The Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) held its annual meeting Dec. 3-5 in Miami. One topic of note was that the fertilizer industry is moving toward its own self-regulation as the country awaits President Barack Obama’s Executive Orders to federal agencies in response to the April 2013 West, Texas, tragedy.
ARA, along with The Fertilizer Institute (TFI), will hold a workshop in Dallas Dec. 12-13 to discuss possible solutions. TFI President Chris Jahn told conference attendees that in September the TFI board agreed to put $100,000 toward a program, but that it must be cost effective and run on a consensus basis with broad general support, and be as quick as possible.
ARA President Daren Coppock told Green Markets that a resolution could reach both the full TFI and ARA boards in February.
Jahn told conference attendees that the EO results will start coming in in January, and that the media will again begin to focus on West. Jahn said polling shows that the fertilizer industries’ reputation is now lower than that of the oil and gas industry. He said 70 percent of the public supports more regulations on fertilizer, while 88 percent support a voluntary industry effort.
Industry panelists on the topic warned that if the industry does not act, it risks rolling the dice and having regulators act for them. Panel moderator Dr. Dave Downey of Purdue University warned that regulars may pick the worst possible circumstances and build regulations around those. “This is not going away,” said Downey. “The world is never going to be simple again.” He also said it not just an ARA issue, but an industry issue. The agencies want industry to take steps; if we don’t, they will, said Downey.
“The benefits of responsible ag outweigh the costs,” said Johnny Council, outgoing ARA Chairman and president and CEO of The Lyman/Tremont Group. “It takes an industry to make it happen. People here are not the issue,” he continued, “but we know that there are those out there that are a detriment to our industry.”
Council said the public perception is of a corrupt, capitalistic industry, manipulating agriculture for profit. He said they do not understand nutrient enhancements or ag achievements, adding that the organic and local food movements have almost become a religion.
Billy Pirkle, Agrium Inc.’s Crop Production Services senior director, citing an often-used term in 2013, said “there are no outliers in this room,” the reference often given to West Fertilizer. However, to get rid of the outliers, Pirkle said a registration process is needed, as well as a transparent verification program. He also said all the federal regulations need to be put into a single repository for ag retailers. He added that back in 2011 the industry was already working on a code for ammonium nitrate and anhydrous ammonia. Looking back, Pirkle said the high point of the industry was likely right after World War II, when the industry was credited with helping to feed the troops.
Another fear is that ag retailers will lose certain permitting exemptions, which would add an entire new level of regulation, paperwork, and expense, said Pirkle, who added that inherently safer technology (IST) is another possibility is the industry does not act.
Yara North America President Bart Pescio spent the early part of his career in Europe and had firsthand knowledge of the restrictions that were put on ammonium nitrate and ammonia on that continent. The industry fears such could also come to the U.S. He and Pirkle both talked about how the U.S. is the only major nation in the world that does not have such an industry-sponsored initiative.
Much more was discussed at the ARA meeting, with Allan Gray, Purdue University’s Land O’Lakes Chair of Agribusiness, giving a retail outlook to 2025, te