Sabic launches sustainable farming pilot program

Sabic’s fertilizer affiliate is launching a pilot program that will pay farmers to use synthetic urea fertilizer, coated with a microbial treatment, that the company developed with BioWish Technologies. The firms say the special fertilizer increases a plant’s ability to absorb nutrients. That could reduce the amount of fertilizer farmers need and thus lower their carbon footprint. The companies also claim it may increase carbon sequestration in soil. The 20,000-hectare pilot program, administered by ADM, a distributor that sells the fertilizer, aims to collect further measurements about its impact on greenhouse gas emissions.