Incitec Pivot working hard to deliver essential fertilisers to farmers safely

26.03.2020

Incitec Pivot Fertilisers (IPF) is working hard to deliver its essential products and services to farmers during the Coronavirus outbreak, so that farmers can plant crops and help feed Australians.

IPF President Stephan Titze said supply chains continue to operate to benefit the agricultural industry.

“Fertilisers play a key role in supporting farmers to grow their crops, which will help feed Australians and people across the globe,” Mr Titze said. 

“Fertiliser is, and will remain, a critical input to food production and we are committed to keeping the supply chains open during this time.

“As Australia’s largest manufacturer and distributor of fertiliser, we’ve been working hard to deliver to farmers during this key seasonal period ahead of winter,” he said.

As restrictive measures to prevent the spread of the virus are implemented, IPF has been working closely with customers, farmers and Federal and State Governments to keep supply chains functioning.

“IPF manufactures fertilisers in its plants at Phosphate Hill, Gibson Island and Geelong and is also the largest importer of fertilisers. These fertilisers are then distributed to our fertiliser distribution centres nationally,” Mr Titze said.

“Our fertiliser distribution centres throughout Eastern Australia have the capacity to supply thousands of tonnes per day to customers and they are as busy as usual during this time of the year.” 

Good rains in Eastern Australia over recent weeks have been timely and with farmers getting ready to plant their crops, our fertiliser distribution centre teams are working hard to dispatch fertilisers safely and efficiently. We encourage farmers to work with their dealers to schedule and pick up their fertilisers in an orderly fashion for their planting season. 

In response to Coronavirus, IPF has developed processes and action plans to ensure continuity of supply. As part of these plans, each of our sites has restricted face-to-face interactions with our carriers and transport partners as much as possible to limit the potential for the virus to spread. 

We have made changes at our distribution centres so that our customers can drive their trucks in and load their fertiliser without having any physical contact with staff. When visiting our sites to collect product, we ask people to avoid entering our offices unless they have a direct request from our staff, this is to protect our valued people, visitors and customers.

“Our staff are also following government advice when it comes to hygiene measures, including handwashing, providing gels and having virus-appropriate cleaning processes,” Mr Titze said.

“We are also providing our soil testing service through the Nutrient Advantage laboratory which remains open and available to receive soil tests. We are encouraging farmers and agronomists to do soil testing and continue to use our agronomy services to make sure they are getting the right nutrients for their soil and crop needs.

“We will continue to work closely with Governments and other stakeholders to enable supply continuity of our essential fertilisers.  Autumn is a key seasonal period for fertiliser application for farmers and the recent rain has been welcome and timely,” Mr Titze said. 

 

ENDS

Contact:
Debbie Guest
Group Corporate Affairs Manager
0455 745 639; debbie.guest@incitecpivot.com.au