Quality has its own rewards

This is branded content for Yara Australia.

FUTURE: As one of the world's leading producers of nitrate fertilisers, Yara is committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2050.

CHOOSING a quality NPK fertiliser will deliver a range of benefits far beyond its chemical composition, including improved distribution, uptake and nutritional efficiency.

Yara crop nutrition commercial manager Paul Eitzen says YaraMila COMPLEX is an ideal "base" fertiliser for use in a wide range of horticultural crops.

It contains a balanced blend of plant-available nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (12-5-15), with sulphur, calcium and magnesium along with trace amounts of zinc, manganese, iron and boron.

"Delivering a correct balance of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and the other nutrients is essential for optimum growth and ultimately, crop yield and quality," Mr Eitzen said.

"Balanced nutrient concentrations support fast establishment, root development and shoot growth, which is particularly important with fast-growing vegetable crops.

"Likewise, fruit crops need a ready source of nutrients for improved fruit set, growth and quality.

"As a quality prill formulation, the nutritional composition in YaraMila COMPLEX cannot be segregated during transport.

"Its high particle strength and bulk density ensures even spreading.

"Its small prill size relative to other granular fertilisers means more particles are spread per square metre, further improving nutrient distribution.

"And finally, YaraMila COMPLEX is highly soluble, allowing the fast incorporation of nutrients into the soil profile after spreading via moisture, rainfall or an irrigation event."

Yara utilises the highest quality raw materials and stringent production procedures in its manufacturing processes.

"YaraMila COMPLEX delivers a balanced source of nitrate and ammonium nitrogen," Mr Eitzen said.

"An immediate response in terms of growth and greening can be observed from nitrate after application while ammonium nitrogen is beneficial for sustained delivery.

"This is a very efficient and reliable way of delivering nitrogen to a wide range of agricultural crops.

"Compared to urea or straight ammonium based products, nitrate is more quickly absorbed by the plants roots, facilitating faster plant uptake."

Volatilisation losses can also be high when surface applying urea or sulphate of ammonia in the wrong conditions.

These losses cost the growers through the need for higher rates of nitrogen and the negative impact on the environment.

The phosphorus content in YaraMila COMPLEX is presented in three different forms for immediate and lasting availability, while the provision of potassium as sulphate of potash (SOP) is particularly important for crops with a low tolerance to chloride.

As one of the world's leading producers of nitrate fertilisers, Yara is committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2050.

"Yara has already reduced the carbon footprint of its nitrate fertiliser production by 40 percent by making its production plants and processes among the most energy-efficient in the world," Mr Eitzen said.

"Yara has shared this technology, which is considered best practice by the EU, with the rest of the industry, which has helped to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of nitrate and urea production in Europe compared to other countries.^{1, 2}

"Yara's ongoing development of 'green' ammonia technology and climate-smart agricultural practices means we're on track to reduce emissions by another 30 percent within a decade."

"Green" ammonia technology uses renewable hydrogen sources to produce ammonia instead of fossil fuels.

Yara is constructing one of the world's first industrial-scale renewable hydrogen plants in the Pilbara region of Western Australia in partnership with ENGIE, a global low-carbon energy and services group.

Yara is committed to the development and adoption of integrated crop nutrition solutions, innovative decision-making tools and climate-smart agricultural practices that maximise the efficiency of fertiliser application.

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This is branded content for Yara Australia.