Yara Germany, the Bindewald & Gutting Milling Group, and Harry-Brot have signed a cooperation agreement aimed at decarbonizing cereal cultivation in Germany through the use of green fertilizers. As early as the of 2023/24 growing season, contract farmers of the Bindewald & Gutting Milling Group will use Yara’s green fertilizer on an area of around 1,600 hectares. The fertilizer will be produced from green ammonia at Yara’s plant in Rostock, Germany.
“Our partnership with the Bindewald & Gutting Milling Group and Harry-Brot is a crucial first step to decarbonize German agriculture,” said Marco Fleischmann, Managing Director of Yara Germany. “It is a concrete example of how food production can be transformed in a sustainable way. However, not only all stakeholders along the food value chain are challenged and invited to actively participate in the green transformation of agriculture, but also politicians promoting the expansion of renewable energies.”
With nine locations and approximately 500 employees, the Bindewald & Gutting Milling Group is one of Germany’s leading flour producers. A market leader in bread and bakery products, Harry-Brot will transform the resulting flour into high-quality food products, thus covering the complete value chain from raw materials to grocery store shelves.
A study commissioned by Yara revealed that 74% of German consumers want product packaging to display the CO2 footprint, with 53% willing to pay extra for food produced with reduced fossil fuels. By using green fertilizer, grain CO2 footprints can be reduced by up to 30%, offering consumers a sustainable food choice and supporting climate-friendly production.
Yara noted that additional reduction in field emissions is attainable through optimized fertilizer management, incorporating balanced crop nutrition, the selection of the most efficient nitrogen form, and site-specific fertilization tailored to crop needs. By integrating these approaches with Yara’s digital precision farming tools, the company said it provides its partners with a comprehensive fertilization solution.
Yara said its nitrate-based mineral fertilizers produced in the European Union and Norway already have a carbon footprint roughly 50-60% lower compared with most non-EU fertilizers, thanks to the use of a best available technology (BAT) catalytic process that was first developed by Yara and later shared with other producers.
Yara said using renewable electricity to produce nitrate-based green fertilizers will lower the carbon footprint by a further 80-90%. The company said it continues to work across all production sites to reduce the remaining climate impact.