The move to provide bulk liquid urea into the central South Island from Rolleston is paying off handsomely for Ballance, prompting the opening of three new plants in Gore, Omarama and Timaru.
Ballance is responding quickly to the runaway success of its liquid urea plant in Rolleston, which opened last November as part of a $2 million upgrade at the existing service centre site.
‘Our n-rich liquid has captured the imagination of farmers throughout the central South Island, particularly because this area is the heart of the country’s irrigated land mass,’ says Garth Dawson, Ballance’s South Island Sales Manager.
‘Farmers like the product because it is suited to application via their centre-pivot irrigation systems, or by spraying trucks. Because it is a liquid solution, not a suspension, there is no particulate matter to clog nozzles or sprayers.’
Farmers can also pick up bulk supplies themselves in their 1,000-litre IBCs (intermediate bulk containers) and use their own spray boom equipment.
‘We knew there would be a ready market for our n-rich liquid, and from the start we have enjoyed high usage from our pilot plant at Rolleston. Rolleston is now at full 60,000-litre capacity.
‘But rather than expand at that site, we decided to move our product out to the regions it serves, and we will be able to supply product from all four centres this October.
‘Farmers don’t want to have to cart product long distances, so for their convenience we have built facilities to supply into the main irrigation areas from the north and from the south.’
Mr Dawson says the n-rich liquid network can deliver cost-savings as well by combining the spraying with other products, such as herbicides and fungicides.
‘Our n-rich liquid gives the same yield response as granular N per kg of N applied. This provides more flexibility for our customers. If they already have irrigation infrastructure our n-rich liquid can be injected through those systems in readily plant-available form.
‘What’s more, farmers can apply n-rich liquid in smaller doses, as often as required to closely match crop requirements.’
Ballance conducted trials with pasture, wheat and kale in Canterbury, measuring yields from granular and liquid urea. There were no significant yield differences between the two forms. Therefore, assuming that the granular urea is spread evenly, the main advantage from liquid urea is the lower cost of application if applied via an irrigation system.
For arable farms, liquid N rich applied through boom spraying equipment may also improve application precision and reduce application rate variability, when compared to granular urea applied at wide bout widths. Under this scenario there is likely to be an improvement in crop performance.
Furthermore, N losses through volatilisation are likely to be lower when urea is applied in liquid form. Typical ammonia volatilisation loss from granular urea is about 10 percent on average, but can be higher or lower depending on application conditions.
Liquid N-rich application may reduce this loss, and improve N fertiliser efficiency, through two main mechanisms. Application of urea in liquid n-rich form results in greater distribution of N and therefore reduced concentration of urea and ammonium near the soil surface where it is susceptible to loss as ammonia gas.
Also, when liquid N rich is applied with irrigation water, the irrigation water that is applied helps move the applied N away from the soil surface, where it is most volatile.
‘This is not just for crops. Our n-rich liquid delivers an excellent return on high-value pastures and field crops. Used correctly, n-rich liquid is a versatile product that provides uniform coverage of soil, pasture or crops.’
14 September 2010
