Yara International ASA on Nov. 29 announced the launch of YaraAmplix ™, a new brand of biostimulants and on Nov. 27 announced a major plastics reduction initiative.
Several new products are in the biostimulant pipeline for 2024 and Yara’s existing portfolio of biostimulants becomes part of this new brand family. The company said that since 2018, its biostimulant portfolio has grown with a compound annual growth rate of more than 50%.
“Extreme weather is destroying crops all over the world with drought, flooding, and frost,” said Svein Tore Holsether, Yara CEO. “Biostimulants help farmers make their crops stronger, and more resilient to stress from climate change. Farmers are the first line of defense against food insecurity, and we are adapting to their needs with solutions that allow them to prosper when the environment is not always on their side.”
Yara said its portfolio is formulated with mostly natural ingredients such as seaweed and plant extracts, to deliver targeted effects such as enhanced tolerance to abiotic stress and improved nutrient use efficiency, crop yield, and quality.
The company is conducting scientific and independent trials on biostimulants in all regions to evaluate and validate their effects in various conditions and crops. Yara said datasets of 359 data points from 2018 to 2020 shows an average yield increase of 7.5% with a win rate of 74% over control treatment.
“Popular foods we all rely on, such as tomato, maize, soybean, and citrus to name a few, are at increased risk of yields loss due to extreme weather, so lowering greenhouse gas emissions to avoid a worsening scenario is key,” said Rejane Souza, Senior Vice President, Global Innovation.
“As part of the solution, biostimulants are an essential tool to help reduce loss of food due to climatic stresses while improving nutrient use efficiency, a critical lever when it comes to enabling farmers to keep their business profitable and sustainable,” Souza added. “The launch of YaraAmplix emphasizes even more our focus on regenerative agriculture and that is why we intend to take on a leading position of biostimulants in the future.”
YaraAmplix will begin commercial rollout in China, Brazil, and France during the end of 2023, and will gradually be rolled out to the rest of the world in 2024.
Yara is also introducing big and small packaging made with at least 30% recycled plastic all over Europe during 2023. It said the move will reduce virgin plastic use by around 3,000 mt/y and avoid 6,000 mt/y of CO2 emissions. Yara aims to reduce the carbon footprint of its packaging materials by 40% by 2030 compared to 2021.
In Brazil, Yara has signed an agreement with a supplier to jointly develop a new type of big bag made from 100% recycled PET (polyethylene terephthalate). Yara said that PET compared to other plastics currently used can be recycled endlessly without losing its strength and quality. Yara said it is looking at similar initiatives around the world and noted that in South Africa its big bag liners are now made with recycled plastic.
The company is also working to reduce the use of plastic packaging material. In Thailand it has developed a new material, Light and Strong, that it said results in a bag that is lighter, stronger, more durable, and reusable. In India, the company has reduced the thickness of the material for its 45 kg urea bags and it has also reduced plastic use in bags in West Africa.
“Plastic pollution constitutes a planetary crisis demanding change in our approach to secure a sustainable future,” said Bernhard Stormyr, Vice President, Sustainability Governance. “To deliver on Yara’s ambition of growing a nature-positive food future, we are committed to continuously reducing our climate impact as well as the environmental footprint from the use of our products.”