Yara is to partner with potato supplier Branston as part of a project to decarbonise food production.
Yara will supply Branston with a lower carbon crop nutrition programme to reduce the carbon footprint of end products.
After investment in abatement technology to minimise nitrous oxide emissions, fertilisers YaraMila, YaraBela and YaraLiva have been lower carbon since 2006 .
As well as supplying fertiliser products, Yara will provide potato crop nutrition support, focusing on whole plant health to improve yield, including soil and leaf testing to assess nitrogen use efficiency and nutrient deficiencies.
“Introducing this holistic crop nutrition program approach will positively impact the potato crop at Branston’s by lowering carbon footprints whilst maintaining or increasing yields,” says Gareth Flockheart, key account manager at Yara UK.
“Yara fertilisers have been independently verified since 2006 and now include the new Climate Choice Low Carbon grades. These lower carbon fertilisers will be included as part of the Crop Nutrition Plan will inevitably help both Branston and Tesco reduce their carbon footprint even further.
“Our hope is that through this initiative, we can demonstrate that by making the switch to lower carbon fertilisers is the way to a more sustainable food system for the future.”
The initiative will be trialled on the Branston farm in Lincolnshire, with the hope to roll it out to external growers in the near future.
