SASKATOON – Places where farmers can buy agricultural chemicals will dwindle this year, as sellers comply with the last phase of new storage rules.
Wendy Rose, spokesperson for the Crop Protection Institute of Canada, in Etobicoke, Ont., said as of March 23, 679 warehouses across Canada had submitted final audits, showing they had complied with phase three of the National Warehousing Standards.
The program, designed to make agrichemical storage facilities safer for workers and the communities in which they’re located, was initiated by the industry in September, 1990.
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At that time, about 3,000 chemical warehouses existed in Canada, Rose said, two-thirds in Western Canada.
The first phase saw warehouses comply with good housekeeping standards like sealing floor drains, signs, properly ventilating sheds, training staff and having emergency response plans.
About 300 warehouses in Canada have phase one certification only.
Meeting the standards for phase two and three, for existing warehouses, meant spending money.
Phase two involved installing proper fire detection equipment and set standards for bulk storage of pesticides.
Phase three emphasized structural safety, including curbing or diking to retain spills, building exterior walls of non-combustible material, locating warehouses away from environmentally sensitive areas or large populations and around-the-clock monitoring for fires.
CPIC has estimated the cost of upgrading warehouses to meet these standards at between $320-$650 per sq. metre, or $10,000 to $150,000 per facility. Rose said on average, each facility spent about $70,000 to upgrade.
While the program is voluntary, Rose said it is also self-policing. Agrichemical manufacturers and formulators have refused to deliver product to any warehouses that have not complied with phase two standards.
As of March 23, there were about 1,500 of these warehouses.
Rose said on March 31, the deadline for compliance, these phase two warehouses would not be able to buy more product, however, they could sell existing inventories.
A self-audit, filed with CPIC, signified compliance with the first two phases, but the third phase is being assessed by outside auditors.
Rose said as many as 37 final audits have arrived at CPIC’s offices in one day recently.
“There’s an incredible amount of activity going on out there.”
Rob Haag, an advisor for Alberta Wheat Pool in Calgary, said about half the warehouses his company intends to certify have been audited. He anticipates the balance will be done before the end of May.
Millions spent to upgrade
He estimates Alberta pool has spent between $8-10 million to upgrade or build new warehouses since the standards came into effect.
The number of pool locations farmers could buy chemicals from has dropped from 250 to an anticipated 75 by the end of 1995.
The standards will also cost the pool some business, he said. “We used to be super convenient. Now we’re just convenient.”
But the alternative, Haag said, was to get out of selling chemicals altogether.
Len Johnson, manager of environmental compliance with Manitoba Pool Elevators, said his company’s certified facilities will drop from 100 to 50.
Rather than upgrade old facilities, in some cases, MPE decided to build new ones, he said. Some were situated in towns, close to the elevators and didn’t meet environmental requirements.
Johnson said adding anhydrous ammonia facilities to some of the sites means they can “service our customers better.”
