PhiBer Manufacturing Inc. is forging ahead with a bold expansion of its operations in Crystal City that will increase its ability to manufacture more components in-house, in Canada.
Yesterday, the company hosted their sod-turning ceremony to mark the beginning of construction on a new facility that will significantly increase its production capacity, scope and ability to meet growing demand.
Founded in Crystal City, MB and built from practical agricultural innovation, PhiBer has grown from an on-farm enterprise into an internationally recognized brand in equipment manufacturing. Despite pressures from tariffs and an unpredictable economic climate particularly for agriculture, PhiBer has remained resilient, growing its workforce, expanding its markets, and continuing to invest in its home community.
“Our success has always come from listening to farmers, creating effective agriculture solutions, and finding ways to overcome challenges,” said Derek Friesen, CEO of PhiBer Manufacturing. “My dad Phil and Harv Bergen navigated the BSE cattle crisis, severe drought and many other challenges since they founded the business in 1996. We always found a way to keep going and growing. So, despite current uncertainties, this expansion is important to enable greater control over our supply chain and to support our entry new international markets.”
The upcoming development will include a new 60,000 sq. ft. building to augment PhiBer’s existing footprint, creating space for new manufacturing lines, product development, and additional skilled jobs in Southern Manitoba. The investment represents PhiBer’s continued commitment to innovation, job creation, and rural economic development.
PhiBer manufactures a variety of ag equipment in their product line, and that line continues to expand.
“We manufacture some hay tools, and a lot of our products get branded by other OEM’s in the Ag world, so your Massey's, Case, New Holland... a lot of these brands will buy our product, put their name on it, so it looks like it's their own,” says Friesen.
He notes their line of earthmoving equipment, as well as other product lines, have been growing steadily over the last number of years.
“But probably the big one, called the crown jewel is our sprayer fill system,” says Friesen.
“We developed a method of managing all the different products that farmers need to apply for the crop care industry - for protecting the crop as it's growing; all those prescriptions and formulas. It's kind of a way of managing all the different products you need to put on, and getting those ratios and mixes right. And doing it super-fast and efficient,” he adds, “because they have very small windows of opportunities to apply some of these products on the plants.”
The system increases most sprayers' capacity by 25-30% and makes managing all the different products that much easier. “And so that product line has been growing year after year just in leaps and bounds for us. This last one is what a lot of our growth has been attributed to primarily. That’s the motivator. We’ve been so inundated with that and so much growth around that particular one.
"I mean our other product lines have been growing too," he adds, "but it’s like everything's kind of been dwarfed by this sprayer fill system."
The newest endeavor for PhiBer has been to embrace the drone industry when it comes to product application.
“We manage the drones and keep them in the air,” explains Friesen. “Just like we keep sprayers spraying in the fields, we're keeping the drones flying too. And that is a new product line for us. We just launched this year and that's got a lot of promise. We're actually expecting that to be quite big for us. And so, we're trying to get geared up for all that."
Expansion also means reaching out into other countries, including our neighbors to the south, but also clear on the other side of the world.
“This isn’t just about growing our business - it’s about proving that world-class manufacturing can thrive in rural Manitoba,” Friesen said.
This past year PhiBer started a new company in North Dakota to reach more of the new markets on the U.S. side. More recently they've been working on the development of an additional company in Australia, with possession of property located between New South Wales and Victoria, just 2 hours from Melbourne, Australia. Possession takes place July 1st.
Friesen says the plan is to build the equipment at their site in Manitoba and ship it in containers un-assembled to their new facility that will be very much like the assembly facility in Crystal City, he says.
"We can source trailers and tanks from Australia because you can't ship them from here very effectively. We can build all the rest of the equipment here in Canada and then send it down there in containers and then we will put it together there in that facility. The farmers seem to be very ready for us so we’re glad to show up,” says Friesen.
PhiBer's slogan 'Innovative Design. Partners in Efficiency' speaks to the process of recognizing a challenge and then collaborating and strategizing to find the most effective and efficient solution. As active farmers themselves, many of these challenges they experience first-hand working within their own farming operation.
"Most of our ideas here start in a tractor seat," he says. "We've been picking up engineers as fast as we can find them. Yeah, there are no shortage of ideas in development here."
Currently PhiBer employs just under 90 people, and with this new expansion they’re expecting to hire an additional 80-100 employees over the next 3 years as the product line and manufacturing capabilities expands.
Friesen says he expects to be moving in by this Christmas, with 80% to be up and running in January/February 2026. Some parts of the plan will take a little longer to complete, he adds.