IFA Committees

IFA has four Thematic Committees: Agriculture, Production and International Trade, Technical & SHE (Safety, Health and Environment), and Communications and Public Affairs.

The Committees define their own mission and operating structure, in accordance with their mandate, strategic objectives and anti-trust compliance policy, subject to approval by the Board of Directors.

Agriculture

Mission

The mission of IFA’s Agriculture Committee is to promote sustainable nutrient management and monitor policy, scientific and other developments that may impact present and future demand.

Objectives

  • Promote nutrient stewardship, including effective last-mile delivery;
  • Promote and assist innovation related to fertilizer use and establish partnerships with the scientific community;
  • Develop reliable and authoritative agronomic datasets, nutrient management performance indicators and long-term fertilizer demand projections;
  • Address issues facing fertilizer demand, including nutrient management policies and fertilizer subsidies;
  • Educate the public about the role and benefits of fertilizer in global food and nutrition security.

Activities

  • Nutrient Stewardship: The Committee advocates for the development and adoption of fertilizer BMPs in the four areas of performance (right nutrient source, at the right rate, at the right time, in the right place) tailored to site- and crop-specific conditions. The Committee also encourages the development of new partnerships (with farmers’ organizations and the food industry) and initiatives to improve outreach to the farmers. More recently, the Committee is developing tools to help Members enhance and document their nutrient stewardship performance.
  • Market Intelligence: The Committee performs targeted analyses in the space of nutrient management indicators (e.g: NUE trend analysis) and long-term fertilizer demand scenarios.e.
  • Global Policy Engagement: The Committee engages with UN and other international organizations involved in Food, Agriculture, and Environment, by sharing information, and knowledge that echoes the plant nutrition’s industry contribution, perspective and experience.
  • Publications: The Committee regularly prepares and disseminates publications, factsheets and other papers on issues relating to fertilizer use and fertilizer best management practices.
  • Science: The Committee acts as a liaison between the industry and the scientific community by sustaining a close interface with the Scientific Panel on Responsible Plant Nutrition.
  • Monitoring and analysis of fertilizer-related policies: The Committee monitors and analyses fertilizer-related policies, especially in the field of fertilizer subsidies and nutrient management regulations.
  • Conferences: The Committee co-organizes events (conferences, workshops...) which address a mix of technical, economic and policy issues that relate to food, feed, fibre and bioenergy production, human health, the environment and market development.

Market Intelligence

Mission

To provide authoritative information and statistics on supply, demand and trade of fertilizers and fertilizer raw materials and monitor developments that may impact future global fertilizer market..

Objectives

  • Provide accurate, timely and comprehensive statistics on capacities, production, consumption and trade of main fertilizer products, intermediates and raw materials;
  • Assess current and future fertilizer supply and demand through reliable network of industry experts, robust methodologies, transparent assumptions and objective forecasts;
  • Closely monitor developments, including innovation & R&D, that may impact plant nutrient consumption, production, distribution and trade and pro-actively expand statistics coverage taking into account new products and technologies;
  • Interact with relevant organizations to gather and promote science- and fact- based information regarding nutrient products, markets and industries;
  • Highlight the fertilizer industry’s contributions to meet growing food demand through capital investments, fertilizer application, responsible use of natural resources and commitment to open and fair international trade.

Activities

IFA’s Market Intelligence team provides the following services to the members:

  • Statistics: Prepares regular comprehensive statistical reports and global databases on capacities, production, consumption and international trade of fertilizers and raw materials through regular surveys and global market assessments.
  • Market Outlooks: Publishes comprehensive Market Outlook multi-nutrient reports (with a short-term and a medium-term horizon of 2 and 5 years respectively) focusing on fertilizer supply, demand and trade, as well as wider fundamental drivers such as agricultural, macroeconomic and environmental developments that have implications to the current status and forward evolution of the fertilizer industry.
  • Webinars & Presentations: Prepares webinars and delivers presentations at the IFA and non-IFA conferences and events.
  • Conferences: Organizes annual IFA Global Markets Conference (former Production and International Trade Conference), which is considered a major knowledge-sharing platform in the global fertilizer industry.

All publications, webinars and Market Outlook reports are available on IFASTAT, an online platform for fertilizer statistics. IFASTAT provides data in Excel and PDF, in Product and Nutrient tonnes. The data is made available not only to IFA member companies, but there is also a dedicated space for the general public (IFA’s global consumption database is public).

Technical & SHE

Mission

Promote the efficient, safe and secure production, storage and transportation of plant nutrients in a sustainable manner.

Objectives

  • To facilitate the sharing of technical knowledge and the adoption of SHE best practices among member companies;
  • To develop industry standards and performance measures that encourage continuous improvement;
  • To interact with relevant organizations and legislative bodies to raise awareness and to enhance mutual understanding of global fertilizer industry issues.

The Technical & SHE Committee accomplishes these objectives with a variety of developmental and outreach platforms, including:

  • Promotion of production technologies techniques;
  • Global benchmarking;
  • Education and advocacy;
  • Technical and educational workshops and special events.

Activities

To access all of the SHE & Tech activities, head to our Product Stewardship page.

Communications & Public Affairs

Mission

To raise the profile and reputation of the fertilizer industry by engaging, communicating and promoting the continuous actions, solutions and commitments of IFA members to address global societal concerns related to agriculture, environment, climate change, fertilizer production and use.

Objectives

  • Educate industry’s stakeholders (including the general public, governments and policymakers, NGOs and civil society, farmers ‘organizations, media, cooperatives and distributors) on the strategic role of the fertilizer industry in providing innovative solutions to global challenges.
  • Shape the industry’s image and reputation on global level through communications and advocacy work.
  • Devise pro-active response, outreach and engagement strategies on behalf of the industry on international level.
  • Work strategically with international associations, governmental and non-governmental organizations to build new partnerships.
  • Monitor, track and analyze trends, issues.
  • Provide communications, international institutional relations, media relations and assistance with governmental relations to support the implementation of IFA strategies.

Activities

  • Develop strategies and tactics for defined and agreed topics and projects.
    • Communications and awareness raising campaigns (digital and traditional media)
    • Advocacy
    • Stakeholder engagement
    • Issue management & Crisis communications
  • Define positions through background papers, message maps, issue briefs and presentations.
  • Set up special projects with other organizations.