ResponsibleAg, a voluntary and industry-led safety and stewardship initiative, reached another major milestone when the 4,000th facility audit was completed at Rutherford Farmers Cooperative in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, a Tennessee Farmers Cooperative-affiliated facility.

Launched in 2014 as a joint venture of TFI and ARA, ResponsibleAg provides an audit and certification program to help participating locations ensure they comply with pertinent regulations from OSHA, DOT, EPA, and DHS to keep employees, customers, and communities safe.

Drew Landerman, environmental, health, and safety specialist for Tennessee Farmers Cooperative (TFC) and a ResponsibleAg-credentialed auditor, conducted the 4,000th audit.

“Reaching that milestone illustrates both the success and value of the program and shows there’s longevity in the program,”

Landerman says.

Rutherford Farmers Cooperative’s DeKalb County branch had the honor of being the 1,000th facility nationally to earn ResponsibleAg Certification in 2018.

According to Landerman, Tennessee Farmers Cooperative encouraged its member cooperatives to participate in ResponsibleAg from the start.

“ResponsibleAg’s comprehensive audit checklist is regularly updated to reflect new regulations, so we don’t have to spend time creating our own. Instead, we can focus on educating not only the various managers but also employees at our ag retail sites on safety to help them better understand and meet safety regulations. We’ve found doing this, plus educating them about the ResponsibleAg program, increases employee ownership and pride in their workplace, which leads to fewer injuries, illnesses, and citations.”

The ResponsibleAg audit encompasses up to 17 areas of operation, depending on the type of facility. For facilities in California, ResponsibleAg offers a checklist that includes state regulations. Following an audit, the facility receives a corrective action plan detailing how to resolve any issues identified. Once corrections are made, the facility achieves ResponsibleAg certification, which is good for three years. Recertification ensures personnel stays up to date on safe practices and facilities comply with new or updated rules and regulations.

Since the first ResponsibleAg audits were conducted in 2015, almost 130,000 compliance issues have been identified at participating facilities. While not all were considered major infractions, and some were only paperwork issues, a regulatory agency conducting an audit could cite a facility for any of them,”

says Tim McArdle, longtime board member and retiring chairman of the ResponsibleAg Board of Directors.

Nearly 96,000 issues have been resolved to date, and there’s been a steady decrease year over year in the number of issues identified, showing ag retail facilities are more engaged and aware of proper safety, security and environmental practices.

“While that’s a good track record, our goal is to continue to improve those numbers,”

McArdle adds.

There are 2,500+ facilities currently registered, many completing certifications for the second time since the program began. McArdle says the goal of the program is for all registered facilities to be audited by a ResponsibleAg-credentialed auditor and to resolve all identified audit issues, with the ultimate goal of compliance with all federal regulations.

Resources to Help Participants Reach Compliance

ResponsibleAg offers various resources that make it easier for participating facilities to achieve compliance, including the online Compliance Assistance Library with concise summaries of regulatory standards pertinent to ag retailers, the Compliance Assessment Tool, and EZ Search. McArdle adds that one of his future goals for the program is to explore developing a checklist for emissions and climate standards that the industry might have to abide by in the future.

“If it does happen, ResponsibleAg wants to be prepared to continue to provide guidance and value by helping our members remain compliant with all regulations,”

he says.

McArdle concludes,

“Safety and compliance are at the heart of what ResponsibleAg does. The industry’s continuous commitment and strong participation show regulators that we place high importance on compliance and we are capable of self-regulating.”

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“With this cooperation, we are combining our competencies – on the one hand, PBST’s global sales structure for turbochargers and, on the other hand, Rolls-Royce’s latest high-efficiency MTU turbocharger technology for high-speed diesel and gas engines,”

explains Andreas Schell, CEO of Rolls-Royce Power Systems. 

The turbochargers developed and produced in-house by Rolls-Royce Power Systems will thus be made available in additional markets. For Rolls-Royce, this creates a new channel for sales in addition to Woodward L’Orange. PBST will include the latest generation of the MTU turbocharger family ZR1 to ZR5 in its product portfolio and will distribute them under the series name HIRO in the future.

“The MTU brand is characterized above all by its in-depth know-how in high-speed applications. Thanks to this product expansion, we are now able to offer our customers exactly the right turbocharger for their high-, medium- and low-speed applications under one roof via the PBST brand,”

says Dr. Uwe Lauber, CEO of MAN Energy Solutions.

The MTU turbochargers are offered on the basis of a modular system for engines in the 400 to 2,500-kilowatt power ranges in single- and two-stage versions. Rolls-Royce designs them to meet the specific requirements of various applications such as marine, rail, construction, heavy land vehicles, and power supply.

“Advanced turbocharging helps engines achieve low fuel consumption and high power over a wide speed range. It is an important building block for meeting increasingly stringent emission requirements in the future – without compromising engine performance or efficiency,”

explains Dr. Otto Preiss, Chief Technology Officer and COO of Rolls-Royce Power Systems.

“With the aim of offering new propulsion and energy solutions for a climate-neutral future, we are also currently working on electrically assisted turbochargers for greater agility and lower fuel consumption, as well as on turbocharger concepts for fuel cells.”

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As ag retailers are increasingly adopting digital solutions to improve their operational efficiencies and enhance customers’ overall service experience, Growmark is expanding its partnership with Solinftec.

Solinftec is a Brazilian company with 13 years of experience developing digital ag solutions for the largest agricultural operations in the world on more than 22 million acres of row crops, sugarcane, coffee and citrus. By marrying logistics, analytics and real time weather data with algorithms, Solinftec significantly increases partners’ machinery and input use efficiency, improving crop yields and reducing environmental impacts.

“When I learned of the efficiency gains that the Brazilian sugarcane industry achieved through Solinftec’s digital and artificial intelligence solutions, I knew this could be game-changing. It could take our operations to a whole new level of efficiency. When we look at any new technology, we are looking for two things. One, to be more efficient with our people, our equipment and resources. And two, to bring a higher level of customer service that makes growers want to keep doing business with us.”

says Lance Ruppert, Growmark’s director of agronomy marketing technology.

Solinftec established its U.S. headquarters at Purdue Research Park in West Lafayette, Indiana in 2019 and began researching the needs of U.S. ag retailers and growers. Initial research in the U.S. found ag retailers’ machines were idle 30% of the time, traveling 35% of the time and generating revenue 35% of the time. Solinftec saw the potential to more than double the average acreage covered by one sprayer in a season.

Over the past year and a half, Growmark and several of its FS cooperatives have collaborated with Solinftec to develop a software solution that significantly enhances the operational efficiency of its custom application business. The Solinftec sprayer/spreader solution for crop protection products, anhydrous ammonia and other fertilizers will be available to all of Growmark’s FS cooperatives across the U.S. and Canada for the 2021 growing season.

“From day one, the Solinftec team dug in and collected a lot of data to understand how an FS retail location was doing business and find areas we could be better. With Solinftec technology, we are getting more acres applied in a day and more acres through each machine.”

says Ruppert.

Britaldo Hernandez, Solinftec’s chief executive officer says,

“We are very proud and excited to be Growmark’s partner in this bold leap towards digitalization.”

Solinftec delivers solutions that optimize the timing and application of pesticides, anhydrous ammonia and fertilizers to help assure timely, effective and regulatory-compliant applications with immediate connectivity and full visibility of services being provided.

“We organize the whole supply chain to keep the machines working. Our clients can expect at least a 70% increase in operational efficiency.”

says Daniel Padrão, Solinftec’s chief operating officer.

The Solinftec web-based software uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to create the most efficient daily schedules and routes for a fleet by integrating information from many sources including work orders, weather forecast, real time equipment and weather data, agronomic data and more. This information is communicated in real time to the custom applicator, the tender truck driver, the dispatch office and the sales agronomist through a Solinftec app.

“Timing of applications is very important. Farmers plant crops extremely fast, our weather seems to be more volatile and label restrictions are increasing, so our window for applying inputs is shrinking. We need to be smarter about how we apply products and Solinftec is helping us do that,”

concludes Ruppert.

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