REPORTING AND TRANSPARENCY ARE INTEGRAL TO GRO Nutrients inc’S SUSTAINABILITY JOURNEY
As we continue to strive for better performance and results each year, these data points help us measure our success and look for new ways to improve. Agro Commodities Ltd stakeholders include our employees, local communities, customers, government and regulatory officials, investors, civil society organizations, environmental organizations, suppliers, media, academia and others.
We identify our stakeholders as those who are affected by our activities and whose actions have the potential to affect the outcome of our business activities. Our stakeholders help shape our strategic priorities and give meaning to our mission to help the world grow the food it needs.
As a global, publicly traded company, we are continually exploring what it means to be responsible and accountable to Agro Commodities Ltd diverse stakeholders. We seek ongoing dialogue with individuals or representatives of stakeholder organizations that impact—or are impacted by—Agro Commodities Ltd business activities. Topics and indicators that reflect Agro Commodities Ltd significant economic, environmental and social impacts or that would substantively influence the assessments and decisions of stakeholders are deemed by us to be “significant” for sustainability reporting purposes.
Our sustainability disclosure practices detail our performance across broad focus areas of People, Environment, Society and Company. Content within our reports is shaped by the issues identified through a significance study, the results of which we analyze on an ongoing basis.
SUSTAINABLE FARMING
How can you safely contribute to feeding a growing population and care for our planet?
It is possible to do both. Our nitrate-based solutions emit fewer greenhouse gasses and ammonia emissions than other alternatives. The benefits of switching to a nitrate-based solution are simple for you and our planet: cleaner air, and healthier soil and cleaner water.
EVOLVING TO MEET OUR STAKEHOLDERS’ NEEDS
In addition to analyzing peer sustainability reports, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards: Core option and the GRI Mining and Metals sector supplement, as well as other reports and frameworks, our ongoing analysis includes:
- Reviewing Agro Commodities Ltd public financial reports, sustainability reports, GRI tables, policies and commitments as well as an internally conducted survey of senior management, customers and employees
- Scanning media reports, social media and blogs for issues raised for public concern
- Engaging leaders of local, regional, national and global community organizations
- Comparing sustainability materiality determination practices to peer companies
- Cataloging issues identified by stakeholder surveys, sustainability indexes, principles of the United Nations Global Compact, regulatory and policy trends, industry associations and cross-sector partnerships
- Reviewing marketing research and customer satisfaction survey results
- Analyzing investor insights
- Compiling community perceptions through social media activity and brand awareness surveys
REPORTING ON THE ISSUES THAT MATTER MOST
We regularly conduct significance studies and seek ongoing dialogue with individuals or representatives of stakeholder organizations that impact—or are impacted by—Agro Commodities Ltd business activity. Topics and indicators that reflect Agro Commodities Ltd significant economic, environmental and social impacts, or would substantively influence the assessments and decisions of stakeholders are deemed by us to be “significant” for sustainability reporting purposes.
Lower Emissions, Cleaner Air
Fertilizer contributes to total emissions from agriculture: greenhouse gasses that lead to global warming, and ammonia that creates air pollution.
Whilst ammonia emissions from fertilizers are a relatively small proportion of the total ammonia emissions from agriculture, they are more easily controlled. Why are ammonia emissions in focus? Ammonia has a negative impact on air quality and human health. The treatment of human health-related respiratory issues linked to ammonia emissions has a monetary consequence, with a cost burden estimated to be more than 6 Million Dollars per year in USA.
We are committed to helping reduce the carbon footprint of agriculture by continuing to develop solutions that aim to reduce greenhouse gasses and improve air quality by lowering ammonia emissions.
Over the past 6 years, we have reduced N2O (a strong greenhouse gas) emissions in our production of nitrate-based fertilizers in Norway by 85%. Our ambition is to be carbon neutral by 2050.
Our nitrate-based solutions could release 18% lower greenhouse gasses per ton of crop than if you were to use urea.
Healthier soil and cleaner water
As nitrogen supply can vary across fields, supplying fertilizer in exact quantity is essential to giving your crop the precise nourishment it needs. Apply too little, and your crops will suffer. Apply too much, and excess nitrates will remain in the ground that may further leach into the groundwater. Our nitrate-based solutions combine our extensive agronomic knowledge with tools and products that actively reduce the risk of nitrogen overload and leaching while maintaining optimum yield.
One additional benefit of nitrate-based fertilizers is that they have a lower acidifying effect, maintaining a healthier soil pH for soil microflora.
Choosing nitrate-based solutions for your farm is a simple way you can positively affect human health by improving air quality, and slowing global warming, by reducing the carbon footprint per ton of food produced. Together, farmers and Agro Commodities Ltd can achieve our shared goal of producing more yield while reducing emissions.
PROFITABLE FARMING
Farming is a way of life and is anything but predictable. You know all too well that the weather changes, market demands fluctuate, and operational costs change.
That’s why it is important that your farm needs to be resilient to produce a more equitable business in the long run. Managing and running a profitable farm means maximizing better returns on every dollar you spend. We understand that profit is not gained by a one-off investment.
Our experts at Agro Commodities Ltd have worked together with farmers to build solutions that aim to make a difference in every season to your farms` profitability.
Here are 3 ways that nitrates-based solutions can help you achieve farm profitability
1. Producing Maximum Yield
Growing larger volumes of high-quality crops is the clearest way to increase your top line income. Nitrate-based solutions offer higher yield and therefore premium profits. By switching from urea to nitrate-based solutions, you can grow up to 9% more crops on the same amount of land with the same amount of fertilizer.
An advantage to nitrate-based solutions is that they provide optimal absorption that leads to higher grain nitrogen content. This means you can increase yield without sacrificing quality.
2. Selling Your Crops For The Highest Price Possible
Nitrate-based fertilizers create more efficient plants. When nitrogen supply is at an optimal level, plants can use up to 40% less water to produce a ton of grain.
A plant’s value is often defined by its protein content, which again depends on how much nitrogen the plant contains. Nourishing your plants with a quality, nitrate-based fertilizer ensures maximum nitrogen uptake by your plants, which produces higher-protein crops that you can sell for a higher price.
3. Precise Measurements
Giving crops precisely the nutrition they need is a key priority when fertilizing. This will maximize return on investment made in fertilizers. Digital farming technology is a component of Agro Commodities Ltd nitrate-based solutions that can help you make the best decisions that increase your return per kg nitrogen fertilizer. Our digital tools really do put agronomic expertise in the palm of your hand by removing the guesswork and ensuring precise, accurate measurements lead to the right decisions.
EFFICIENT FARMING
Choosing the right fertilizer is one part of increasing efficiency. But adequate and balanced use of fertilizers – making sure that no more and no less product than necessary is applied- is also essential.
Nitrate-based solutions are part of an ongoing efficiency process that begins long before any fertilizer is applied and reaps benefits for a long time after the season’s plants are harvested.
Before Fertilizing: Precise Measurement For Accurate Dosage
Without accurate data about your plants’ nutrient needs in real-time, you can easily apply the wrong amount. Too little will result in poorer soil and low-quality crops. Overdoing it will not only waste money spent on fertilizer, it will leave excess nitrogen in the soil that has negative environmental effects.
Precise measurement in the field is made easier with digital tools such as Agro Commodities Ltd N-Tester, which allows you to measure nitrogen needs on the spot. These insights will ensure you achieve optimal yield and nutrition quality.
During Fertilizing: Accurate And Even Spreading
Accurate, consistent spreading is also a key component in maximizing efficiency. Because of its high density, ammonium nitrate provides more flexible and accurate spreading. Particularly under varied weather conditions, as even light breezes can generate significant spreading errors with urea-based products.
To improve the performance of spreading, Agro Commodities Ltd also offers digital tools to address variable nitrogen demand across the fields. The Agro Commodities Ltd N-sensor and At farm are land and satellite-based solutions, that combined with our nitrogen recommendation, provides one of the most advanced variable-rate nitrogen application maps available.
After Fertilizing: Better Absorption For Higher Yield And Lower Residual Nitrates
Plants love nitrates. They absorb them quickly and easily, and in turn grow into healthier, higher-quality crops that contain more nutrients.
Choosing a nitrate-based solution will ensure a higher yield for every kilogram of product applied. In-field tests conducted by Agro Commodities Ltd, nitrate-based solutions achieve up to 9% higher yield than urea-based products with identical application rates.
The rapid uptake of nitrates, split applications, and making the correct decisions for N-rate, gives more control over the amount of excess nitrogen remaining in the soil after the plants have absorbed the nutrients they need. Excess nitrogen leftover in the soil after harvest can seep down below the root zone, and leach into groundwater.
Nitrate-based fertilizers have a low acidifying effect on the soil – saving both time and money spent on liming after harvest to correct the soil balance.