Green fertilisers, made with renewable electricity instead of natural gas, will significantly reduce the carbon footprint of farming and food

Norway-based Yara has signed a memorandum of understanding with El Parque Papas to deliver green fertiliser in 2023. The fossil-free, green fertilisers Yara will start producing next year will significantly reduce the carbon footprint of farming and food because they will be made with renewable electricity instead of natural gas. Using Yara´s green fertilisers for potato production will remove around 28.8 percent of greenhouse gas emissions at the farm level. For potato chips specifically, using green fertiliser will reduce the carbon footprint by around 5-10 per cent.

Yara was the first company in the world to land a commercial agreement to sell fertilisers made with 100 per cent renewable electricity and is one of the pioneers driving the introduction of green fertilizer to the world market. By choosing green fertilisers from Yara, food producers can lower their carbon emissions, which is required to reach the UN sustainability goals and Paris agreement. The production startup is planned to start up in the summer of 2023.

“Mass production of potato chips is actually a very complex operation involving many elements. My mission is to introduce a completely green, emission free potato in 2024. To do that, every company in the supply chain must take climate action. Collaboration is the only way to ensure that the end product is climate neutral. A farmer can only do so much. Yara helps us make the last piece of the puzzle emissions free – the fertilizer itself”, said Walter Hernández, CEO of El Parque Papas.

El Parque Papas is the biggest singular potato farmer in Argentina. Led by Walter Hernández, they supply 14,000 metric tons of potatoes every year to the Argentinian potato industry, including production of some of the most popular chips in the country.

Svein Tore Holsether, CEO of Yara said, “Most people probably don’t think about emissions when eating their chips. But there are huge opportunities to decarbonize snacks, if we find business models that enable each step of the value chain to contribute and to benefit. This is why the agreement between Yara and El Parque papas is important, we show that this can be done.”