Yara has established a Incubator Farm in the Columbia Basin of Washington with the goal of determining how a complete potato crop nutrition program that drives productivity and grower profitability can simultaneously lead to a reduced carbon footprint.
The 260 acre trials will analyze the role of crop nutrition and practices such as 4R nutrient management in supporting the industry’s need to continue to produce high yielding, quality crops, while also implementing solutions to decarbonize the value chain.
“The global food chain continues to be under pressure to produce food for a growing world population, while also being tasked with reducing the environmental footprint. These two missions don’t have to be mutually exclusive, but take investment in research and exploration to find solutions that both improve farmer profitability and have a nature-positive impact,” said Trey Cutts, market development director, Yara North America. “The Incubator Farm network in North America is designed for this challenge, and we are excited to establish a farm that focuses on such a globally important crop such as the potato.”
The farm will enable collaborative research efforts to address sustainability and crop nutrition goals through the latest innovations in digital tools and future focused technologies in the industry. Yara’s partners and other industry stakeholders will be invited to leverage the farm’s research and findings with the opportunity to see firsthand the benefits of the crop nutrition solutions implemented.
This is the fourth incubator farm for Yara North America with three others in Modesto, CA; Auburn, AL; and Saskatoon, SK. The farms are part of Yara’s mission of “growing a nature positive food future” by building solutions to decrease carbon footprint, improve water and nitrogen use efficiency, regenerate soil sources and more.