A new simple solution that quantifies and shows the carbon footprint of nutritional plans and crop management practices, has been launched.

Agmatix, a start-up ag-tech business owned by global specialty minerals company, ICL, is behind the Plant Nutrition Carbon Footprint Optimiser within a new data technology platform.

This enables ag-professionals and crop consultants to better understand the carbon footprint of their crop nutritional recommendations and farm-specific nutrition strategies. It provides them with the knowledge and confidence to make changes that reduces greenhouse gas emissions, while ensuring the fulfilment of their crop nutritional needs.

Uniquely, it will allow users to run several parallel simulations that can compare nutritional recommendations in relation to yields and environmental impact via their carbon footprint. This can reduce waste and increases profitability by giving users the information they need to prevent excessive fertilization.

By calculating and simulating the carbon footprint of nutritional plans, agronomists can better support farmers in the carbon credit process and provide the additional information required to complete the process.

Ron Baruchi, CEO of Agmatix, commented: “Agriculture is responsible for approximately 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions. This has increased by 30% over the last 40 years and will continue to increase if left unmanaged.

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"We see the importance of providing ag-professionals with the digital tools to optimize fertiliser use and we feel that our new optimiser is a milestone in achieving better informed carbon accreditation.”

Provided from a simple to use dashboard, Agmatix calculates the carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions from nutritional plans, considering a number of field characteristics. These include soil type, organic matter and PH, environmental conditions, agronomic practices, crop type, fertiliser type, applications, timing and residue management.

It can compare nutritional recommendations and understand the relationship between maximising yields and minimising detrimental environmental effects. The end game is to prevent over-fertilisation, resulting in lower CO2 emissions.

The Agmatix platform covers more than 150 different crops, considering 12 crop-essential nutrients. It then provides unbiased product catalogue-based recommendations.