Sustainability

Large-scale agricultural systems are commonly associated with environmental impacts such as climate change, pollution, soil degradation, deforestation and habitat loss.

In order to feed the planet’s growing population, there is a global need to adopt sustainable farming practices that boost crop yields while using less land and reducing environmental impact.

We target adoption of best agricultural practices with the help of balanced nutrition from POLY4. Our guidance and recommendations, supported by research trials, can improve productivity and efficiency for farmers, which in turn will help to increase food production and profitability, enhance environmental protection and improve sustainability.

POLY4 can help farmers achieve more balanced soul nourishing and environmentally friendly crop nutrition practices at scale.

Click on the icons below to find out more about our sustainable practices.

Nutrient delivery
Role of calcium in the soil
Soil pH
Soil electrical conductivity
Low carbon footprint
Low chloride

Nutrient delivery

POLY4 sustainability

Growing healthy plants and sustaining crop yield and quality begins with nutrient-rich soil. With four of the six macro nutrients (potassium, sulphur, magnesium, and calcium), fertilizer plans that include POLY4 deliver a better outcome – farmers see increased yield and improved crop quality as well as improved soil structure from this one simple product.

POLY4 is a naturally-occurring, low chloride, multi-nutrient fertilizer certified for organic use. Its nutrients become available over time, which more closely meets the nutrient uptake requirements of the plant. Our product is suitable for use and increases quality of both broad-acre and high-value crops.

Using POLY4 as a source of nutrients helps to improve crop quality, and is more efficient and effective for farmers whilst offering additional value with the potential for increased economic margins.

Nutrient release profile of POLY4 compared to common practice

POLY4 – nutrient release profile

Role of calcium in the soil

POLY4 sustainability

Soil erosion causes nutrient waste and leads to wider environmental pollution in waterways. In the EU, water-borne soil erosion affects 115 million ha of soil with a total loss of 970 Million metric tonnes (Mmt) per year. The most severe erosion affects 10.5% of total area costing €1.26 billion per year.

Calcium in POLY4 helps to increase tensile strength and resilience to compaction. Higher tensile strength prevents soil movement whilst resistance to compaction maintains a porous soil structure to allow water to drain into the soil rather than runoff.

POLY4 – impact on soil structure

Soil pH

POLY4 sustainability

Maintenance of soil pH, within suitable limits, is important for optimum nutrient availability and therefore plant growth. POLY4 has no expected effect on soil pH levels unless there are reducing conditions, which can convert sulphates to elemental sulphur, or the soil has significant aluminium levels. Aluminium can exchange with cations and, upon release into the soil solution, enter into chemical reactions that affect pH.

Across a range of K₂O rates, POLY4 is shown to have no effect on soil pH; none of the soil pH values are significantly different from the unfertilized soil.

Soil effect on nutrient availability

Soil pH in water post crop trial

Soil electrical conductivity

POLY4 sustainability

Fertilizers are soluble salts and can increase soil water salinity thereby increasing soil EC. Studies showed that POLY4 and other fertilizers have increased soil EC (as measured after harvest at the higher application rates), but in no instances were the increases sufficient to cause crop damage.

The study on a range of salt-sensitive crops to assess the effect of POLY4 application on soil EC has been carried out. The results showed that even at high K₂O application rates soil EC was well within the plant tolerance level for a range of sensitive crops.

Low carbon footprint

POLY4 sustainability

As the world’s population grows, urbanises and industrialises, farmland per capita decreases and more food production is required from each acre, which in turn requires more plant nutrients. Fertilizers are one of the fundamental means to guarantee agricultural yields and address the forecasted future imbalance between food demand and supply.

However, the application of fertilizers is identified as a significant source of greenhouse gases (GHG). With amplified use, there becomes an ever-increasing need to improve the use efficiency of applied fertilizers and adoption of fertilizer product with lower GHG contributions.

POLY4 has a low carbon footprint compared to synthetic fertilisers.

Low chloride

POLY4 sustainability

Plants take up chloride as Cl^- ion from soil solution. It plays an important role in photosynthesis, osmotic adjustment and suppression of plant disease. Chloride is co-applied in the most commonly used potash fertilizer MOP with a 48% of Cl^- content.

However, high concentrations of chloride can cause toxicity problems in crops and as a consequence reduce yields. Toxicity also causes leaf drop and death in chloride-sensitive crops.

Some crops require significant potassium fertilizer to economically maximise yield, but are negatively impacted by the co-applied chloride. Grape and citrus are sensitive to chloride toxicity – chloride accumulates in leaves, which can die and become more sensitive to falling during cold temperatures.

Studies showed that POLY4, as a low-chloride polyhalite fertilizer, improved quality and increased yield of chloride-sensitive crops. For example, potato tuber dry matter (DM) content can be reduced by chloride application in MOP. Dry matter is an important measure of potato quality, particularly its fryability. When POLY4 partially or wholly replaced MOP as a K source, it increased dry matter content improving characteristics of potato quality.