Image: Aviv Bar Tal, vice president commercial nitrogen at OCI Global; Jean-Etienne Gourgues, chairman & CEO of Chivas Brothers; Tim McCreath, managing director of Simpsons Malt; Walter Dandie, Walter Dandie & Sons Farm.

 

Spirits company Chivas Brothers and distilling wheat supplier Simpsons Malt have announced a new investment in a low-carbon fertiliser produced by fertiliser company OCI. Nutramon Low Carbon is made using certified bio-gas and is certified by “bio, bio-circular, and renewable feedstock” independent certification standard ISCC PLUS. 

 

Select farmers in the Chivas Brothers Wheat Growers Group are currently trialling Nutramon Low Carbon, the new fertiliser, as part of an agreement between OCI and McCreath Simpson & Prentice, the agricultural merchanting division of Simpsons Malt.

 

The company says that the use of Nutramon Low Carbon instead of conventional fertiliser equates to an overall 15–20 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas gases produced by barley and wheat grown for distilling, without losing effectiveness as a fertiliser.

 

Crops grown in the pilot will be harvest between August and October 2024 and used to produce Ballantine’s, a Chivas Brothers blended whisky. Post-trial and after reviewing results, Chivas Brothers will look at how widening the use of biobased fertiliser could reduce carbon emissions in its supply chain.

 

Ronald Daalmans, sustainability director at Chivas Brothers commented, “We’re on a mission to reduce carbon emissions throughout our supply chain and that requires us to be at the forefront of new innovations that come to market. We cannot do this alone, which is why likeminded partners such as Simpsons Malt Limited and OCI Global are so important to helping us realise this ambition. Together with our farming community, we’re limiting the environmental impact of cereal crops destined for our whiskies.

 

“We look forward to continuing and expanding this initiative, as well as sharing our findings and experiences with the wider farming and whisky industries to help drive positive change across Scotland and beyond.”

 

Earlier this year, Chivas Brothers launched a sustainable agriculture programme with Bairds Malt and Scotgrain, with the aim to support Scottish farmers to reduce the barley-growing industry’s carbon footprint.