$41.8-million fertilizer facility planned for Alberta

A new $41.8-million fertilizer terminal is being planned for Alberta.

Federated Co-operatives Limited (FCL) announced it plans to build a new state-of-the-art, high-throughput fertilizer terminal near Grassy Lake, Alta.

“This facility supports local co-ops and is the next step on our journey to grow within the crop inputs business,” said Patrick Bergermann, FCL’s associate vice-president of agriculture, in a press release. “This is a long-term investment back into Western Canada that will help us better serve and meet the needs of local co-ops along with their members and customers.”

The plant is FCL’s third terminal for warehousing, blending and distribution. The fertilizer will be transported to locally owned co-op centres which then supply it to farmers.

The new terminal will have a storage capacity of 34,400 metric tonnes and be powerful enough to fill a super B trailer with fertilizer in about six minutes.

Plans include rail access and a loop track to accommodate up to 110 car unit trains. This will allow the facility to get product from domestic and international suppliers.

“Having a facility that efficiently receives and stores phosphate is essential as domestic production ends this spring,” said Dan Mulder, FCL’s director of fertilizer. “This is one of the opportunities we want to provide through the terminal, along with greater convenience and service levels for co-op customers in southern and central Alberta.”

Construction is expected to start this spring and full operations will commence in 2020. The project is expected to create about 150 jobs during the construction phase, with five full-time and two seasonal positions required when the terminal becomes operational.

FCL opened two fertilizer terminals in 2017 in Hanley, Sask. and Brandon, Man. They have storage capacities of 45,000 and 27,500 metric tonnes, respectively.