Spotlight on: Cristian Terrones

Cristian Terrones, ICL’s Sustainability Specialist, is driving innovation in fertilizer efficiency and recycling to reduce agriculture’s environmental footprint. His work focuses on developing low-carbon, nutrient-efficient solutions from secondary sources – helping farmers boost soil health, resilience, and productivity while using fewer resources. For Terrones, sustainable fertilizer strategies are the key to feeding more people with less.

What was the most significant agricultural challenge you helped solve?

Agriculture is dynamic and so are its challenges. On the last years I have dedicated a lot of my time to develop solutions that will help reduce the environmental footprint of agriculture. For this purpose, we have focused on 2 main strategies:

• Developing products that will help reduce GHG emissions and nutrient losses.
• Developing efficient and safe recycled fertilizers from secondary nutrient sources.

I am glad to say that ICL is at the vanguard on this type of work and soon, what was initially ideas will become commercial strategies.

Cristian Terrones in a field in the Netherlands

What professional tip would you like to share with farmers?

The basis for good agricultural production start on the condition of your soils. A healthy soil will improve nutrient use efficiency, organic matter content, water use efficiency, soil structure and overall confer resilience against periods of stress. In order to achieve a healthy soil, we must use all of the inputs available, whether they be organic soil amendments or synthetic fertilizers, since they all play a role. Synthetic fertilizers might not bring carbon directly, but when used adequately they will boost the organic matter production, which in turn will increase the carbon inputs to the fields.

What is your vision for the future of agriculture?

In the coming decades we will need to produce much more food with less resources. This implies maximizing productivity per hectare, per units of nutrient and per cubic meter of water. All this must be achieved while at the same time reducing losses of nutrients not only at farm level but also at regional scale. For this reason the development and implementation of enhanced efficiency fertilizers, fertilizers recycled from secondary sources and carbon based fertilizers will be the norm. The fertilizer industry will have to adapt to provide farmers with efficient and affordable tools to reach their sustainability goals.

Cristian Terrones checking the trees in an apple orchard