Spanish fertilizer producer Fertiberia will progressively supply global food and beverage manufacturer PepsiCo with up to 150,000 t/yr of low-carbon nitrate fertilizers by 2030, under a new long-term supply agreement.
Fertiberia will supply its renewable ammonia-based fertilizers, known under its Impact Zero brand, to global food and beverage manufacturer PepsiCo over an unspecified time frame. Farmers supplying PepsiCo will then use the fertilizers across approximately 400,000 acres (162,000 hectares) of farmland.
Fertiberia has produced 20,000 t/yr of renewable ammonia at its Puertollano plant since 2022. The site has a 20MW electrolyser fed by an integrated 100MW solar photovoltaic plant. Fertiberia also produces 180,000 t/yr of natural-gas based ammonia at Puertollano, and previously indicated plans to add a further 50-180MW of electrolyser capacity — although it is yet to do so. The firm has also announced tentative plans for four further renewable ammonia projects in Spain, all of which have yet to reach final investment decisions.
Fertiberia produces around 155,000 t/yr nitric acid at Puertollano. Combined with its ammonia feedstock, this can produce around 280,000 t/yr of ammonium nitrate and calcium ammonium nitrate fertilizers.
Fertiberia's Impact Zero range utilises slow-release formulas and biological inhibitors to further enhance agronomic efficiency, reducing the overall greenhouse gas emissions of the finished product by 63pc.
The supply agreement with PepsiCo builds on a successful trial in Spain and Portugal, where carbon emissions were cut by up to 20pc across corn farming and up to 15pc across potato farming, Fertiberia and PepsiCo said, without providing a benchmark emission level. The programme will now expand to France, Romania, Serbia, Greece and Turkey, for key crops including potatoes, corn, sunflower, sugar beet and rapeseed.
The agreement will bring PepsiCo's share of low-carbon fertilizers used in its European operations up to 50pc by 2030, the company said. PepsiCo also has deals with Norwegian fertilizer company Yara in Europe, US nitrogen producer CF in the US and, most recently, agriculture technology company TalusAg across multiple regions.
Similar initiatives have been undertaken by other global food and beverage manufacturers, which have a higher willingness to pay for the use of emissions-reducing fertilizer products in their supply chains than the farmers that are directly applying the product.
