It all began on a cold, dank National Fieldays morning at Mystery Creek. Across the aisle from each other in the Main Arena, the Fertco and Agrisea teams were preparing for the day’s action. There was just enough time to share a hot coffee and some friendly banter before kick-off.
Inevitably, the talk centred around seaweed and fertiliser. But things began to get more interesting when it was discovered the two companies shared key values and goals. They also found out that they shared some customers.
It didn’t take long after that before the possibility of combining seaweed and fertiliser in the same product began to take shape.
The first thing to do was to work out how this could be done.
CEOs Clare Bradley (Agrisea) and Warwick Voyce (Fertco) inspecting SeaPhos at the Fertco Te Awamutu factory.
Combined innovation
Drawing on more than 25 years of innovation in each of their respective fields was the answer.
From Fertco came the granulation technology developed to make dicalcic phosphate, a controlled released fertiliser.
From Agrisea came the seaweed brewing technology specifically designed to preserve the ‘life’ in the seaweed, retaining as many of the nutrients as possible.
By combining these technologies, ‘SeaPhos’ was created – a granulated seaweed–phosphate fertiliser that releases its nutrients and biostimulants in a controlled way avoiding wastage of time, money and nutrient.
Collaboration
Combining innovative technology from two independent companies is not always a straight forward thing. It requires a lot of collaboration.
For ‘SeaPhos’ to become a reality, both companies needed to think about how their product would work when combined with the other’s.
For example, Fertco had to check that adding seaweed to the dicalcic fertiliser would not interfere with the granulation process, or compromise the structure of the granule.
Agrisea needed to know that the granulation process would maintain the integrity of the seaweed and that no nutrients would be damaged or lost.
There was also the necessity of working out an accurate method of metering the seaweed through the entire production run to ensure consistency in every granule.
And of course, calculations were necessary to ensure the correct proportion of seaweed biostimulants, phosphates, and lime would end up on the customer’s property.
Fortunately, thanks to a lot of head-scratching and trial and error, the teams were able to overcome all of these issues in a relatively short time. The sales teams now have this exciting product available to their customers.
SeaPhos is granulated, so is safe for aerial application.
Shared values and goals
Although the real star here is SeaPhos, the story is really about the people. The fact that the collaborative process did actually go very smoothly, and that this unique product exists at all is largely due to the values and goals shared by Fertco and Agrisea.
Apart from innovation and kiwi ingenuity, caring for the environment and helping farmers grow more for less have always been goals for both companies.
Fertco focuses on manufacturing fertiliser products that reduce harmful environmental impact while maintaining productivity.
Agrisea is committed to developing products that build and grow healthier soils, plants, and animals with less cost to the farmer.
With shared values and goals like these, it’s no wonder that both companies have ideas about collaborating on other products.
Sometimes, the catalyst for great ideas need only be something simple like a shared coffee!
This article was published in the Coast & Country News.
