June 17, 2016

Consistent Quality Vegetables Means a Big Difference to The Bottom Line

By: Yara Australia

The challenges of growing vegetables, in an environment of changing climate and issues with water, can be helped by using inputs of high quality according to Werribee South producer, Carmelo Santamaria. Mr. Santamaria is a third generation producer whose family farm 150 acres of broccolini, cauliflower and broccoli in the southern Victorian region. He said climate change and water are definite issues for the region. "In rising to those challenges we’ve got to make sure that we use the best inputs available to us to combat the problems we have," he said. "That's where Yara has been a big part of that." "Changing to Yara products and using Yara products for a long time now has allowed us to do a wonderful job."

Mr. Santamaria said they used products from the Yara fertiliser range throughout the year and throughout the crop development to achieve high yielding and quality vegetables.

"We use Yara Kristalon Blue in the nursery. The consistency of the product we buy helps us be consistent on the growing side of things. That just translates to profits down the track. The more consistent you can be, the better you can run your farm."

"The healthier the plants are when we transplant, the quicker they take off and the better they grow in that first month. Yara's Kristalon Blue, in particular, we use once or twice weekly as it is important to keep them growing right throughout."

"Once we get them out in the paddock, we are using:
YaraMila™ COMPLEX
YaraMila™ UNIVERSAL,
YaraLiva™ TROPICOTE.”

"So right through the process we are using Yara products and it is helping tremendously." Mr. Santamaria said their base product out in the paddock is YaraMila™ Universal. "It is just a product that has been introduced recently and we love it."

"The two most important things in a base dress are the nitrogen and the phosphorous," he said. "It has a very high analysis in that regard so we're able to use less to get more results."

"They're very low in impurities and they're very consistent products. The analysis of all the products are just spot on. We get a really good result with them."