Yara has announced plans to make their industry-leading service – the Atfarm platform – completely free of charge for this coming season. The announcement comes after feedback from farms using the technology this last season and the improvements they’ve seen in N-use efficiency and in light of the challenges currently faced by farmers.
The NFU welcomed the news. Commenting at CropTec, Matt Culley, NFU Chair of the Combinable Crops Board said, “We welcome the news from Yara, raising nitrogen use efficiency on farms is a win win. Farmers need to buy less fertilizer, crops perform better and in comparison to other decisions farmers might face its a relatively simple step to take. The fact that it also contributes to a lower carbon footprint is something that will inevitably gain in importance as carbon markets and supply chains adjust”.
Yara’s digital Atfarm platform is designed to help farmers apply nitrogen more precisely. Utilising satellite images to monitor crop growth, farmers and agronomists can create variable rate application maps in just minutes. For farms that don’t plan on using variable rate maps, the N-Tester allows the testing of N levels in current crops, which can then be logged to build up a picture of fields and inform application decisions. “The N Tester BT, that is part of the Atfarm platform, will have limited availability due to continued issues in the supply chain, notably chip availability. These will be allocated on a first come first served basis,” adds Mark Tucker.
“Nutrient Use Efficiency is an NFU priority, and we’d like to work with Yara and others on a series of webinars and workshops we’ll be putting on over the coming months,” adds Mr Culley. “Everyone is welcome no matter what stage you are at, so look out for these.”
“We want to do everything we can to support UK farmers,” adds Jari. “We hope that by encouraging farmers to explore the smart tools available to them, it will bring both financial and environmental benefits.”
