But Adena Farms, a golf course that’s part of the project, is now caught up in court battles.
Stronach’s dream farm began in 2008 when he put together the land and announced plans to build a beef-packing plant. He bought 8,000 cattle and he built a golf course.
Today the golf course is empty, but the beef business is alive.
On its website, Adena Farms says “nutritional tests show that Adena Farms grass-fed beef has what is considered to be the perfectly balanced 2:1 ratio of Omega 6 to Omega 3 fats.
“Many of our customers have observed that our beef is easy to digest, and doesn’t leave you with a heavy, full feeling after eating.”
The business has expanded to a partnership with Florida Cattle Ranchers.
In a long investigative story, the Globe and Mail reports how Stronach failed to win approval to draw water for the ranch. The Silver Springs is a tourist destination to which people come to view the unique hue of the spring water.
Local residents strongly opposed the water-taking beef business, the state’s regulators put caps on how much water Stronach’s venture could take and the battles were on.
The Globe and Mail reports how Stronach donated millions to Republican politicians and political action committees, how staff at the regulatory agency were dismissed and replaced by bureaucrats more favourable to taking water from the aquifer and how the Republican governor leaned on the agency to allow more water to be taken.
Stronach’s ranch applied in 2011 for a permit to pump nearly 50 million litres daily to water the grass, it eventually cut back the request to 5.5 million litres, but opposition continued.
After the staff purge, a permit for 10.1 million litres a day was approved for Adena.
Today, the Adena golf course is tied up in litigation.
During a long legal battle between Frank and Belinda Stronach for control of the empire, Belinda Stronach shut the course down and arranged to sell it off.
After the Stronachs settled their dispute last year, a Canadian court ordered the sale not to go ahead. The buyers have sued in a bid to complete the purchase.
