FERTILISER SECURITY CODE IS ESSENTIAL WARNS LEADING TRADER

The days of leaving fertiliser in open-fronted sheds will soon be a thing of the past in this era of heightened safety consciousness, believes Gleadell Agriculture’s fertiliser trader Calum Findlay. “It may still be down to individual growers to tighten up on their security and storage at the moment, but it is only a matter of time before it is an obligatory requirement for bags to be fully secured behind a locked gate.”

Ten months after the security code of practice was launched, Mr Findlay’s company has become the first of the leading British grain merchants to achieve accreditation under the Fertiliser Industry Assurance Scheme (FIAS). The code, designed to ensure the safety and security of fertiliser in manufacture, transport and storage, was drawn up by the industry itself. But applying for certification under the scheme, which sets standards for manufacturers, importers, merchants, hauliers, and store keepers, is voluntary and, so far, only one other merchant company, a haulier and a manufacturer have passed the audit.

Gleadell fertilizer trader Calum Findlay argues: “It is not some hare-brained scheme that has been brought out lightly. It is an absolute necessity if you are involved with fertilisers. I think the whole industry must pull together on this. There has been a lot of bad press on the use of fertilisers in terrorist bomb-making in recent years, and major companies like Gleadell must be shown to be leading the way in facing up to the issue.”

Fertiliser security is certainly viewed with the utmost seriousness by DEFRA and other government departments. With tight restrictions relating to acquiring and possessing military and commercial explosives, terrorist groups have turned their attention to “soft” options such as ammonium nitrate based fertilisers as a base substance for explosives. And it does not require a mastermind to get hold of supplies. As Mr Findlay says: “You only have to drive around the countryside and find bags of fertiliser left lying around in gateways, to see how simple it is to get hold of it.”

Mr Findlay says the audit the company had to undergo was “relatively painless”, and other than a few issues relating to paperwork, imposed few changes to current company practice.

“It works rather like feed chain traceability. They have got to be able to trace where a product has come from, where it has gone, and what procedures you have in place for recording things like the correct delivery address. It is not complicated, it is just about being accountable. And neither is it particularly expensive, though obviously the bigger the merchants, the more procedures will need to be put in place.”

He says that FIAS certification is designed to link with farm-based assurance schemes to provide full traceability throughout the production and input elements of the food chain. He adds that while DEFRA has “whole-heartedly” backed its implementation, if there is not a big enough uptake among companies within the sector, they may yet decide to enforce it through legislation. The issue is therefore almost certainly a fait accompli for the industry.


It is believed that somewhere in the region of 70 companies, including manufacturers, merchants and hauliers have applied for certification, and Mr Findlay also expects many of the main farmers’ buying groups and co-ops are also likely to go down this route.

“There is now a question on farm payments forms asking farmers whether they are buying fertiliser from FIAS registered merchants, and I believe it will eventually be the case that we are only allowed to source it from FIAS-registered suppliers and hauliers.”