By Joel van der Veen
HANLEY — As a farm boy himself, Scott Banda couldn’t help but remark on the ideal harvest conditions seen near Hanley on Tuesday.
“The sun is shining, wheels are turning, dust is flying,” he said. “Everything’s going our way today.”
Banda, the CEO of Federated Co-operatives Ltd. (FCL), was speaking at the grand opening for his company’s new fertilizer terminal southwest of Hanley.
Representatives from FCL and co-ops across the province, as well as other industry reps, dignitaries and media, were on hand to tour the 96,000-square foot facility.
The high-throughput terminal has a capacity of 45,000 metric tonnes of fertilizer, and will be used to mix, store and distribute products through the Co-operative Retailing System (CRS) to retail partners and producers across Saskatchewan.
Dan Mulder, FCL’s fertilizer director, served as master of ceremonies during Tuesday’s grand opening.
He said the facility represents the adoption of a new centralized model and “a new way of doing business.”
According to a fact sheet provided by FCL, the terminal can load a Super B trailer of blended fertilizer (equivalent to 45 tonnes) in 10 minutes and dispense as much as 400 metric tonnes of straight fertilizer in an hour.
The facility incorporates a declining weight system, as well as a rail line with capacity for up to 100 railcars.
With more than 125 Co-op Agro Centres located in Western Canada, the terminal will enable a growing number of them to sell fertilizer, thus filling a significant gap in a product line that also includes seed and crop protection products.
“It’s a one-stop shop for growers to come to,” said Mulder. “They would like to be able to get their total crop input needs met at one location.”
“Fertilizer was the one leg of the stool we didn’t have,” Banda was quoted in a video shown during the ceremony.
Grant Wicks, CEO of Saskatoon Co-op, said his company had not been in the fertilizer business since the 1980s, in part because of the low margins involved.
However, he said they’d increasingly heard that ag customers were looking for one-stop service, and were willing to look elsewhere to find it.
Wicks said his company was one of the retailers that approached FCL two years ago and asked them to consider a fertilizer distribution centre.
He said they’d realized it was time to look beyond urban boundaries and position themselves better to serve regional customers.
“It’s the ag business that’s going to lead our transformation,” Wicks said.
Also speaking during the ceremony was Steven Bonk, MLA for Moosomin and the newly-appointed minister of the economy.
Two other local MLAs, Greg Brkich of Arm River and Cathy Sproule of Saskatoon Nutana, were in attendance.
Municipal officials present included Hanley’s deputy mayor, Richard McGregor, and Harold Dyck, representing the Rural Municipality of Rosedale.
Representing the federal government was Abdul Jalil, assistant deputy minister for Western Economic Diversification.
Construction of the facility began in June 2016 and was completed on schedule and on budget. (Mulder said the construction spanned 114,000 manhours, without a single lost-time incident.)
Shipping and receiving operations started this past April. At present, the terminal has five full-time employees.
At the same time, a second terminal was built by FCL in Brandon, Man., with a capacity of 27,500 metric tonnes. The two terminals were built on a combined budget of $75 million.
In addition to shipping to retailers, the terminal allows producers to receive fertilizer products directly, provided they meet minimum criteria.
Mulder said they had a positive experience working with the town and RM, which includes a short-term agreement regarding the construction and maintenance of roads and infrastructure.
“We worked hand-in-hand with local councils in terms of overall development of the site,” he said. “It’s been a great experience.”