IFA Podcasts

Potassium remains an important element in today’s need for agricultural resilience. This is a discussion on the implications of its limitation and how addressing it can transform global crop productivity.

In this episode, we'll dive into a crucial environmental challenge: the intersection of agriculture and climate change. We will focus on the relationship between fertilisers and greenhouse gas emissions and learn that even though fertilisers are crucial for our global food security, they come with a significant carbon footprint.

Join Achim Dobermann and his guests for a discussion on soil health and why we need healthy soil for a healthy planet and environment.

In this episode, Sarah Wettstadt discusses with Patrick Brown and Fang-Jie Zhao how responsible plant nutrition can improve the health of people and alleviate hunger on our planet.

Phosphorus is an essential nutrient to support the growing global population's food needs. It has no substitutes. In this episode, Matt Lisley, Fertilizer Consultant at Argus Consulting Services, joins IFA Deputy Director-General, Patrick Heffer, to discuss the recent assessment of the world's phosphate rock resources and reserves. The podcast explores topics such as estimated lifespan, emerging technologies, and the significance of responsible management for a sustainable future....

Open data offers exceptional innovation opportunities across almost every sector. In this edition of the IFA Podcast, Ron Baruchi, President & CEO of Agmatix and Cameron Ludemann, Agronomic Data Scientist at Wageningen University & Research, spoke with IFA Chief Scientist Achim Dobermann talk about the importance of open access data sharing, specific to field data. The two speakers spoke of the data gap in the adoption of digital agriculture, bottlenecks to open access data, including...

Global food systems are fragile and millions of people around the world are at risk of hunger, even starvation. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on incomes, supply chains and economic growth, plus the ongoing effects of climate change and the war in Ukraine have brought us to a point not seen since the 2008 food crisis. The most vulnerable countries are those facing balance of payments crises at the same time as their populations are struggling with rising costs and falling incomes. But ef...

Some 3 billion people in the world experience 'hidden hunger.' They might have enough rice, wheat and pulses to eat, for example, but the food lacks the vitamins and micronutrient minerals such as zinc, iron, selenium and iodine needed for normal brain development and strong immune systems. How can we use fertilizers to improve the micronutrient content of food crops? Ismail Cakmak, Professor of Plant Nutrition, Sabanci University, Turkey, and Martin Broadley, Professor and Science Director, ...

Patrick Brown, Distinguished Professor of Plant Nutrition at the University of California-Davis and Katja Hora, Research Manager Specialty Plant Nutrition at SQM sat down with IFA Chief Scientist Achim Dobermann to explore the idea of a new, broader definition of plant nutrients. Find out how a new definition of what a plant nutrient is has the potential to revitalize innovation and discovery; and could align better with nutrients deemed essential for animal and human nutrition, to create a m...

Michael McLaughlin, Professor at the University of Adelaide, Australia and Ramesh Raliya, General Manager and Head of R&D at IFFCO's Nano Biotechnology Research Centre, India sat down with IFA Chief Scientist Achim Dobermann to discuss the future of smarter fertilizers and developments in fertilizer technology, including discussing the potential and challenges for nano-technology in crop nutrition.

Simon Attwood, former Head of Conservation at WWF Singapore, and IFA Chief Scientist, Achim Dobermann talk with IFA Communications Specialist Sam Joll about the relationship between fertilizers and biodiversity. Discover how farming and fertilizers can affect biodiversity, the importance of sustainable intensification to help avoid land conversion and how nutrient management can protect biodiversity.

The Scientific Panel on Responsible Plant Nutrition (SPRPN) is a group of scientists contributing their expertise to support the fertilizer industry’s efforts to solve the global issues it faces. The Panel has recently published its first issue brief, called A New Paradigm for Plant Nutrition (https://bit.ly/3uaolGO), which describes their vision for transitions in the practice of plant nutrition. IFA Chief Scientist Dr. Achim Dobermann sat down with SPRPN Chair Dr. Tom Bruulsema and member ...