Yara reducing global footprint

This is advertiser content for Yara Australia.

REDUCING the environmental impact of fruit and vegetable production can be as simple as using quality nitrate fertilisers and precision technology tools.

Yara crop nutrition commercial director - Australia and New Zealand, Michael Waites, says everyone in the horticultural industries has an obligation to minimise their waste.

"As one of the world's leading fertiliser companies, Yara is absolutely committed to helping our customers to responsibly feed the growing world population while protecting the planet," he said.

"It sounds like a big ask but all of us can address this simply by using nutrient-efficient and environmentally-friendly fertilisers."

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One of the potent greenhouse gasses is nitrous dioxide, which is associated with the use of ammonia, the base compound found in urea fertilisers.

"Australia's greenhouse gas emissions - including those from agriculture - have declined by about 10 per cent over the past three decades," he said.

"However, greenhouse emissions attributed to the use of urea fertilisers has increased by nearly 400pc during the same time.

"This trend cannot be supported from either an economic or environmental viewpoint. Put simply, about 20pc of nitrogen in ammonia fertilisers is volatised.

"This compares to just 3pc for ammonium nitrate and 0.7pc for calcium nitrate. Electing to use a nitrate fertiliser will deliver more units of plant-available nitrogen to your crop instead of the atmosphere which is a win-win for growers and the environment."

Electing to use a quality brand can also have a significant impact on greenhouse gas emissions on a global scale.

Yara claims its modern manufacturing processes produce 70pc less greenhouse gas emissions than outdated coal-based processes.

"In 2016, Yara helped its customers to reduce total NO2 emissions by 1.4 million tonnes, which is equal to the total annual amount of emissions in France or Germany each year," Mr Waites said.

Yara markets dozens of different nitrate-based formulations under its six key product ranges: YaraMila (NPK), YaraLiva (calcium nitrates), YaraVita (foliar micronutrients), YaraTera (soluble fertilisers), YaraRega (soluble NPKs) and Yara Liquids.

Yara services all sectors of the horticulture and broadacre industry, including vegetables, fruit, tree crops, grapes, cotton and cereals.

"Our goal is to deliver integrated crop nutrition solutions that genuinely increase the productivity and profitability of our customers," Mr Waites said.

"All of our products are backed by expert technical support and innovative decision-making tools to help you to get the best return from your investment in quality crop nutrition."

"Yara provides technical support to growers and their advisors via its team of 13 regionally-based sales agronomists, customer service representatives and technical support staff."

Yara began operations as Norsk Hydro in 1905, initially as a means of capitalising on Norway's endless supply of hydroelectric power.

Within two years, the company recorded its first export of calcium nitrate to Thailand.

In the post-war years, Norsk Hydro became an industrial giant as it expanded globally with the development of new fertiliser products and its entry into aluminium production.

In 2004, the company's fertilisers and emissions reduction technology interests were demerged into a separate entity, Yara International.

Today, Yara is Norway's fourth largest company, only one place behind its corporate sibling.

Yara is now the largest manufacturer of nitrogen fertilisers in the world, with global sales in excess of 28.5 million tonnes.

This is advertiser content for Yara Australia.