Expansion underway on Brandon fertilizer terminal
More storage to be added at three-year-old facility
| 2 min read
By Dave Bedard
FCL's Co-op Fertilizer Terminal at Brandon. (Photo courtesy Federated Co-operatives Ltd.)
Federated Co-operatives (FCL) has started expansion work at its next-to-new fertilizer terminal in western Manitoba, to boost its capacity by almost a third.
FCL announced Monday it has budgeted $5 million to add 9,000 tonnes of capacity at the Co-op Fertilizer Terminal at Brandon, bringing its maximum storage to 36,500 tonnes.
Work began at the site in late October and is projected to be complete early next summer, the Saskatoon-based co-operative said.
The Brandon facility and its 45,000-tonne capacity sister site at Hanley, Sask., about 55 km south of Saskatoon, were opened in April 2017, followed by a third Prairie terminal in October this year at Grassy Lake, Alta., about 80 km east of Lethbridge, with capacity for 34,400 tonnes.
“Since we opened the (Brandon) terminal three years ago, customer demand has really exceeded our expectations,” Patrick Bergermann, FCL’s associate vice-president of ag and home, said in a release.
“Growers and truckers alike have really appreciated the incredibly fast service at this terminal which typically sees them safely loaded and back out on the road within 15 minutes.”
The Brandon site warehouses, blends and distributes fertilizer products for Co-op locations and farmers in Manitoba and eastern Saskatchewan. It also provides warehouse storage for liquid micronutrients and nitrogen stabilizers, “ensuring farmers have access to the latest in fertilizer technology,” FCL said.
When it announced its plans for the high-throughput Brandon and Hanley terminals in 2016, FCL said each would be able to load a super-B trailer with blended fertilizer in 10 minutes.
The new expansion is expected to allow the Brandon site to store more specialty products to support 4R nutrient stewardship, Bergermann said.
“4R” refers to a group of best management practices for sustainable fertilizer application — the “right” source, rate, time and place — in a manner that matches nutrient supply to crop requirements and limits nutrient losses from fields.
The stewardship program calls for fertilizers to be applied in forms that are “plant-available” or convert readily to plant-available forms in soil; that suit the properties of the soil; that complement other available or applied nutrients; and that blend in a compatible way. — Glacier FarmMedia Network
