Yara announced on Nov. 18 that it has acquired the German water sensor company ZIM Plant Technology GmbH. ZIM’s crop water sensor technology is mostly used in high-precision irrigation systems to improve yields and water use efficiency. The deal is expected to close Jan. 1, 2014, subject to normal closing conditions.
“We will incorporate the knowledge and technology into Yara’s existing Crop Nutrition solutions, providing a valuable add-on for our offering to irrigated farming,” said Egil Hogna, Yara’s senior vice president and head of Downstream. “This clearly improves Yara’s leadership position within the growing fertigation segment. This is a strategic step for Yara into a new segment of the precision farming business, and it is also a response to our ‘Creating Impact’ strategy of addressing resource scarcity.”
Yara said integrating the water precision tool with Yara’s expertise in precision application of water soluble and liquid fertilizers will multiply the market potential for both. Freshwater availability is predicted to become one of the major global challenges, the company said, as agriculture currently uses about 70 percent of freshwater withdrawals. If water use efficiency is not improved, the agricultural sector alone will need more water by 2030 than is sustainably available. As a conservative estimate, Yara said the water sensor technology reduces water usage by 20 percent, so farmers who use it will reduce water consumption while increasing yields and crop quality.
“After receiving several innovation awards, I am excited to see that my invention will now be implemented on a large scale through Yara,” said Prof. Dr. Ulrich Zimmermann, founder of ZIM.
In other news, Yara reported that its distribution agreement with American Plant Food Corp. (APF) for bulk standard ammonium sulfate at Yara’s dry facility in Stockton, Calif., has come to an end. Yara said it will instead dedicate resources and warehouse space at Stockton to its recently introduced Amidas™ fertilizer, which the company describes as a 40-0-0 5.5 percent sulfur homogeneous fertilizer that combines urea and ammonium sulfate into one particle.
Yara said the 7.3:1 nitrogen to sulfur ratio in the product is optimal for grain crop fertilization, while ammonia volatilization is reduced by acidity formed from ammonium sulfate.
APF, which is headquartered in Galena Park, Texas, will continue to supply the California market with ammonium sulfate from its Woodland, Calif., inventory.