The two companies share the goal of reaching net zero emissions by acting as agents of change through innovation for a sustainable future in the Spanish agricultural sector
PepsiCo and Fertiberia are joining forces to launch a pioneering pilot programme to reduce emissions in potato farming. The companies will achieve their goals using crop nutrition solutions from Fertiberia’s Impact Zero line, the first fertilisers in the world produced with green hydrogen (replacing natural gas), and precision agriculture. The two companies, leaders in their respective sectors, share the goal of reaching net zero emissions by acting as agents of change through innovation for a sustainable future in the Spanish agricultural sector.
The use of sustainable crop nutrition solutions makes it possible to reduce potato farming emissions by 15%. The production process uses green ammonia which is obtained by replacing the hydrogen that comes from natural gas with green hydrogen, thereby making it possible to produce plant nutrition solutions with a reduced carbon footprint. Fertiberia produces green ammonia in its production centre in Puertollano (Ciudad Real), the first and largest green hydrogen plant for industrial use in Europe.
The first potatoes using green crop nutrition solutions were sown in Álava, La Rioja and Burgos, in collaboration with Garlan, which has supplied potatoes to PepsiCo for more than 30 years, and a renowned cooperative selected by the two companies to carry out the programme. Precision agriculture techniques will be used to enable optimal fertiliser application thanks to the detailed information that the company offers on the status of the crops. The programme will begin on a 400 Ha crop surface with a forecast to reach 1,500 Ha in 2025.
“We are very proud to announce this pilot programme for green fertilisers together with Fertiberia to reduce the emissions associated with fertilisers and, subsequently, the emissions from agriculture which represent a high percentage of our total emissions”. This initiative complements others that we are carrying out to regenerate the land and make it more fertile through regenerative agriculture practices”, claims Ángel Alonso, director of the agricultural department of PepsiCo in Southwest Europe.
Alfredo Segura, Commercial Director of Fertiberia, highlights “Fertiberia is changing the paradigm in the agri-food sector with the development of Impact Zero. The use of renewable energy sources to produce crop nutrition solutions together with ongoing innovation in biotechnology will achieve a milestone that until very recently seemed impossible, the decarbonisation of the primary sector in the EU. The agreement with PepsiCo highlights the potential of green hydrogen to achieve fully sustainable agriculture and make Fertiberia the company that ‘facilitates’ the viable development of this new energy vector in Spain”.
PepsiCo is committed to extending the use of regenerative agricultural practices in Spain to 77,000 hectares by 2030 and is already working on specific projects to train farmers on this subject. Additionally, the company also aims to reach net zero emissions by 2040 and working in the field is the key to achieving it.
The collaboration with Fertiberia falls under the PepsiCo Positive initiative, the company’s strategy which features sustainability at the centre to accelerate the company’s transformation and promote a positive impact, both on the planet and on people. One of the initiative’s fundamental pillars is provide support to communities where PepsiCo does business to improve their livelihoods.
Fertiberia produces large-scale green crop nutrition solutions: a necessary step to provide support to a project of this magnitude. It is also the first company in its sector in the world to commit to reducing its net emissions to zero by 2035. The key to reaching this goal lies in the production of fertilisers based on renewable energy sources, a step that it has already taken in its industrial centre in Puertollano, which the rest of the plants in Spain will follow in the future (Palos de la Frontera, Avilés and Sagunto).
