Innovation
Special products.
The fertilizer industry is offering to farmers a range of plant nutrition solutions to help them improve nutrient use efficiency and effectiveness, taking the diversity of cropping systems and agro-ecological conditions into account.
Slow- and controlled-release fertilizers and fertilizers stabilized with urease or nitrification inhibitors help match the release of plant nutrients with plant requirements during the growing season, or they release nutrients in their plant-available form at slower rate, or they slow down their conversion in the soil, thus minimizing losses to the environment.
Water-soluble fertilizers can be applied through fertigation (application together with irrigation water), which optimizes both water and nutrient use efficiency. They can also be applied through foliar sprays to avoid interaction with soil particles or when the plant rooting system is no longer functional at the end of the growing cycle.
Beneficial substances, including plant biostimulants, stimulate plant nutrition processes independently of the product’s nutrient content with the sole aim of improving one or more of the following characteristics of the plant or the plant rhizosphere: nutrient use efficiency, tolerance to abiotic stress, quality traits, or availability of confined nutrients in the soil or rhizosphere. They are substances or micro-organisms.
Some novel products are reaching the market (e.g. fertilizers coated with biodegradable polymers, nano fertilizers) or are being researched (e.g. smart fertilizers responding to signals by the crop’s roots or by the microbiome).
It is important to note that all these products are part of the 4R Nutrient Stewardship toolbox available to farmers, and they can be used in a complementary manner. Farmers take their decision based on their site- and crop-specific and economic context.
Precision farming.
Digital solutions are increasingly used for precise plant nutrition building on the fast growing amount of field/agronomic data, algorithms, internet of things, machine learning, and other digital tools. They are essential for optimizing nutrient use efficiency whatever the farming system, with solutions designed from smallholder farmers to large-scale cropping systems and high-tech indoor farming.
Partnership with startups.
Accelerating the sustainability transformation is paramount for the fertilizer industry, and this cannot be done without accelerating innovation, including through partnerships with AgTech startups.
Accelerating the sustainability transformation is paramount for the fertilizer industry, and this cannot be done without accelerating innovation, including through partnerships with AgTech startups.
In 2021, IFA established its Smart & Green platform to share knowledge on the latest plan nutrition technologies and connect AgTech startups with established IFA member companies. The 2023 edition of Smart & Green conference featured more than 20 startups and addressed a range of topics such as investment in innovation and startups, low-carbon decentralized fertilizer production, novel fertilizer products, manipulation of the microbiome, digital agronomic solutions, and nutrient recovery and recycling.
IFA organized its first startup showcase at the 2019 IFA Annual Conference in Montreal. In 2023, IFA co-organizes with Mohamed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) the IFA/UM6P Africa AgTech Startup Showcase.
IFA is in the process of developing a comprehensive startup strategy.
