Dear valued shareholder, welcome to the last Your Co-operative Update for 2024.
We’ve created a short video, which you can view here, where we discuss key topics we know matter to you, the members of the Ballance co-operative. These include surety of supply and some of the challenges that we continue to navigate, dynamics around pricing and global market effects. We also cover some of the tools we’ve developed to help you manage these impacts as we continue to evolve to meet the ever-changing needs of you, our co-operative members.
This update includes our new Fertiliser Outlook, an update on our Super Air business, as well as a couple of new regular sections on work we’re doing in the ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) space, and some exciting projects that our Innovation team is working on to ensure we continue to evolve and stay future-fit.
Introducing Fertiliser Outlook: our new update to keep you informed
We’re pleased to release our first Fertiliser Outlook, where we look at the factors influencing nutrient supply and global pricing. The aim is for Fertiliser Outlook to provide a useful overview of the international nutrient marketplace and give you some insights into trends and challenges. The update will cover:
- trends in the global fertiliser market.
- what’s happening with key product trends globally.
- commentary from Shane Crean, our National Procurement Manager, on his thoughts around the global markets.
- an update on how Ballance is working to maintain supply and manage these Fluctuations.
We hope you enjoy the first Fertiliser Outlook and we welcome your feedback.
Super Air South Island
We’ve made the tough decision to close our South Island Super Air bases and will only be based in the North Island from mid-December this year.
Since establishing Super Air in the South Island in 2021, the fixed wing aerial market has unfortunately retracted by over 40% nationally, with the South Island retraction running closer to 50%, making our business in the South Island unviable.
We’ve sold our South Island business to Otago Air Spread, a long-standing local topdressing company that is really well placed to continue to serve our existing customers.
We’d like to thank our South Island customers for their support and understanding, and wish them the very best for the future.
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)
Supplier due diligence
Under our Supplier Code of Conduct, which we introduced in 2021, we regularly undertake site visits to support our due diligence process. Last month we both travelled with Shane Crean and Mike Corbett to Queensland in Australia to visit two new phosphate rock mines, one owned by Ardmore, who we have been sourcing from for two years, and a potential new supplier, Northwest Phosphate.
These visits provide an opportunity for “on the ground” verification of the philosophies contained in in our Supplier Code of Conduct, which ensure our partners are aligned with our values as we work to enhance our communities, increase efficiency, and reduce our environmental and social impacts.
Efficiency in our reporting
To enable effective reporting around ESG, we need accurate accounting of our emissions, otherwise known as carbon accounting. This helps us better understand our environmental impacts and meet stakeholders’ expectations for transparency and accountability.
To achieve this, we have implemented a data management platform, called BraveGen, to help us improve the accuracy and auditability of data and the calculations behind it.
This is a great step forward in our ESG continuous improvement programme which sets us up well as we start to prepare for FY25 GHG reporting.
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)
Future Ready Farms: how are we tracking?
Innovation is the key to us evolving as a co-operative and remaining future fit. Our Future Ready Farms programme is a seven year partnership between Ballance and the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) to deliver new sustainable technologies, products and knowledge to the primary industry whilst significantly improving New Zealand’s environmental footprint. The programme includes 13 projects as well as extension and community engagement.
This article was recently produced to summarise the progress we are making.
A new way to manage dairy effluent
We’re excited to announce that one of our other Future Ready Farms projects, which has been trialled for the past few years, is now approaching commercial reality. The project is an innovative way that dairy farmers can manage their dairy effluent.
It’s a modular system that captures dairy effluent and separates it into two parts: solids, that get composted and quickly become odourless; and a cleansed liquid that can be reused for washdown and subsequent irrigation. This system gives the benefit of dramatically reducing water consumption, not only saving on water costs, but also enabling farmers to be more flexible and compliant in managing pond levels during wet periods. We are fine-tuning the system and seeing excellent results and expect to launch to the market in 2025.
Supporting South Island farmers
Southland farmers have experienced the wettest spring since they started recording rainfall in 1970, resulting in a devastating impact on the region, with farmers working under with constrained budgets.
While the impact on business is severe, we also acknowledge the impact this has on the mental welfare of farmers. This is always a key consideration for our co-op, and we’re committed to providing support, not only through special offers and advice to help get feed where it is most needed, but also working closely with Rural Support Trust and supporting opportunities for farmers to get off-farm and connect with others to protect their mental wellbeing.
If you need support, please reach out to our team - we’re here to help.
We’d like to take this opportunity to wish you a safe and happy holiday season and we hope you get the opportunity to rest and recharge with friends and family.
A quick reminder that you can reach out to either of us directly anytime, via email or phone, with any questions or feedback.
Warm regards,
Duncan Coull
Chair
Duncan.coull@xtra.co.nz
027 472 7110
Kelvin Wickham
Chief Executive
Kelvin.wickham@ballance.co.nz
021 513 028