Tnue has partnered with Ballance and Ravensdown, which together account for about 90% of the country’s fertiliser market, and Dickie Direct, which will send fertiliser to the Taupō plant to be processed.
The conflict in Iran and the virtual shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz has put the world’s fertiliser market under severe strain.
Middle East countries affected by the strait’s closure account for about half the world’s exports of urea, the most widely traded nitrogen fertiliser.
Tnue (for Total Nutrient Use Efficiency) said its Taupō facility uses proprietary control-release technology to apply a micro-thin membrane to each urea granule.
The membrane releases nitrogen progressively over about three months in line with grass and plant uptake and requirements.
Tnue said its product is made using zero-carbon geothermal energy.
Co-founder and managing director Bruce Smith said the development marked a milestone for New Zealand’s agritech sector.
“The technology reduces the time and diesel spent spreading urea, while mitigating nitrogen losses from leaching, supporting stronger plant growth, and ultimately improving environmental outcomes and net farm returns,” Smith said.
“At the same time, this development comes at a critical moment for New Zealand agriculture.”
Smith told the Herald that controlled release is not new technology in itself, but developing it for “broad-acre” agricultural use is new.
Controlled-release fertiliser was originally put into intensive crops such as nurseries or home gardens, nursery production, strawberries, and other high-value crops but technology was never developed for use in bigger pastoral systems.
With global urea supply lines disrupted out of the Middle East, farmers face heightened uncertainty around the cost and availability of nitrogen before peak farming seasons.
“Having the resource to apply controlled-release technology to fertiliser right here gives New Zealand farmers greater certainty over price, supply and on-farm performance,” Smith said.
Tnue’s product means farmers can apply fertiliser earlier in the season and reduce the need for multiple applications, improving efficiencies on-farm and avoiding exposure to supply uncertainty.
The longer release window also gives farmers more flexibility around extreme weather, as they can apply the product when ground conditions allow, rather than chasing narrow application windows.
Tnue is jointly owned by Eko360 Holdings (representing the founders) and 37% by Government-owned New Zealand Green Investment Finance, which is in the process of winding down.
Jamie Gray is an Auckland-based journalist, covering the financial markets, the primary sector and energy. He joined the Herald in 2011.
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