Helping Create CleanFARMS

This post and photos are courtesy of Janice Johnson, Ontario communications specialist.

For three days in late October, farmers were able to bring their obsolete pesticides, unused animal health products and used sharps (needles, syringes and scalpel blades) to a series of 16 collection sites across Ontario for safe and environmentally responsible disposal. There was no cost for this service to farmers and all organizations volunteered their time and labor to the success of the program.

FS hosted five drop off locations: GROWMARK’s Ontario Distribution Centre in Kitchener, North Wellington Co-operative Services in Harriston, Huron Bay Co-operative in Dundalk, Vineland Growers Co-operative in Jordon Station, Thunder Bay Co-operative Farm Supplies and Co-operative Regional de Nipissing Sudbury in Thornloe.

Jeff McCallum, communications and marketing specialist for North Wellington Co-operative Services in Harriston said farmers were very positive about the program and that almost half of the participants traveled more than 40 kilometers to get there, with the furthest coming from about 80 kilometers away.

From all accounts, the program at the FS locations was an overall success.

Dave Rogers, Dundalk branch manager for Huron Bay Co-operative reported an overwhelming response with the allocated canisters overflowing to almost filling a full trailer load.

"There was a much larger number of farmers in with obsolete crop protection products than ever projected,” Rogers said.

Scott Wright, Vineland Growers Co-operative purchasing manager and health and safety management co-chair said they didn’t expect a big response, but he was proven wrong.

“During the three days we received product from 101 farms, three other dealers and one government agency. In total we filled 16 totes, six barrels, 13 skids and five boxes of animal health. This could not have been accomplished without the help from several volunteers,” Wright said.

Ben Postuma, general manager of Thunder Bay Co-operative was impacted greatly.

“I commend the chemical companies for their efforts in this program and am totally impressed with the amount of clean up this created in the local area." he said.

Pesticide collection programs have been run in Canada by CropLife Canada since 1998 under the CleanFARMS banner. More than 270,000 kilograms of obsolete product have been collected in Ontario during previous collection campaigns in 2001 and 2005.

This program is co-ordinated by AGCare with financial support from CropLife Canada and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Other project partners include Ontario Farm Animal Council, Canadian Animal Health Institute, Ontario Veterinary Medical Association and Ontario Agri Business Association. For more information, visit http://www.agcare.org/ or http://www.ofac.org/.

Frank Galfusz, GROWMARK Ontario Distribution Centre shift supervisor proudly displays the mass of collected obsolete products that he helped compile. The accumulation consisted of three boxes of animal health medication, a box of sharps and 20 skids and three drums of obsolete pesticides. “The oldest product collected was lead arsenic that had a Pesticide Control Products registration number of 19, which suggests that it was the 19th product registered with the Act in Canada,” Galfusz said.

Roxana Open House

An open house and customer appreciation event was held at Madison Service Company's Roxana, Ill. fuel terminal. Nearly 50 customers stopped by to tour the facility, purchase discounted fuel, and enter a drawing for FAST STOP gift cards.

The facility includes a 24-hour, unmanned FAST STOP Express fueling station, as well as 30,000 gallons of bulk fuel storage for both Madison Service Co. and GROWMARK. Distillate/biodiesel blends of B2, B5, B11, B20 or any blend in between are available. Fuels can also be additized with the proprietary FS Dieselex Gold performance enhancer, SURE-FLO cold flow improver and Premium Diesel Express additive.

Fueling the Cure

Information in this post was taken from a press release distributed about this program. Photos are courtesy of Betty Thornton, Heritage Cooperative.

Three Ohio cooperatives deployed pink propane delivery trucks this month in a unique partnership to support the Stefanie Spielman Fund for Breast Cancer Research at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute.

"All of us have been affected by cancer in some way," said Eric Parthemore, Heritage Cooperative CEO. "We hope that Fueling the Cure propane delivery trucks can serve as a gentle reminder to people how important cancer research is for all Ohio families and encourage our customers, employees, and communities to join us in giving."

Heritage Cooperative employees pose beside a pink propane truck at the kick-off event for "Fueling the Cure." From left to right: Ray Etgen, energy manager; Jamie Conley, propane driver/sales representative; Cathie Olejniczak, energy coordinator; Eric Parthemore, CEO; John Dunbar, COO; and Keith Bailey, energy specialist.

Each of three cooperatives - United Landmark, London, Ohio; Southwest Landmark, Xenia, Ohio; and Heritage Cooperative, West Mansfield, Ohio - has committed to make a minimum of $10,000 corporate donation to the Stefanie Spielman Fund for Breast Cancer Research by October 2010. In most cases, the amount will be based on a donation of $1 per delivery stop from October 2009-October 2010. In addition, the cooperatives have set a goal to raise $5,000 in donations by employees and customers during the year-long campaign and help The James establish 50 new donor-benefactor relationships.

Jamie Conley (left) and Eric Parthemore at the kick-off event. Conley is the only female propane driver/sales representative among the three sponsoring cooperatives. She will drive the Fueling the Cure truck for Heritage Cooperative, in memory of her mother-in-law and in honor of her sister and several customers who are breast cancer survivors.

Each cooperative is donating in-kind use of a brand new pink propane delivery truck to serve as a roving billboard for the campaign. Each of the cooperatives' other delivery trucks will have a Fueling the Cure decal on the truck tank or door.

The campaign website at http://www.fuelingthecure.org/ will track donations with a fuel gauge that will be updated at least monthly.

Proud Ohio State fans create the "Block O" at the kick off ceremony. From left to right: Eric Parthemore; E. Gordon Gee, president of The Ohio State University; John Dunbar; and Thad Dixon, propane manager of United Landmark.

Menard Terminal Open House

GROWMARK Energy Division hosted an open house at the Menard Terminal near Petersburg, Ill. on October 7. Nearly 50 member cooperative employees, vendors, and industry leaders attended the event.

The facility was purchased in August 2008, and offers storage for more than 10 million gallons of gasoline, disesl fuel, ethanol, and biodiesel. Custom biodiesel blends are made with a state-of-the-art ratio blending system. Member cooperatives and other customers within a 100-mile radius are served by this facility.