Construction of the factory started in 2024 and took 18 months.<\/p>\n
Tnue co-founder Bruce Smith said when construction started, he didn\u2019t know that the factory would open in the middle of a global fertiliser supply crisis.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving the resource to apply controlled release technology to fertiliser right here gives New Zealand farmers greater certainty over price, supply and on-farm performance,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n
Tnue technical manager Jane Mayo said up to half of the world\u2019s food supply is produced with synthetic petro-chemical products such as urea.<\/p>\n
She said while it\u2019s impossible to eliminate the need for urea, Tnue can reduce a farmer\u2019s overall urea usage.<\/p>\n
\u201cSoluble urea causes a spike in nitrogen levels, but Tnue breaks down over two-three months,\u201d Mayo said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne application of Tnue could last over the same period as two normal applications of urea.\u201d<\/p>\n
Local farmer sees potential<\/p>\n
Kylie Leonard, Taup\u014d East Rural Ward councillor at the new Tnue Factory in Taup\u014d.<\/p>\n
Taup\u014d East Rural Ward councillor Kylie Leonard farms 300ha just out of Taup\u014d township.<\/p>\n
The proximity of her land to the lake shore means she has to restrict her use of urea, in case the excess nitrogen seeps into the water. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have limits within what we can and what we can\u2019t do within the Lake Taup\u014d catchment,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Leonard previously co-chaired the Lake Taup\u014d Protection Trust, which reduced by 20% nitrogen levels in New Zealand\u2019s largest lake by creating the world\u2019s first nitrogen emissions trading scheme.<\/p>\n
Farmers operating on or near the lakeshore were compensated for reducing nitrogen leaching into the water.<\/p>\n
While the trust achieved its mission, the need to reduce nitrogen continues, something which Tnue-modified urea could help with, Leonard said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe … the fact that it\u2019s not water activated, that it\u2019s actually heat activated … means that plants are able to uptake it versus … just releasing and not maximising the economic benefits of what we\u2019re applying.\u201d<\/p>\n
Re-using geothermal taonga<\/p>\n
Ngahere Wall, He Ahi representative at the new Tnue factory in Taup\u014d.<\/p>\n
Smith said it\u2019s important for Tnue to have access to clean energy to make his product.<\/p>\n
This eliminated a lot of potential sites for his factory, but it made Tauhara hap\u016b-owned He Ahi an ideal choice.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt matched with our values,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n
Ngahere Wall, speaking for He Ahi, said lessees had access to repurposed geothermal steam as an energy source.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of the surplus energy we can tag to some of the businesses that want to be located here at He Ahi … for energy efficiencies, for heating purposes or whatever they need for their businesses,\u201d Wall said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think all these things show positive aspects in terms of minimalising negative environmental impacts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tnue and He Ahi have entered a joint venture of sorts, where the building belongs to He Ahi, but the production line belongs to Tnue.<\/p>\n
There are nine employees at the factory, and Smith said there is potential to double that number once production reaches full capacity.<\/p>\n
Wall said Tnue also had the option of leasing more space at the business park, should it seek to expand.<\/p>\n
Bronson Perich is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist for Taup\u014d and South Waikato based at the Waikato Herald.<\/p>\n
\u2013 LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Construction of the factory started in 2024 and took 18 months. Tnue co-founder Bruce Smith said when construction…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":410885,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[211402,1975,138,7557,211403,13741,45554,1888,692,685,3180,111,139,69,1864,2680,211401,1852,209386,162528,686],"class_list":["post-410884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-ahi","tag-at","tag-business","tag-district","tag-ecopark","tag-factory","tag-fertiliser","tag-first","tag-he","tag-last","tag-near","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-opened","tag-opens","tag-slowrelease","tag-taup","tag-tnue","tag-urea","tag-week"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}