Fertilizer sales companies should be able to use farm plates and purple fuel in their delivery trucks, says an Independent Fertilizer Association member.
“Farm vehicles haul fertilizer and they haul grain, and so do I, and the fields aren’t level and we are getting priced out of the trucking business because of competition with the farmer,” said Gary Stangness of Tri-S Fertilizer in Innisfail, Alta.
Stangness and others in the industry appeared before an Alberta government committee April 19 to state their case.
Under current rules, company fertilizer trucks delivering material for application by their own company workers can have farm plates and burn purple fuel. But if company fertilizer trucks deliver to farmers intending to apply the material themselves, purple fuel cannot be used for the delivery.
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Trucks eligible for purple fuel save the nine cents per litre provincial fuel tax and diesel vehicles get an additional six cent reduction under the Alberta Farm Fuel Distribution Allowance. That combined saving would lower fuel costs by nearly 50 percent, said Stangness, whose company uses diesels.
Tandem fertilizer trucks cost $784 per year to license and super Bs cost $3,000. The maximum farm licence is about $75 and Stangness suspects some farmers are trucking fertilizer for others while using a regular farm licence.
“We’re not suggesting for a minute that the farmer should pay the prices we have to, to move these agricultural commodities. We want the same consideration as the farmer because it is a farm produced product,” said Stangness.
His arguments didn’t sit well with most MLAs on the standing policy committee for agriculture and rural development. If government gives farm plates to those in the fertilizer industry, other manufacturers may demand the same reductions, said Richard Marz, MLA for Olds, Didsbury and Three Hills.
That’s the main reason the proposal won’t fly, said Dale Dowswell, co-ordinator of program delivery for Alberta Agriculture.
“I would have to say it’s not very likely,” he said in an interview. “I don’t think the immediate cost to this one industry in particular is the concern but if it was opened to all service industries it would obviously cost a lot more.”
Barry McFarland, MLA for Little Bow, said fertilizer dealers should report farmers they suspect of trucking grain or inputs other than their own.
But since farmers are customers, that’s not easy to do, Stangness countered.
“I’ve been told emphatically that if you turn us in you’ll lose an account.”
Some producers buy grain and inputs from their neighbors before shipping them so it is legal, he said, and doing custom work helps many farmers pay off loans on their trucks.
But in doing so, farmers are taking business away from trucking and fertilizer companies. As well, the margins for fertilizer sales are thinning because of more competition, said Stangness.
Bigger retail outlets get better fertilizer deals and that means companies like his have to reduce operational costs.
The industry has been lobbying for lower fuel rates for several years, said Stangness. Last fall’s government decision to allow purple gas for delivery to custom application machinery was welcome, although it means plenty of paperwork for trucks used for custom application delivery and simple transportation.
