3rd June 2024
With decarbonisation a growing priority for the agricultural industry, Frontier Agriculture’s investment in CCm Technologies - including its novel fertiliser product - will provide farmers with a more sustainable input solution while helping to reduce Scope 3 emissions.
UK-based CCm Technologies is an innovative environmental technology company which combines captured carbon dioxide from the atmosphere with recycled nutrients from other agricultural waste, such as livestock manure and digestates, to produce organo-mineral fertiliser.
Its flagship product, CCm Growth®, contains nitrogen, phosphate and potash, but due to the inclusion of natural organic material, it also holds valuable fibre to help deliver organic matter and carbon back to the soil to improve soil health and sustainability.
Frontier will have an exclusive distribution agreement across England, Scotland and Wales for all available CCm Growth® product as part of the agreement and while its technical make-up looks set to deliver a range of practical benefits on farm, Frontier’s direct investment signals further opportunities for growth, new plant development and increased production.
"We’re always looking to develop the solutions we provide to both our farmer and consumer customers."
“As the only shareholder with specialist expertise in sustainable crop production and grain marketing, we’re well-placed to add key industry insight and technical knowledge to further enrich the CCm proposition,” says Frontier group commercial strategy director, Andrew Flux.
“We’re always looking to develop the solutions we provide to both our farmer and consumer customers, ensuring they meet the challenges faced now and in the future.
"Being directly involved in the development of CCm’s technology going forward means we can better support all parts of the supply chain to meet reduced emissions targets, contributing to more sustainable food production systems overall.”
Long-term partnership
Frontier’s investment in CCm Technologies comes after a period of collaboration to put CCm Growth® to the test, with 2024 marking the third year of trials undertaken in its 3D Thinking research programme.
“There’s nothing like this product on the market today,” explains Frontier national crop nutrition technical manager, Edward Downing, “which is why we were excited to see how it performed in comparison to standard nitrogen and NPK fertilisers.”
To date the product has been trialled at Frontier’s Haywold and Bleasby demonstration sites, with positive results seen for both harvest 2022 and 2023.
“2023 wasn’t quite as good as 2022, but much of that was potentially down to environmental factors during a challenging season. Despite that, the results were still really pleasing. It was great to see it perform on par with typical fertiliser, both in terms of yield and protein.”
"There's nothing like this product on the market today."
In both trials, CCm Growth® was looked at as a straight comparison to standard fertiliser products in the programme, but also in combination with them, as Edward says that’s more likely to be the scenario in which it’s used.
“CCm Growth® is one of several fertiliser products and emerging technologies helping to decarbonise supply chains, which is really positive news. Analysis carried out by The Carbon Trust showed that the carbon footprint of the product is not only low – it’s negative. It’s literally taking carbon out of the atmosphere and adding it to the soil.
“It therefore supports a holistic approach to crop nutrition. For example, if CCm Growth® contributed a third of the nitrogen within a fertiliser programme, its negative carbon footprint from manufacture could outweigh the positive carbon footprint associated with the manufacture of the remaining conventional fertiliser. This doesn’t include the carbon emissions associated with applications of nitrogen fertilisers to fields but it could be a real game changer, a step towards not only decarbonising fertiliser but also food production.”
As exciting as the results have been so far, Edward stresses that ongoing research remains a priority.
“We’ve been able to share initial results and now some food manufacturers are interested to understand how it might work in their own supply chains, which is great news and supports wider collaboration across our industry,” he says. “For example, in one project we’re looking at a slightly different version of the product which is based on food waste.”
The involvement in this work has meant that Frontier has been able to expand its research to seven replicated trials this year, with the partnerships also facilitating 16 on-farm ‘comparisons’ too.
Ed continues: “In these, we’re working directly with growers to test the spread and accuracy of the product, as well as the logistics of handling it and storing it on farm.
“There’s a real focus on the practicalities – for example, can it be applied using the farm’s existing fertiliser spreader? Growers rightly need to understand what else might be required and how it shapes up against what they are using already.”
Of course, a big factor for many will be the price too. Edward explains: “Though the product isn’t commercially available while this work continues, pricewise it should be comparable to typical fertiliser products on the market.”
Investing for the future
Speaking of the investment, Pawel Kisielewski, CEO of CCm Technologies explains: “We are delighted with this collaboration which brings an alignment of interest with the UK’s leading provider of crop production advice and grain marketing solutions and will further speed the expansion of our production plans.
“The expertise of Frontier Agriculture’s specialists will greatly enhance our engagement with farmers supplying CCm’s key customers, in particular its ‘Global Preferred Partner’, PepsiCo.”
David Wilkinson, Head of Agricultural Procurement at PepsiCo Europe adds: “Since 2020, PepsiCo has been working with CCm to supply ultra-low carbon fertilisers to our oats and potato farmers across the UK. This is part of our broader strategy to decarbonise food systems and agricultural practices across our value chain.
“We are delighted to be collaborating with Frontier and CCm as strategic partners in the next phase of expansion of these innovative fertilisers that will significantly improve the GHG footprint of our crops whilst improving soil health over the longer term.”
Andrew concludes: “The next phase of work with CCm and the collaboration underway with farmers and consumer businesses is exciting. It demonstrates the importance of long-term partnerships in our industry if we are to meet our collective net zero targets and environmental goals while safeguarding food production and continuity of supply.
“Other fertiliser partners are doing equally impressive work in this space too, so we’re looking forward to even more of these novel solutions coming to market.”
Frontier’s investment in CCm Technologies delivers against its own commitments under the Planet, Production and Partnership pillars of its sustainability strategy, The Responsible Choice. More information about the business’ approach to sustainability can be found here.
