Building a more resilient food system in Europe

Fertilizers provide crops with the nutrients they need to grow, but excess amounts of nutrients can also be a source of air, soil and water pollution. Farmers can reduce nutrient losses by improving nutrient use efficiency: these are two interconnected goals that optimize resource use and crop performance. With our extensive agronomic knowledge and portfolio of solutions, we help farmers increase nutrient use efficiency by using precision farming digital tools and by adopting the best nutrient management practices, applying the right fertilizer at the right time, in the right dose and at the right place.  

By using best practices and solutions that exist today, European farmers can already:

• Improve nutrient use efficiency by around 20%
• Increase yields and income by around 5 to 7%
• Reduce their carbon footprint related to mineral fertilization by up to 20%

This example, based on Yara field trials, assumes that mineral fertilizers are produced using the best available technology and relates to major crops (e.g., cereals) grown in major EU countries.

Healthy soils are the foundation of our food system, playing a crucial role in the long-term sustainability and resilience of European agriculture. If nutrients removed from the soil at harvest are not replaced, soil health will decline and can lead to soil degradation.

Balanced crop nutrition together with good agricultural practices are crucial for maintaining soil fertility. When fertilizers are applied to degraded soils and supported by balanced crop nutrition, the soil organic matter will increase.

Yara helps improve soil health trough:

• Crop nutrition: We provide farmers with fertilizers containing all required macro- and micronutrients tailored to different crops and conditions.
• Research and development: We’ve conducted research on soil health for more than six decades with a strong focus on long-term trials. A 65-year trial conducted at Yara’s Hanninghof research center in Dülmen, Germany, found that applying mineral and organic fertilizers increased soil organic carbon compared to treatments without any fertilizer, demonstrating the importance of a balanced and combined application of mineral and organic fertilizers.
• Soil health analytics: Yara’s Analytical Services provide farmers with soil analysis, covering the chemical, physical and biological indicators of soil health.
• Digital farming: Our precision farming digital tools support farmers with improved management practices that result in balanced crop nutrition.  

Maintaining soil health is an essential aspect of regenerative agriculture. However, regenerative agriculture will only achieve scale when farmers find it commercially attractive. They are the stewards of the soil and must therefore be rewarded with new green revenue streams.

The climate crisis is putting food systems under extreme pressure, affecting agricultural production and the livelihoods of farmers. Yara is working to reduce the carbon footprint of fertilizers, both during production and in the field.

The nitrate-based mineral fertilizers we produce in Europe already have a carbon footprint that is around 50% lower* than most non-EU fertilizers thanks to the use of a best available technology (BAT) catalytic process that reduces greenhouse gas emissions during production, which was developed by Yara and later shared with the rest of the industry.

At the same time, we are leveraging our ammonia system, the largest in the world, to take a leading position within renewable and low-carbon ammonia, produced either with renewable energy or using carbon capture and storage (CCS). We have several ongoing projects. In June 2024, we opened our renewable hydrogen plant at Herøya, Norway, the largest of its kind currently in operation in Europe. The hydrogen is produced with electrolysis of water and renewable energy, replacing natural gas as a feedstock. We are also investing in CCS at our Sluiskil plant in in the Netherlands. This will enable us to deliver fertilizers with a lower carbon footprint to the food sector and low-emission fuel to the shipping industry as well as contribute to decarbonizing power production.

Yara, with its expertise and solutions, also supports farmers in climate adaptation by helping crops to grow healthier and offset stress conditions, which are becoming more common because of climate change. For example, we‘ve developed a range of biostimulants that make plants more resilient to climate change.

*Source: Hoxha, A. & Christensen, B. (2019). The Carbon Footprint of Fertilizer Production: Regional Reference Values. International Fertiliser Society, Proceedings 805.

Yara is working to find optimal ways to recycle nutrients that would otherwise end up as waste, then process these to produce organic-based fertilizers. Organic-based fertilizers contribute to a circular economy by using nutrients already available on the farm and nutrients safely recycled from other sources as fertilizing products. The organic matter of these fertilizers helps support soil health and crop resilience, crucial in a changing climate.

We have made several acquisitions in the organic sector in Europe, including the organic-based fertilizer business of Agribios in Italy. This demonstrates our commitment to this sector as these fertilizers complement our mineral fertilizers, improve soil health and contribute to regenerative agriculture. This will allow us to continue to meet the evolving needs of European farmers, regardless of their farming method.