A new agrichemical handling facility that offers an affordable and adaptable model for Alabama farmers was officially inaugurated during an open house ceremony held recently at the Chilton Area Horticulture Station (CAHS) in Clanton.

The building was constructed at the CAHS as a prototype and educational facility to show farmers and others working with pesticides, fertilizers, and herbicides how to develop similar facilities on their own operations. It was built in cooperation with the Station and the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station (AAES), Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM), Chilton County Soil and Water Conservation District, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and Cawaco Resource Conservation Development Council (RC&DC).

According to Jim Pitts, superintendent of the Station, the new agrichemical handling facility uses common sense and ingenuity to solve environmental problems. He explained that he and others involved in the project visited similar facilities in North Carolina, then adapted those designs to meet their own needs. The CAHS building was designed with many safety features to protect both the people working with chemicals and also the environment.

Norman Blakey, chief of ADEM’s Nonpoint Source Unit, noted that this new facility is important to Alabama because it will help protect the state’s rich and abundant water supplies. ADEM, through the EPA grants, supplied $29,000 to design, construct, and demonstrate the CAHS facility.

According to Blakey, grant money is available for a variety of pollution control activities, including technical and financial assistance, training, technology transfer, education and outreach, and water quality monitoring. This new facility is one example of an eligible project. Funds from Section 319 are available in Alabama for projects that identify problems, impact on water qualities and provide solutions to these problems. “This is a very good example of how these funds can help us,” said Blakey.

“We believe that if this project is duplicated and properly utilized by the agricultural commodity producers throughout the state, it can provide an effective solution for prevention of accidental releases of agrichemical and other pollutants to our groundwater,” he concluded.

David Teem, associate superintendent of the AAES, credited Pitts’ persistence and dedication to this project as the main reason it has come to fruition, and Teem expressed hope that the AAES will be able to build more of these at their research units throughout the state.

To learn more about the facility or arrange a time to tour it, contact the Station at (205) 646-3610.

The State Soil and Water Conservation Committee can help farmers who want to build similar facilities. According to Roy Kendrick, the Committee manages a cost-share program for farmers and other landowners, and the building of an agrichemical handling unit such as the one at CAHS is an eligible project. There is, he noted, a $3,500 limit per farmer. Cost-share monies may also be used for obtaining a portable handling facility that can be used in the field. Farmers interested in applying for cost-share money or learning more about the portable facility should contact their local Soil and Water Conservation District.