NSW farmer Stuart Tait is exploring on-farm production of modular fertiliser made from crop residue. He has since been recognised with a prestigious award for his business development plan that seeks to make the idea a commercial reality
Born and raised on a Mandurama-based farm on the New South Wales Central Tablelands, Stuart Tait’s family has been farming in the same location for more than four decades.
Working with his father, their business Tait Agriculture has three different enterprises involving cropping, cattle breeding and cattle trading.
They also own a farm in Lyndhurst, just down the road from Mandurama, and another in Canowindra, roughly 50km west of Mandurama, which solely focuses on cropping.
Although he grew up in Mandurama, Stuart wasn’t always working for the family business. After finishing school, he made his way to Victoria to study at Geelong-based agricultural institution Marcus Oldham College, before applying his agricultural training in New Zealand for another year.
Nuffield Scholar
Upon returning to the family business, Tait looked to improve profitability and was soon awarded as a Nuffield Australia Scholar for his research about cost-effective ways to manage and fill the seasonal feed gap in pasture-based beef systems.
Using the scholarship, Tait travelled across 14 different countries in 2017, visiting a variety of farming businesses.
“It really opened my eyes and broadened my horizons to the world of agriculture and what there is to see out there,” he says.
“It helped me think outside the box a little bit which has probably contributed to the project I’m working on now.”
Business expansion
Looking to improve Tait Agriculture financially and explore potential expansion, he performed a review of the business with the help of an external consultant.
While productivity was high, the financial returns weren’t reflecting it.
“We were keen to continue to expand our farming operations within a 50km radius of Mandurama, but profitability was a challenge due to the high asset value of local farmland,” he says.
Looking for expansion alternatives, Tait’s interest was sparked at a field day when he came across Australian hydrogen technology startup HydGene Renewables, which turns biomass into products, such as hydrogen.
Fertiliser production
At the time, there was a gap in the market for urea fertilisers due to shortages, so Tait identified on-farm fertiliser production, using crop residue, as a potential opportunity to expand.
“Small-scale modular production of nitrogenous fertiliser on-farm presented a growth opportunity for us and also addressed a number of critical industry issues, including fertiliser market volatility, CO2 emissions and utilising crop and straw residue,” he says.
“Due to reduced domestic supply of fertiliser and an increased reliance on global supply chains, the supply and price of fertiliser has become increasingly volatile, placing additional strain on farming businesses to procure product at suitable prices.”
Straw and crop residues can provide soil benefits to broadacre farming systems through moisture retention, Tait says, but can also present many challenges as residue can host a range of pests and can be a physical impediment for the next crop.
The breakdown of straw, either through deliberate burning or retention, is also a significant source of carbon emissions on farm, he says.
Aiming to reduce these challenges and the emissions of conventional fertilisers, he formed a business plan as part of Rabobank’s Executive Development Program (EDP), outlining the use of crop residue in creating a carbon neutral or carbon negative fertiliser.
Development program
Still heavily involved with Nuffield, Tait is the organisation’s current New South Wales chair and benefits from several ‘post-grad’ learning opportunities as a former scholar.
Rabobank’s EDP was one of the opportunities made available to him, in which he has been an active participant.
The course runs as two modules over an 11-month period and is developed for farmers looking to build strategic planning capabilities and commercial management skills to explore options for business growth.
“The program content has been the perfect fit for me – providing the tools and knowledge I was looking for at this point in my career,” he says.
After presenting his fertiliser production business plan to the EDP, Tait was awarded Rabobank’s Dr John Morris Business Development Prize for 2024.
Taking his plan and concept into a commercial reality, he has now partnered with HydGene Renewables to commence a field-pilot program from next year.
“We are working towards completing a techno-economic feasibility study and will undertake pilot programs through 2025 and into 2026,” he says.
“The ultimate goal is to develop a modular, localised urea-manufacturing process from waste straw.”
