Everything you need to know about organic-based fertilizers

What are organic-based fertilizers? 

All organic-based fertilizers, both organic fertilizers and organo-mineral fertilizers, contain carbon to a greater or lesser degree. Increasing soil carbon helps maintain or increase soil organic matter content, thus supporting soil health and promoting crop resilience.

Organic fertilizers contain organic carbon and nutrients of solely biological origin. They utilize nutrients derived mainly from materials of plant or animal origin. Animal by-products (such as manure or by-products from the meat and fish processing industries), agricultural residual products (green waste, composted green waste) or recycled bio-waste (compost or digestate from food waste, slurry) are the raw materials that are most used. They can be unprocessed (manure, compost, digestate) or processed into high-quality fertilizer, either in solid (pellets, granules) or liquid form.  

An organo-mineral fertilizer is a co-formulation of one or more inorganic fertilizers and one or more materials containing organic carbon and nutrients of solely biological origin. They combine the positive properties of both mineral and organic fertilizers and can be tailor made to meet certain crop requirements.

What types of organic-based fertilizers does Yara sell? 

Yara’s organic-based fertilizers are suitable for different farming systems, including certified organic farming, and serve all types of farmers.

We have a broad portfolio of organic-based fertilizers (both organic fertilizers and organo-mineral fertilizers) that we sell in a number of countries, and we are working to expand our portfolio. These fertilizers can be used for a variety of crops, including cereals, grassland, oilseed, potato, horticulture, vineyards and olives.

What is Yara’s strategy when it comes to organic-based fertilizers?

Organic-based fertilizers are a clear strategic priority for Yara in coming years and underline our commitment to playing a bigger role in the circular economy and in farming systems, including   organic and regenerative farming systems.

These fertilizers have significant synergies with our other products, including mineral fertilizers, which will remain part of our core business.

Yara supports all farmers in implementing efficient, sustainable agricultural practices, regardless of the farming system. Our precision farming tools, crop nutrition solutions and deep knowledge of the best nutrient management practices are relevant for all farming systems, including organic farming.

What are the benefits of organic-based fertilizers?

Resource-use efficiency is necessary to contribute to a zero-waste society.

In farming, that means using both the nutrients already available on the farm as fertilizers, such as manure, crop residues and digestates, and also safely bringing recycled nutrients from other sources, such as food waste either composted or digested, back into the loop as fertilizing products. Using recovered nutrients in the production of organic-based fertilizers (organic and organo-mineral fertilizers) is beneficial for the environment because they are reused instead of being disposed of as waste.

Furthermore, organic-based fertilizers can bring additional benefits, such as improvements in soil health and increased plant resilience to biotic and abiotic stress, which is important in a changing climate.

How can Yara contribute to the best nutrient management practices?

It is important to optimize the productivity of all farming systems, including organic, by ensuring that the best crop nutrient management practices as well as digital and decision-support tools for precision agriculture are available for farmers.

Organic farming has unique benefits as well as specific challenges related to generally lower yields compared with conventional farming. This is because of the low nutrient content and the unpredictable release of nutrients in traditional raw materials used to fertilize crops.

In addition, the type of products and their low quality make it difficult to handle and apply, which can potentially result in areas with uneven nutrient distribution.

Through our knowledge of the nutrient composition and how nutrients are released from different organic and mineral raw materials, we can help design organic-based fertilizers with better formulations that are adapted to specific crop needs. That includes understanding how the carbon contained in the products contributes to soil health.

Yara’s high quality and safety standards for products and production processes help ensure enough high-quality organic-based fertilizers become available to meet demand. We can also use our expertise in optimizing farm operations through precision farming technologies.

To help improve the productivity and efficiency of the organic-based fertilizer sector, Yara is also actively participating in organizations to help ensure that European policies enable the circular economy and promote the inclusion of new raw material sources for organic-based fertilizers.