Each year the magazine Fortune ranks 50 leading companies worldwide that are innovating to solve the world’s biggest challenges through core profit-making strategy and operations. Building on the concept of shared value, the list recognizes companies not for their philanthropy, corporate social responsibility (CSR), or other “business-as-usual” approaches, but for innovative activities that create material business value while contributing to societal impact.

The three essential criteria are:

1. Measurable contribution to societal impact
2. Scale of business results
3. Degree of innovation relative to the industry

“We are very honored to receive this recognition. For years, Yara has worked systematically to both increase food security and limit emissions, and this is an integrated part of our business model. A crucial part of this strategy is to work across sectors, with public partners, NGOs and other companies. In Africa, we have also expanded our efforts, supporting smallholder farmers to gain access to markets for their produce,” says Svein Tore Holsether, President and CEO of Yara International.

Other companies on the list include Apple and Johnson & Johnson. See the full list on fortune.com.

Among the reasons for including Yara on the list are:

• Our lead role in the conception of the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT), with the objective of making that land agriculturally productive and to boost the livelihoods of the smallholder farmers who farm there.
• That we not only sell fertilizer to farmers in the SAGCOT area, but also offer agricultural training.
• Farmers who participated in the trainings saw their crop yields increase by up to 10 times.
• We have built a $20 million fertilizer terminal in Dar es Salaam
• We now have close to 50% market share of the fertilizer market in Tanzania.