Colleagues from our Crop Nutrients team were among the 300+ exhibitors at the recent Cereals 2023 conference, which took place recently in Nottinghamshire in the UK.
This annual two-day event is the biggest arable event in the UK. It regularly attracts more than 18,000 visitors from all sectors of the agricultural industry in the UK and Europe.
Crop Nutrients hosted their stand alongside our partners Cefetra, a major UK agribusiness. We have a long-term agreement with Cefetra’s parent company, BayWa, for the exclusive European marketing and distribution rights of our polyhalite-based fertiliser, POLY4.
We’re due to start producing POLY4 at our Woodsmith mine in North Yorkshire in the UK from 2027. So far, the product has been trialled in more than 1500 commercial-scale demonstrations to showcase POLY4’s ability to provide more balanced, soil nourishing, and environmentally friendly crop nutrition practices at scale.
“A lot of deals in agriculture rely on personal relationships and word of mouth,” says Scott Yarwood, Crop Nutrients UK & Ireland Area Manager. “The Cereals event attracts a lot of farmers and so is the perfect opportunity to build relationships and drive brand recognition with those who will be using our product in the future, as well as gather intelligence about the market to help our commercial planning. For example, it helps us identify the most influential farmers and industry players, so we can target our marketing activities more accurately.”
“We prepare for the Cereals event months in advance,” says Dr Irina Rochal, Marketing Services Manager for Crop Nutrients. “We have a number of demonstration plots at the show to illustrate to farmers the difference that POLY4 can make to their crops. This requires careful forward planning with Cefetra to find out which crops are of most interest and will impress. We can then use these demonstrations to initiate conversations about what challenges they’re facing on their farm and how POLY4 might help, whether that’s improving their income through increased crop yields and quality or improving their environmental impact.”
The Crop Nutrients team attend conferences and events throughout the year and adapt their approach, depending on the audience. “The overarching messaging is the same: POLY4 is a great solution for farmers wanting more natural, balanced and environmentally friendly crop nutrition,” explains Irina. “But the range of questions we get asked is huge: for many it’s about how the trials are going and what it will mean for them and their business; for industry players, it’s more about our approach to sustainability; and others have really detailed technical questions. So, we have to be thorough in our preparation.”
“POLY4 will be a marketed product, not a commoditised one,” says Dr Alexander Schmitt, Chief Marketing Officer for the Crop Nutrients business. “This means the price we will be able to get for it is directly related to our ability to communicate its benefits, educate farmers, and position ourselves as a solution to the main problem facing agriculture today: how to grow more food to feed our expanding population without harming the planet.
“The way fertilisers have been used in the past has caused significant environmental problems; POLY4 is a unique solution that can help farmers achieve more balanced, soil nourishing, and environmentally friendly crop nutrition practices at scale. Events like Cereals are ideal opportunities for us to get these messages across to potential customers.”
