New project can significantly lower climate emissions
The name is difficult, but the perspectives are very interesting. Nitrification inhibitors are the name of the initiative for pig producers, which can become an important tool in the fight against climate change. The substance can both limit the amount of greenhouse gases from the manure and at the same time ensure a better utilization of nitrogen for the benefit of the plants.
Preliminary results show that the emission of greenhouse gases from the fields that have received slurry where the agent has been added has been reduced by between three and five percent per kilo of pork.
"The effort to reduce Danish Crown's climate footprint consists of a very long list of initiatives, so cutting three to five percent of emissions with a single initiative is hugely promising. Now we would like to test it on a large scale, and if we see broad results at the same level, nitrification inhibitors can be an important step for Danish Crown in the work to reduce our climate footprint", says Nicolaj Nørgaard, director of owner and agricultural relations at Danish Crown.
It is Danish Crown's stated ambition to halve the emission of greenhouse gases from pig meat by 2030 at the latest and to reach net-zero by 2050. The group is therefore at the forefront of a large project where a lot of data and knowledge about the use of nitrification inhibitors must be collected. The food company has teamed up with the manufacturer of the specific agent BASF, the bulk goods company DLG, and the development and research organization SEGES on the project, which will include farmers who together supply approx. one million pigs annually to the Danish Crown.
"We are convinced that value chain partnerships and innovation are the key to the transformation towards a more robust and sustainable agriculture", says Gustavo Palerosi Carneiro, Senior Vice President, BASF Agricultural Solutions EMEA and CIS.
"This project is a good example of how our solutions help growers to solve pressing climate challenges with technologies that increase yields, contribute to efficient farm operations and reduce environmental impacts. Thereby, the project contributes to BASF's commitment to reduce CO2 emissions by up to 30 percent per tonnes of crop produced. Precisely, the nitrification inhibitor delays for a period the microbacterial process in which specific bacteria in the field convert ammonium into nitrate. Much of that ammonium comes from organic and mineral nitrogen fertilizers, and when the process is delayed, the release of nitrous oxide into the atmosphere is halved. At the same time, the leaching of nitrogen from the fields is reduced, so when a nitrification inhibitor from BASF is used, the farmer achieves a higher degree of utilization of the nitrogen in the manure. In this way, the farmer can reduce the cost of purchasing extraordinarily expensive artificial fertilizers at the same time as the climate benefit", Gustavo Palerosi Carneiro added.
"There is enormous commitment among our owners to deliver on our climate goals, and with the very high price we see for fertilizer at the moment, I believe that we will quickly get commitments from unit owners who can see the potential both for the climate and their own finances", says Nicolaj Nørgaard.
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