Nutrient leaders listen to farmers
by Elaine Fisher | 2nd November 2010 BOP times
Warwick Voyce says limited resources necessitates efficient fertiliser use, a practice his company Fertco is well known for. Elaine Fisher BOP Times
A looming world shortage of raw materials and rising costs are driving changes in the New Zealand fertiliser industry that's good for the environment, says Warwick Voyce, general manager of Fertco.
"While nutrients were cheap, New Zealand's fertiliser industry operated on applying bulk nutrients to the land and while this worked well for farmers it was probably not so good for the environment," said Mr Voyce.
With costs increasing and shortage predicted, a re-think of fertiliser use was vital to ensure agriculture and horticulture in New Zealand continued to flourish while remaining environmentally sustainable, he said.
"So far, in reaction to rising cost and lack of alternatives, many farmers have simply applied fewer, cheaper nutrients which are understandable but not sustainable.
"There are still soil deficiencies and nutrients being removed from the soil and failure to address this will ultimately lead to falling production," he said.
Fertco was founded 10 years ago with a strong emphasis on eco-friendly products, and although that's still important, Warwick said the company's focus on matching fertilisers to specific soil and production needs often resulted in less product being applied, saving money.
"We remain eco-friendly but in this new era, we are also innovators in nutrient efficiency," he said.
The needs of the farmer are as important as the needs of the land and livestock, he said.
"It's as important for us to know what it is the farmer wants to achieve, be it costs savings, higher production, fewer visits from the vet or more time at the beach, as it is to assess the soil data to find out what the land needs," he said.
For that reason, Fertco consultants not only sample the soil and discuss nutrient budgets but also ask farmers a range of questions to gauge the outcomes they are aiming for. "The kinds of questions we ask are those which have been overlooked in the past. There is no point in recommending a fertiliser programme which will result in increased production if the farmer really wants a slower pace of life and more recreation time," said Mr Voyce.
Taking note of land owners' needs is one of the reasons Fertco came into being.
"A group of Waikato farmers wanted a company which approached fertiliser supply from a fresh angle. Their interest was primarily in dicalcic phosphate which, they believed from their own experiences, was a superior product to super phosphate as it gave them improved animal health and pasture growth and was environmentally friendly," he said.
Dicalcic phosphate, known as "reverted super", is manufactured by blending lime with super, before wetting the mix and leaving it to revert.
What follows is a chemical reaction in which the phosphate in the super is converted from monocalcium to dicalcium phosphate, resulting in a release rate in soil that more closely matches plant uptake.
Initially a co-operative, Fertco set up a sales consultancy force with a mandate to focus on customer service and to tailor fertiliser blends to clients' exact requirements.
A year after its formation, Fertco re-structured into a limited liability company.
"The company's head office and main manufacturing and dispatch facility has always been at Mt Maunganui because it is close to the port where virtually all our raw material enters the country," said Mr Voyce.
The company also has a granulation and drying plant in Morrinsville and additional storage and dispatch facilities in Te Kuiti and Dannevirke.
It employs 22 staff, many of whom are also shareholders.
Although fertiliser remains its core function, Fertco has recently successfully branched into the field of animal nutrition with the launch of it soon-to-be patented "Mineral Boost" dietary supplement for livestock.
"We are a relatively small company in a market dominated by fertiliser giants and while we can offer the same services they do in terms of deferred payments, and a full range of fertiliser blends, we can also offer value where other products cannot.
"For example, we have the highest dicalcic phosphate range on the market and most recently have focused heavily on offering our customers products which result in production gains and/or cost savings over more traditional fertiliser programmes."
While Fertco's core products for horticulture and agriculture are eco-friendly, it also has a range of BioGro certified organic products.
"Many of our organic products are used by conventional farmers and orchardists and that's partly because the products are affordable. We don't charge a premium because they are organic."
Fertco also supplies small block holders through arrangements with rural service stores such as RD1 and Farmlands.
"It's just as important for lifestyle farmers to fertilise their land to ensure livestock have good feed as it is for larger farmers and it doesn't have to be expensive."
