Get ready for fossil-free food!
Thanks to a partnership with Yara, Lantmännen, a cooperative owned by about 19,000 Swedish farmers, will be the first in the world to market fossil-free food products in Sweden in 2023.
Agriculture is the world's second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases. Part of the emissions comes from fertilizers needed to grow food for the world's population.
–" Yara's fossil-free green fertilizers were the one missing piece we needed to reach a fossil-free value chain. The other dependencies of fossil energy in the food value chain have been eliminated step by step in our Farming program Climate and Nature”, says Claes Johansson, Director Sustainable Development at the farmer cooperative Lantmännen, Sweden's largest producer of cereals.
Cutting emissions from fertilizers is an important step towards reaching Yara's ambition to grow a nature-positive food future. Although Yara already has the fertilizers with the lowest carbon footprint, they aim for carbon-free crop nutrition. Therefore, in 2023 Yara will reach another milestone when launching fossil-free fertilizers.
"The transition to a more sustainable food industry is key to fighting climate change. But no one can do it alone. Yara and Lantmännen's partnership is a big step to decarbonizing the food value chain.”
Made from air and water
One can almost say that Yara's fossil-free green fertilizers will be made from water and air. The hydrogen needed to bind the nitrogen from the air will not come from natural gas as today, but from water. With this process that only uses renewable energy, Yara can cut the carbon footprint of fertilizers by 80-90 percent. As a result, foods like bread or coffee will have up to 20 percent lower footprint, and crops like wheat up to 30 percent lower.
The launch of fossil-free green fertilizers in 2023 is only the beginning for Yara. The goal is to convert Yara's entire fertilizer production plant in Porsgrunn, Norway. This will enable large-scale fossil-free production of fertilizer for more fossil-free food.
Partnership for a nature-positive food chain
Establishing partnerships for greener solutions is central for Growing a Nature-Positive Food Future. The collaboration to get fossil-free food to market builds on a long relationship between Yara and Lantmännen.
– "Yara and Lantmännen have been partners for almost 100 years. We share the ambition to grow food more sustainably. When we try solving problems, we recognize how much we depend on each other. In many ways, you may say our cooperation with Yara is very unique. I wish it was more common", says Johansson.
– "Together with the Lantmännen farmers, Yara will take part in getting the world's first fossil-free food products in the stores in 2023. This is a blueprint for establishing more such collaborations across the food industry. We need more partnerships like this if we are going to continue feeding the world and protecting the planet", says Holter.
