Soil fertility has a major impact on pasture and whole farm productivity, and is described as the measurement of nutrient status within the soil. By and large most plants require soils to grow and therefore maintaining the nutrient status/fertility of the soil at optimal or near optimal levels will enhance production.
Many NZ soils are actually inherently infertile (by definition) and hence nutrients must be added to build up soil reserves and increase productivity. Nutrients can be added in many forms, the most obvious and concentrated of which are synthetic fertilisers.
Working together with Ballance
CRT's supply agreement with Ballance Agri-Nutrients provides shareholders with a full range of broad acre fertilisers for all pastoral, cropping and horticultural requirements.
Ballance is a farmer owned co-operative like CRT and the ethos and focus of both companies are well matched.We both seek to supply farm inputs as cost effectively as possible, and return profits back to our shareholders in the form of end of year rebates (as market and trading conditions allow).
Working together, CRT and Ballance have experienced tremendous sales growth. This is due to a strong commitment to provide the highest level of service through sound, agronomic fertiliser recommendations backed up with timely delivery of product.
Added Value
As part of our all round fertiliser service, CRT also offers added value, ultra-fine lime products. Agricultural lime is essentially ground limestone rock (calcium carbonate, CaCO3), and is the principal fertiliser that can be applied to reduce soil acidity. The relative acidity (pH) of soils has a major effect on the productivity of pastures and hence this parameter needs to be monitored and corrected as and when necessary.
CRT retails ultra-fine lime products through CP Lime Solutions (and their Optimise product range) and BioStart’s lime suspension mixes.
Shareholder benefits
The cost of fertiliser is a major consideration on many farms.
CRT Shareholders who buy Ballance fertilisers on their CRT account derive the following benefits:
Guaranteed trade prices
Deferred payment options End of year rebates
Unique products
Ballance has a range of unique products that help to set them apart in the marketplace.
Choices points
Purchases of Ballance fertilisers are automatically rewarded with CRT Choices Points (1 point per $50 spend, including GST), and given that the value of the annual farm fertiliser spend can be high, your points tally can really start to mount up.
Purchases of all Ballance fertilisers through CRT are at trade price - guaranteed!
Unlike some others, CRT has not and does not add any commission or service fee to the cost of fertiliser bought through Ballance distribution centres. Your invoice price reflects the base price of the fertiliser plus any freight and store charges, as published in the Ballance Trade Price.
CRT offers Creditline facility to Shareholders on fertiliser purchases.
Shareholders who are Creditline customers will be asked whether they would like to defer payment of their fertiliser through the CRT Creditline facility. This gives shareholders the opportunity to decide what they will pay now, and what they will leave for later settlement on the shareholder-friendly terms offered by their co-operative.Those who aren't already Creditline customers but are pre-approved will be sent an agreement which they simply need to sign and return to CRT by the specified date. It’s that easy. Those who want to take advantage of this convenient facility but are not pre-approved will be sent the application forms via their choice of fax, email or post. Find out more about defering your fertiliser payments with CRT Creditline.
As a Ballance Shareholder, you have an entitlement to share in any end of year rebate paid out by Ballance.
In addition to this, CRT's end of year rebate can also include an element for fertiliser purchases, which does not set us apart from the non farmer owned retailers, and provides real add-on value to our all-round, fertiliser offer.
Contact us
If you have any enquiries or require specialist advice on fertiliser please contact us on 0800 278 583 or email us at fert@crt.co.nz alternatively contact the CRT Fertiliser Sales Manager