Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44GETTING KEY MESSAGES INTO THE HANDS THAT NEED THEM. For a handout on this topic, visit Germination.ca.. Send us your company name and logo and we'll develop a customized PDF for you to distribute. ENDORSED BY: JULY 2016 15 Thirty-two of the protocols are scored, with elements carrying between 10 and 30 points. In its official audit, the operation must achieve 80 per cent of the total available points in each section of the standard. The remaining four protocols are recommended as best management practises. From July 2014 to March 2015 CLC offered a pre-audit system and covered the costs of a pre-audit. Auditors visited 483 sites to help operations understand what, if any, changes would need to be made to comply with the standard. Operations that went through the pre-audit and were found not in com- pliance with some of the siting and structural protocols were eligible for exemptions under six grandfather clauses in the standard. For example, Hurst says: “Many of the existing seed cleaning plants are wooden structures. The code says the facility should be constructed of non- flammable material like concrete or steel. Under the grandfathering pro- visions, and after a pre-audit, these structures could have been given exemptions from that requirement, and with some fire proofing measures could be accredited.” Monica Klaas, general manager of Alberta Seed Processors, says the grandfathering provisions are important. “Quite a few of our facilities are over 50 years old and are predominately of wood construction, which makes com- plying with the fire containment pro- tocols complex and expensive,” she says. “But with the focus on risk man- agement, I’ve had some discussions of alternatives to massive capital expen- ditures, such as using a fire resistant material to clad a wood structure.” The State of the Sector According to Hurst, a gap analysis done at the conclusion of the pre-audits iden- tified that about one-third of the 483 pre-audited sites have very little to do to comply with the standard, and some were even ahead of it. Many of the operations in this group were already certified under other AWSA programs. Another one-third of the pre-audited sites are close. “They may need a few adjustments, but should quite easily be able to comply,” he says. However, the other one-third will have substantially more to do. “This group of operations had not had any- thing asked of them before,” he says. “Most of the requirements will be for greater documentation, but there are some structural requirements. For example if you are treating seed on a dirt floor with poor ventilation, you will need to make some changes.” He says a lot of work was done to help this last group through the pro- cess. “We took the time to walk them through the requirements, and offer different options to comply,” he says. Industry’s Reaction Brent Collins, director of cereals mar- keting at Bayer, says the company sup- ports the industry accreditation system. “A proactive approach to further improve processes and practises is always more desirable than the alter- native,” he says. “Ensuring that com- mercial seed treatment processes follow this mindset will be beneficial in the long run.” Collins says that all of Bayer’s inter- nal treating facilities are in compliance. “Although Bayer’s current Western Canadian seed treatment portfolio does not currently contain any products that would be subject to the standard, we do encourage commercial treaters to be in accordance with the new operations standard,” he says. Alberta Seed Processors’ Klaas says her members have been involved throughout the development process. “Our association had a representative “We knew that if we made the standard so rigid that nobody could realistically achieve its requirements, we would not be successful … What is being asked of seed treating operations is very achievable.” — Russel Hurst