increase font size
Ballance is exploring ‘green’ hydrogen and urea project at its Kapuni plant.
Unwavering focus on supporting farmers and the evolution of farming led to Ballance Agri-Nutrients’ 4% jump in pre-tax profit to $72.5 million, the cooperative says.
It will pay farmers a rebate of $45/tonne for the financial year ended May 31, 2019, returning $57m to its 18,500 farmer-shareholders.
Chairman David Peacocke says a year-on-year lift in performance since 2016 stems from working with partners in New Zealand and suppliers around the world.
“Everything we do is geared to ensuring Kiwi farmers have access to the best nutrients and advice to achieve outstanding agronomic results, stay competitive globally and drive sustainability in their businesses,” Peacocke says.
Sales for the year – including nutrient products, animal feeds and industrial ingredients – were flat versus full year (FY) 2018 at 1.64 million tonnes. The manufacturing margin was achieved against rising international urea prices -- a key contributor to Ballance’s financial performance this year.
Peacocke says increased retentions of $12m will go towards developing digital platforms and services, the co-op’s distribution network, and expanding topdressing to meet demand for precision aerial application enabled by Spreadsmart technology.
Ballance’s spending of $87m in FY2019 is at least double the typical spend by the co-op. This reflects “sustained investment to evolve our ‘bricks and mortar’ shopfront and our e-commerce capability and tools for customers,” said chief executive Mark Wynne.
Some of the spending was to replace or refurbish infrastructure, Wynne says. This includes a new Reporoa service centre.
Farmer feedback and increasing use of self-service silos has proven this model works for 24/7 supply of products, the co-op says. A new one on the West Coast last month brought the total NZ-wide to six, and five more are planned for 2020.
'Green' hydrogen
Ballance is exploring a ‘green’ hydrogen and urea project on its Kapuni site -- NZ’s only ammonia-urea plant with a lower carbon footprint than is incurred in making imported product.
“This renewable hydrogen hub will [marry] industrial scale renewable energy and hydrogen production,” says chief executive Mark Wynne.
“It also provides an example… of taking carbon out of an agricultural input by substituting green hydrogen for the natural gas (CH4) we currently use as a feedstock.”
Production of green urea alone would reduce the CO2 equivalent of 2600 cars, and the hydrogen fuel could supply about 6000 cars (or 300 buses and trucks) per year.
Ballance is looking into this hydrogen project with Hiringa Energy.
Ballance Agri-Nutrients has released its latest fertiliser outlook, detailing some of the current global trends influencing fertiliser supply. Ballance head of procurement Shane Crean takes part in a Q&A in the report:
Ballance Agrinutrients chief executive Kelvin Wickham says despite a tough year, he is pleased the business has returned to profit.
OPINION: New Zealand agriculture has always been built on partnerships.
OPINION: For many Kiwi farmers, the nutrients our farmers need simply arrive when they are needed, get applied when conditions suit, and are largely viewed as one part of the rhythm of the farming year.
OPINION: It's pretty easy to poke fun at Generation Z.
Bigger, bolder salads packed with colour, crunch and flavour are making headlines overseas — and the arrival of fresh spring vegetables means New Zealanders can now get chopping too, creating their own Great Kiwi Spring Salad.
Chinese beef trade quotas and a looming suspension of Brazilian beef imports into the European Union are expected to reshape global beef trade flows over the remainder of 2026, with implications for New Zealand exporters, according to Rabobank's Q3 Global Beef Quarterly report.
James Blair, an agronomist for AS Wilcox and the Pukekohe regional champion, has won the 2026 Young Grower national title.
An Auckland gelato shop and an established New Zealand ice cream maker have both been named Supreme Champions at the NZ Ice Cream & Gelato Awards 2026.
As the cost-of-living crisis continues to put pressure on household grocery budgets, new figures show pork remains one of the most affordable fresh meat options for New Zealand families.
OPINION: In politics, credibility is and should be big. It must surely rank higher than charisma, which is quite trite and superficial. Yet, voters nowadays are often wooed and influenced by how someone looks or talks at a superficial level. TV plays a huge role in this.
OPINION: After hogging the media limelight for telling a NZ Chinese MP to "go back home", Winston Peters has decided…
OPINION: With fuel prices soaring, one would have expected most farmers to be reclaiming excise duty on petrol.
