Fertco has been supplying fertiliser to New Zealand farmers and growers of all types since 1999: dairy farms, sheep and beef farms, orchards, market gardens, wineries, flower farms, and lifestyle blocks to name just a few! As the third largest fertiliser supplier in NZ, we are big enough to be price competitive, but small enough to place people at the centre of our business.
𝗦𝗣𝗘𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦
Fertco specialises in personalised service:
✅ We come to you,
✅ We soil test (and herbage test too if required),
✅ We explain the results, and recommend the best fit,
✅ We sort your compliance requirements,
✅ You only pay for the fertiliser you actually need. Fertco specialises in custom blended fertiliser:
✅ We have a full range of fertiliser products,
✅ We have certified organic products,
✅ We have sustainable, enviro-friendly products,
✅ We custom blend and make-to-order,
✅ You choose what you want for your situation.
𝗣𝗘𝗢𝗣𝗟𝗘 𝗪𝗛𝗢 𝗖𝗔𝗥𝗘
Because our company founders and many of our team members have experience as farmers and growers, we really ‘get’ the issues facing the agricultural and horticultural industries today, and particularly, the worries for individual farmers and families. So, we source our products carefully and train our people in Sustainable Nutrient Management so they can share this knowledge with you.
𝗜𝗡𝗡𝗢𝗩𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗙𝗘𝗥𝗧𝗜𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗘𝗥 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗗𝗨𝗖𝗧𝗦
We are always searching for innovative fertiliser products that are backed by science, safer for people, animals, and the environment, and reduce wastage. Examples include our range of dicalcic phosphate fertilisers like RePlenish and KingPhos which release their nutrients slowly, and can be spread more accurately, thereby reducing wastage. Other examples are our nitrogen products such as 44Magnum, NSmart, and ExteNd which only require a single application because they have been designed to dissolve slowly as the plant grows. Our range of organic fertiliser products, like Organic Boost, are BioGro certified and include natural ingredients like guano and RPR (reactive rock phosphate). One of our newest organic products is a nitrogen fertiliser called Protamin 13, a waste product of the leather industry, and a game-changer for farmers and growers who prefer not to use traditional nitrogen products. Several years ago, a suite of granulated animal health products under the ‘MineralBoost’ banner was developed to target the mineral deficiencies identified by local vets in their client’s stock.
𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗗𝗨𝗖𝗧𝗦 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗖𝗔𝗡 𝗧𝗥𝗨𝗦𝗧
The ingredients for our fertilisers are tested for contaminants and impurities, and many of our products are Fertmark accredited, which means that you can trust they are accurately labelled and described.
𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗬
Fertco began when dairy farmers Ross Karl, Ken Titchener and Rob Phillips decided to establish a fertiliser company to make dicalcic phosphate, a fertiliser that they believed would improve soil, plant, and animal health. They employed Chemical Engineer Frank King as a consultant to help. Ross and Frank recall the small piles of fertiliser spread around the shed floor, and the garden sprayer, used to work out how much water to add to get the recipe right. After much trial and error, the result was a new, high-analysis dicalcic phosphate that was made by reverting monocalcium phosphate to dicalcium phosphate. This dicalcic was lower in acidity, so better for soil health and clover growth. It also released its phosphate more slowly which reduced run-off into waterways so was kinder to the environment. To manufacture the new dicalcic, they leased a small part of a building at Mt Maunganui, and built a plant by upcycling old pieces of equipment. Dical, as it’s currently referred to by the Fertco team, was the first of many experiments making fertiliser products by either improving what was already available, or trying to make something new. Granulating lime was an example of this. Frank remembers using an old domestic tumble dryer and a blow torch to determine the best process for drying the lime so that it could be granulated. Coated urea was another example, developed for Fertco by Frank on his return from the USA after designing and building a plant to coat urea there. These are just two examples that illustrate the kiwi ingenuity and innovation which seems to have been “stitched into the DNA of Fertco from day 1” as CEO Warwick Voyce says. “We do things that larger companies don’t do, and we often get copied a lot.”
Today Fertco have factories at Mt. Maunganui and Te Awamutu, a recent addition when Fertco purchased TerraCare, which shared many of Fertco’s enviro-friendly philosophies. We have pushed the boundaries of conventional and organic fertiliser manufacturing and survived to tell the story.
𝙎𝙤, 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙞𝙘𝙚, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖 𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙞𝙜 𝙚𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙚𝙩𝙚, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙨𝙢𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙚𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙠 𝙩𝙤 𝙪𝙨!
🧑💻 𝗳𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗰𝗼.𝗰𝗼.𝗻𝘇 | 📞 𝟬𝟴𝟬𝟬 𝟮𝟯𝟮 𝟳𝟯𝟯
