that governments should unite and develop a line of transportation
to feed those people.
Mr.
Pray is 78 years old and has had a wonderful and interesting life of farming. Farming
has been a great learning experience for him and he has met a large number of people and made many friends who shared the
passion of this vibrant industry.
He remembers Harrison
McCain in 1957, appearing at his farm in a pair of coveralls and work boots, crawling up into the potato storage to inspect
his russets. He was impressed by them and told him to haul them into Florenceville
where he would pay Anton $3 per barrel. That was the best sale he had that year!
At that time, the cost of production was very low and gasoline was $0.25 cents per gallon.
“Farming is a great
life,” says Anton. His boss used to say, “Anton, you’re doing
a great job, but you’re not a potato buyer, you’re a farmer.” Once
you’ve been a farmer, the dirt stays under your fingernails for the rest of your life; you never forget it. Anton is extremely happy to say, that he would not make one change in his life!
