Yara ramps up investment in digital and tech solutions to support growers

Yara is expanding its Crop Nutrition Services offering by further investment in digital and technical solutions to support growers. The company’s recent investment in their Customer Portal allows liquid fertiliser customers 24/7 access to their Yara account. Via the portal customers can view and print invoices, see their deliveries, orders and order histories. In addition, and most importantly for liquid customers, they will be able to create their own call-offs from open orders.

Why does this matter? Darren Glegg, business manager at Yara explains, “When growers are ordering what they need for spring applications, they might order 200m³ of liquid but only have the storage capacity for 60-80m³. With the new Customer Portal, growers can look at what balance they have left, hit the ‘call off’ button and request a delivery of a specific quantity on a specific date.” This feature has benefits for larger farms with multiple sites and tanks in different locations too as they will now be able to call off deliveries by location.

Manage in a more effective way

The portal is already helping customers to manage their operation in a much more effective way. “The Customer Portal is a great way to see the full picture in one place, including delivery and invoice information, as well as be able to track our delivery progress and initiate call offs as required,” says Ian Holmes, company agronomist at Strawson Ltd.  For liquid customers in particular, delivery on time when they need it is crucial and the new desktop tool makes this possible. 

Yara has contacted all of its liquid customers to encourage registrations to the new portal, but growers should contact their area manager to register for access if they haven’t already.

Yara’s Crop Nutrition Services are further enriched by the new partnership with Oxbury Bank. The partnership provides a credit facility to growers who buy direct to farm rather than through a wholesaler, and covers crop protection, seeds, and fertiliser purchases. 

As an ancillary product, all Yara’s customers are able to apply for Oxbury finance, regardless of who they bank with, offering better financial support to the farming community.

The ongoing volatility of crop and input prices is putting a strain on the cashflow of many farming businesses, so Yara’s ability to offer extended payment to customers will be a welcome development. 

Those who want to grow their businesses will benefit too. “For us, it’s a natural step to start working with Oxbury Bank,” says Jari Pentinmäki, managing director of Yara UK, “Not just for farmers who are requiring credit for challenging times, but also for those who want to manage their cashflow in a positive way, who want to invest and grow.”