2018 was a year of advocacy achievements and internal planning for CAAR.

Last year, CAAR worked hard to address multiple advocacy topics, including an ongoing issue that threatened to jeopardize agri-retailers’ ability to operate and serve their customers. At the same time, CAAR worked to develop a strategic plan and restructured its internal operations to secure the sustainability of the association.

CSA Standard Updates

Since coming into effect in January 2018, Transport Canada’s revised regulations for anhydrous ammonia tank inspection and testing has been a significant concern for retailers. CAAR started the year by advocating for its members, and worked to acquire the necessary documents to provide relief for out-of-compliance tanks.

“We weren’t opposed to the legislation. But when and how it was implemented was going to be a problem for our members and their customers,” says Mitch Rezansoff, executive director of CAAR. “The work CAAR has done on the B620/B622-14 issue is an excellent example of what we can accomplish for our membership.”

The work CAAR has done on the B620/B622-14 issue is an excellent example of what we can accomplish for our membership.
Mitch Rezansoff

Temporary Certificate TH 0653.1

Effective from April 19 to June 30, 2018, this certificate granted relief from the hydrostatic tank testing requirements of B620-14, allowing retailers time to complete spring application. Without this certificate, Rezansoff estimates 20 per cent of nurse tanks, serving four to five million acres across the country, would have been out of compliance and unavailable in the spring season. Click here to learn more about how CAAR collaborated with Fertilizer Canada on this issue.

Equivalency Certificate SH 11960.1

Equivalency Certificate SH 11960.1, obtained April 20, 2018 and valid until Dec. 31, 2019, authorizes members of CAAR and their clients to pressure test their applicator tanks and nurse wagons every five years instead of every three years as prescribed in the CSA B620-14 Standard. To be eligible for the relaxed five-year testing cycle, tanks must have been post-weld heat treated in their construction.

CAAR’s Voluntary Decal Program

To easily identify tanks and nurse wagons requiring testing every three or five years, CAAR introduced a voluntary, industry-led tank decal program in October 2018. Two new decals, offered through CAAR Mart, serve as clear visual labels to identify three and five-year tanks.

“CAAR clearly heard the industry’s concern and developed these decals so that anyone filling a nurse tank can readily identify if that tank is in compliance or not,” says Rezansoff. “Having these decals makes it that much easier to quickly determine which tanks are three-year and which are five-year.”

Rezansoff encourages retailers to click here to order three-year and five-year identification decals ahead of the spring season.

Strategizing and Restructuring

When Rezansoff joined the CAAR team in January 2018, he brought a fresh vision and a desire to lay a strong foundation for the association’s continued success.

“In my first year I made an effort to meet with as many members, sister associations and stakeholders as possible,” he says. “It was important for me to listen, first and foremost.”

Through these conversations, Rezansoff says he gained a new appreciation for the challenges and opportunities facing Canadian agri-retailers, as well as the multitude of regulatory concerns they manage daily.

“I am pleased with the results of CAAR’s work in 2018. Regulators have listened to the voice of the retailer,” he says. “Inside the organization, I am excited about the changes to CAAR’s direction, both those changes already implemented in 2018, and those we have planned.”

Shifting Focus

Throughout the year, Rezansoff has worked with CAAR staff and board members to revise the internal operations of the association to improve its efficiency. The most important internal activity of 2018, according to Rezansoff, was recognizing the need for a three-to-five-year strategic plan to guide the association’s activities in the long term, and an 18-month plan to guide short-term activities.

“Shifting to this approach of a long-term strategy and an 18-month plan, we will have more lead time to plan our activities,” says Rezansoff. “This will allow us to be more proactive rather than reactive, and to really focus on what it is that our members need and want.”

Another step CAAR took toward enhancing efficiency came in the form of revising internal roles and responsibilities, following the departure of CAAR’s member services director Lynda Nicol in the fall of 2018.

Adjusting staff priorities, Rezansoff says, will contribute to the organization becoming nimbler and better able to respond to member needs in a timely and comprehensive way.

With a new year ahead, Rezansoff looks forward to building upon the foundation that has been laid down and working toward CAAR’s long-term goals. Click here to learn more about what CAAR has in store for the coming year.

Click here to view CAAR’s 2018 Annual Report for more on how it worked on your behalf last year.