“We want to offer a comprehensive solution tailored to meet the needs of the farmer”. Mónica Andrés
e-Comercio Agrario: Behind the Norwegian word Yara best wishes for harvest hide. Yara is a century-old company recognized for providing solutions for agriculture and other industries. What should the agricultural production?
Mónica Andres: Yara is a world leader in the production and marketing of plant nutrition. As you say, our main goal is to provide sustainable solutions that respond to the great challenges facing our society. This requires increasing the performance and productivity of crops, while respecting the environment. In this sense, it is key for us to convey to all industry players knowledge acquired over more than a hundred years of experience, so that together we are part of the solution.
ECA: We approached some unprecedented challenges in food production and combating climate change in the coming decades. What answers Yara intends to meet them?
MA: Our society faces a great challenge. A population growing at a pace never seen before and which must be fed. To meet this demand there are two possible alternatives: increasing crop productivity or get more arable land sacrificing woodland. In Yara, aware of other adjacent difficulties such as limited resources and increasing environmental pollution, we believe that the solution is to increase productivity of crops.
Our knowledge of the cultures allows us to offer culture-specific nutritional solutions that help maximize performance. Bring to the plant what it needs, in the right dosage and when needed. This is the recommendation from Yara as we think it is the best example of efficient use of resources and ultimately sustainable agriculture.
ECA: Which Yara Iberian solutions differ within the field of plant nutrition?
MA: Yara differentiate ourselves by offering much more than a product, offer solutions. We are known as a company that provides services, tools and expertise to help farmers develop their work. We want to offer a comprehensive solution tailored to meet the needs of the farmer. Our knowledge of the cultures and experience allow us to respond to these needs.
One of these services is Megalab ™, our service foliar analysis, soil and water. Compared to other analytical available on the market, the farmer Megalab ™ provides the most complete information about the nutritional balance of the soil to act accordingly and thus correct any deficiencies or imbalances.
ECA: Yara organizes conferences in which deepens on crop nutrition, one of these experiences takes the name of PlantMaster ™. What balance can provide and what the upcoming appointments of this knowledge exchange program be?
MA: The PlantMaster ™ are possibly one of the best examples of our desire to share the knowledge of the cultures with other industry players. These documents are the result of years of work by agronomists from around the world, and collect the most useful for the management of a specific crop nutrition information. We have recently launched the PlantMaster ™ Corn in three different events in Spain and Portugal with a magnificent reception. Many crops already have their PlantMaster ™ in Spanish and I am convinced that next year, we will present in autumn, it arouses great interest in economic importance in our country.
ECA: We live at the dawn of the digital revolution and the use of big data tools with which you can analyze and manage to detail farming. How Yara is working in the field of plant nutrition to adapt to this environment?
MA: We are aware that these tools are vital today, our R + D + i works to be ahead and provide tools to facilitate the work of farmers and help them maximize crop yields and therefore the profitability of their farms.
In this sense, we have useful tools and services. A clear example is Tankmix ™, an application that allows you to check the compatibility of mixing the products of our YaraVita ™ range with other crop protection products. This information is key towards ensuring the miscibility of products and thus save time and money in the application. Another of our applications, CheckIt ™ helps identify nutritional deficiencies in a very visual way through a large image bank and offers a recommendation to prevent or correct a particular deficiency.
To know the optimal timing and dose of ideal application allows us to increase the efficiency of the product and therefore the productivity of our crops.
Mónica Andres, CEO of Yara Iberian
