Protected urea sales were at 45,402t from October 2020 to the end of June 2021, Department of Agriculture figures reveal.

The use of protected urea increased by 130% from 2018/2019 (21,409t) to 2019/2020 (49,284t) and farmers were enthusiastic about making the change.

However, at current figures usage does not look like it will take the same significant rise as figures from the Department show that protected urea sales for the first nine months of the 2020/2021 season are 8.5% behind the total for 2019/2020.

Protected urea stocks were not widely available in all areas this year. Nitrogen products were delayed entering the country in the spring due to a number of factors, including COVID-19 impacting the supply chain.

The focus was on getting product out to farms, and as costs increased, many merchants did not take the risk in asking for urea to be protected, for fear they would be left with stock which has a shorter shelf life than other nitrogen products.

100% target

Under Ag Climatise, the Department of Agriculture’s roadmap to climate neutrality, the plan is to prohibit the use of urea and replace it with protected urea by the end of 2023, and to have 65% of calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) sold as protected nitrogen by 2030.

95,899t of urea were sold in 2019/2020 meaning that sales of protected urea need to increase by almost 200% in the next two years.