by SUSAN MANN
If peanut grower John Picard knew beforehand it would cost him more than $100,000 to modify 12 new crop dryers that he initially paid $36,000 for, he would have done something differently.
“Had I known anything this ludicrous was waiting, I could have built them from scratch for probably half that price,” says Picard of modifications that the Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA) required him to make to obtain certification on the peanut dryers he bought in the United States.
The La Salette, Ontario farmer says he wants to farm in a safe environment but the province has gone overboard in its pursuit of safety. “There should be a common-sense discussion on whether all of TSSA’s safety requirements are needed, especially for equipment that’s used just a few days a year, he says.
Picard bought the dryers in the spring of 2011 because he was expanding his value-added farm business, Picard’s Foods, near Delhi. He grows 90 acres of peanuts, along with potatoes, barley, soybeans and corn. He uses his peanuts to make confectionary.
Picard uses the dryers for six days a year. When peanuts are harvested they’re at 55 to 60 per cent moisture but they need to be dried to about 10 per cent moisture so they can be stored.
To get the dryers up and running, Picard called a local contractor, who sent the dryers’ equipment manual to TSSA in Toronto to see if anything special was required. It came back and TSSA wanted nine changes to the burners.
TSSA is non-profit, self funded organization that’s responsible for the safety inspections in Ontario of fuels, boilers, pressure vessels, elevators, amusement rides and ski lifts, as well as upholstered and stuffed articles.
Picard says what the TSSA required for his dryers “was in fact a complete rebuild of the burners.”
TSSA spokesman Wilson Lee says the dryers Picard bought weren’t certified either in the United States or for use in Canada. That’s why TSSA required “the equipment to be reviewed and inspected.”
The control system that operated the key functions of the equipment didn’t meet the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) code, he says. Those rules govern equipment like crop dryers for use in Canada.
Effective Jan. 1, 2013, the CSA will no longer certify gas or oil-fired crop dryers and farmers buying, upgrading or replacing dryers will have to get their equipment certified by TSSA. Equipment manufacturers have been working with the CSA to get new protocols written so CSA can continue certifying the dryers but the new protocols won’t be in place by the Jan. 1 deadline.
John Cowan, Grain Farmers of Ontario vice president of strategic development, says they’re working to ensure the new protocols continue to get written.
Existing equipment on farms, and equipment manufactured by Dec. 31 are not affected. “Anything manufactured after Jan. 1 would have to be approved by TSSA and that would be a field approval,” Cowan says.
Meanwhile, Picard says the rebuilding job for his dryers was so complex it couldn’t be done by the fall of 2011 when he needed the dryers for his crop. “We lost the entire usage for that crop year,” he says. “We had to scramble. It wasn’t the convenience we had planned for.” It took until August 2012 to complete the necessary modifications.
The TSSA’s requirements meant they had to go back to the drawing board, Picard explains. “We had to go back and get complete engineering and schematics done before electrical and gasworks.”
But, he says, “these are simple burners. They’re not complex things.” When he bought them he says he thought they’d need slight modifications for use here.
Picard says he had to hire an engineer to redraw the electrical schematics at a cost of $10,000. Then he had to pay $90,000 for the modifications to the 12 dryers required by TSSA. In addition, the cost to have TSSA inspect the dryers, once they were hooked up and ready for use this fall, was close to $7,000.
Lee says from “our perspective we definitely understand the hardship for the farmer, both financially and in terms of his timelines. But our responsibility is to enforce safety regulations for safety reasons. ”
Picard explains the 12 dryers he bought are the same ones used as standard equipment across the southern United States in eight or nine states for peanut drying. “There’s nothing new here.”
Picard questions why so many modifications were needed when the dryers were built in the United States and the American gas supply is similar to Canada’s.
Lee responds that “this is not the southern United States we’re living in.” Ontario has its own set of safety codes, standards and regulations. The province has an exceptional safety record and that’s partly due to the fact it has its own made-in-Ontario safety rules, he says. BF
Comments
when farmer cannot get credit because silly rule govering credit unions how do they expect farmer to come with kind of money for crop dryers and the puting up of new bins we need less regulation as it is forcing many smaller producers out of business more credit being handle outside the major banks 3 farmers i know are borrowing abroad as they are unable to get credit in this province for less than 7% foreign money is avaible at 4% stephen webster blyth ont
Is this Mr webster, the Wbster we remember your effort and time spent on picket protest by yourself in Toronto Queens Park, if so, you worked hard. When we farmers look back,,,,,, Have we learned anything of value
The boom bust economic cycles could be saying dont borrow to the hilt your money, if we have another economic bust , should we bail them out?
I believe there is a farmer in usa that recently had to declare money problems, assets 1M,,, libilities 50M and growing
It all come down to the big gets bigger and the small gets stepped on. The whole world is the same if you managed to have gotten large you get the money at a better interest the things you need at a huge discount and there is no care for the small guy just give me your money .They can bring in all the rules and regulations you want , they still can get even bigger without being stopped.
yes it is the stephen webster who spent the time in queens park i have today a farm that has triple invalue to over in flated land values the machinery and corn on hand is worth more than my total debt today and there is not a bank or credit union who would loan me dime today that is the truth stephen webster blyth i am do worry for self but others that work with i spent 3 weeks in jamicia seeing the results on the poor and how the farm labour program makes a difference i am personaly sponsoring a mechanic and his wife who is a registered nurse i guess i am a little disapointed today in the local credit union in the spring when went in to redo my morgage and thought had a $200,000 operating line and ended up with $10,000 i had a neighbour come to me a greed to supply my barn for him to put pigs in when had no home for them and spent$30,000 converting the barn and filled a silo full of corn i thought i had the rest of the corn sold last minute on approx dec 17 did not all the elevaters were full so the corn was at less than 17% moisture acc would tough me becausae of my credit rateing so went credit union a local accountant did my books on sunday while i went out chirstmas .i tooks the books in monday into the crdit union on monday they said no loan i informed i would not have sign the morgage with them in april if had know i would have a operating loan i asked is as they did as promised in april if could pay loan off early they said NO the reason i am upset is i borowed mony from people to put crop in i told them would pay them off by the end of year i want sell some corn will back in march wanted i have $3,500,000 assets today and less than $700,000 in debt i made $200,000 this year not including the increase in land values when jamicia live in private home the people were impresed i was not afraid to go anywhere the mechanic was third top in his class and i seen feed hogs on the side on a littlke grass he worked nigt as security guard while going to school i made sure his school fes and cost to come canada was paid he and his wife to be will cosign and loan i hopeing to get money at 6% it is very important to me to be able to therigt thing what said i would i may end refinanceing but is not soon enough i need to sell $50,000 to $100,000 corn before the end of year sorry my key board sticks a lot stephen webster i wish every body a merry chirstmas
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