LIQUID fertilisers from OMEX Agriculture’s brand new 16,000t liquid nitrogen and sulphur storage and distribution facility at Port of Dundee, look set to revolutionise arable farming in Scotland, providing more efficient delivery of nutrients to the soil from a local mixing base.

Construction of this new £3m site at Dundee’s deep water port commenced in August 2017 and just seven months later, the first such fertilisers were rolling out from the site’s two 6000tonne tanks.

Since then, some 12,000t of liquid fertilisers have been distributed throughout the length and breadth of Scotland, as demand increases.

“There is a growing demand for liquid fertilisers because you don’t have to rely on a shed to store it, and there is no wastage, with liquid fertilisers proving easier to distribute directly to the plant while also reducing the risk of evaporation and pollution,” said Max Winkler, chief executive of OMEX.

Such is the improved application with liquid fertiliser that the product has been shown to be 20% more accurate compared to solid alternatives, with increased tramline widths up to 36m.

Hence there is reduced waste and less risk of pollution as liquid nitrogen is applied accurately right up to the field edge. Three nitrogen sources can also be used to include ammonium, nitrate and urea, and as a liquid, they can be applied in bad weather when solid alternatives can’t be. Nitroflo liquid nitrogen fertiliser can be efficiently and accurately applied even with standard farm machinery too, with risk of liquid fertiliser scorch largely removed thanks to the use of specialist streamer bars and caps.

The only additional outlay required is tank storage, but the company does offer an optional tank storage scheme for better logistics and space management.

Liquid fertilisers contain the same nutrient concentrations as solid or granular fertilisers but can be applied far more accurately over wider tramlines (up to 48m), helping to produce better yields of higher quality crops.

Forth Ports, who run the site, have worked alongside OMEX to bring this state of the art facility on line, and with Dundee-based haulier Harry Lawson delivering product all over Scotland, they believe they have the winning formula to attract new and existing business

The site at the Port of Dundee represents a significant part of the company’s 170,000t total liquid nitrogen and sulphur fertiliser storage capacity available to UK farmers, and makes almost all customers reachable within two hours of an order leaving one of its many strategically positioned facilities.

There are three main categories to OMEX’s liquid fertiliser to include suspensions, which can be individually formulated to incorporate any combination of nutrients and are applied as a contract service.

Solution fertilisers are effective clear liquid fertilisers to include essentials like liquid nitrogen and sulphur compounds, plus a wide range of NPK compounds and foliar fertilisers and biostimulants, which are highly concentrated liquid fertilisers containing special nutrient formulations for use in a range of crop leaf applications.