Our business impact

A shift in agricultural production is taking place, driven by the changing diets in emerging nations. At the same time, environmental concerns remain in the forefront, posing the combined challenge of increasing agricultural yield with the constraint of a lack of new arable land. Yara is committed to leadership in meeting the twin challenges of innovative advancements to sustainable agriculture, and maintaining the best operational procedures and technical standards.

Fertilizer impact

Nitrogen fertilizers make up around 60 percent of total nutrient consumption and grow at around 1.5 percent a year. Independent analysts predict this growth rate to remain stable in the years ahead, fuelled largely by demand from developing nations. Expanded use of mineral fertilizers is the major factor - combined with better farm practices, improvements in plant breeding, plant protection products and irrigation - behind the 150 percent grain yield improvement achieved from a roughly stable land area since 1960.

Plant nutrients play a key role in harvesting energy and capturing CO₂. They stimulate plant growth, and the solar energy stored in the plants may be 5-10 times higher than the energy needed to make the fertilizer products. Growing plants capture CO₂ in their biomass, and if this biomass is used as an energy source to replace fossil fuels, fertilizers can help reduce global climate gas emissions.

New crops in focus

Economic growth and higher standards of living have resulted in higher protein intake in countries such as China, with more meat in the diet and a resulting higher consumption of grain as feed. Biofuels are increasingly being grown. Yara is meeting the shift in agricultural production by developing products and services to meet the needs of the world's crops, and the world's growers.

Yara products beyond fertilizers

Fertilizer is our largest business, but there are other important application areas for nitrogen products. Industrial consumption of nitrogen is mainly driven by economic growth and environmental legislation. Market analysts predict that by 2010, 40 percent of the total nitrogen consumption in Europe will be related to industrial applications that offer a lot of opportunities in terms of clean technologies.

Many of Yara's industrial products are specifically developed to solve environmental problems, such as the reduction of NOx emissions and fighting toxic gases like hydrogen sulphide. In addition, Yara’s fertilizer production plants produce CO₂that the company recycles for its industrial applications.

Maximizing the positive

It is Yara's ambition to reduce environmental impacts along the entire life cycle of a fertilizer - from production to product use.

Great improvements have been achieved in production technologies to minimise energy use and emissions. By investing in R&D, adopting new technologies and developing tools for optimal use of plant nutrients, Yara continues its efforts to ensure minimal environmental impact and promote responsible and correct use of fertilizers throughout the supply chain.