
This agreement with Fertiberia confirms the potential of the Impact Zero line of fertilisers - produced with green hydrogen to replace natural gas - to decarbonise the food value chain
- The project will start in the company’s most technological and innovative greenhouse that produces pak choi and will be extended to the rest of the company’s farms.
- Primaflor will therefore become the first Spanish company to produce vegetables with low-carbon fertilisers.
Almería, 26 September 2023 – Primaflor has signed a strategic agreement with Fertiberia to minimise emissions in its crops. The key to this alliance lies in the agri-food company’s application of Fertiberia’s Impact Zero range of crop nutrition solutions, which are produced by replacing natural gas with green hydrogen, drastically reducing its carbon footprint while maintaining the same level of agronomic efficiency. In a first phase, Primaflor will incorporate this low carbon crop nutrition solutions in the crops of its most innovative greenhouses in Almeria, where it produces pak choi. After this first step, the use of fully sustainable plant nutrition solutions will be extended to the rest of the Almeria group’s crops.
The initiative will begin in the Finca El Cano greenhouse, which is already a pioneer in minimising water use and promoting a very efficient use of fertilisers and phytosanitary products, where the Impact Zero Fertibersol NITRO and Impact Zero Fertibersol NICA Cristal ranges will be used, using precision agriculture by fertigation. In this phase, 8.5 million units of pak choi will be produced, and Primaflor will therefore become the first Spanish company to produce vegetables with low-carbon fertilisers. After this first step, the company will progressively extend these sustainable crop nutrition solutions to other farms.
The Impact Zero line also adds innovations designed at Fertiberia’s Agri-environmental Technologies Centre (CTA), where it uses digital tools and Big Data to analyse soil composition to provide fertilisers with maximum agronomic efficiency and minimal and environmental impact.
“Fertiberia is the first company in its sector to have committed to reducing its emissions to zero by 2035. Under this premise, it is a pioneer in the large-scale production of low-carbon green crop nutrition solutions and, undoubtedly, the alliance with leading companies such as Primaflor confirms the potential of Impact Zero in the decarbonisation of the food sector“, according to Javier Goñi, CEO of Grupo Fertiberia.
Meanwhile, Primaflor has a long tradition of efficient irrigation systems, with measures such as the use of the hydroponic method, specifically designed to save water by allowing the plants to feed their roots aerially, without the need for soil. The cultivation of pak choi at Finca El Cano is a clear example of this commitment.
The agreement with Fertiberia also represents a significant step in Primaflor’s ambitious sustainability strategy, which aims to be carbon neutral throughout its value chain (from the field to the consumer) before 2040, as well as to reduce its factory emissions by 30% before 2025.
Primaflor, at the forefront of agricultural technology since it was founded, faces the challenge of leading sustainability in the agricultural sector through the process of aligning SDGs with its strategic plan that the company has carried out in recent years. “This project, together with a leading company such as Fertiberia, helps us to achieve our goal of leading international markets, positioning ourselves one step ahead of our main competitors in terms of sustainability, thanks to the acceleration of our greenhouse gas emission reduction target”, says Eduardo Cordoba, CEO of Primaflor, who highlights that this alliance “represents a historic milestone for this company given that, coupled with the renewable energy projects that already make our energy mix 100% renewable, and with the energy efficiency projects that are planned, we will be able to demonstrate to our customers that Primaflor’s products are evolving and adapting to new consumer needs, so that this difference contributes value to society and has an increasingly more neutral effect on the environment.”