BRINGING SUSTAINABILITY CLOSER TO CUSTOMERS & COMMUNITIES

All parts of FMC commit and contribute to fulfill our ambitious sustainability goals. In Region EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) we have in 2019 established a regional sustainability committee to strengthen and develop regional initiatives. In this summary we will provide a brief look into some of the sustainability activities in the region.

INVESTING IN INNOVATIVE SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS

New products and solutions are continuously being developed to help farmers maintain a sustainable productivity and resilient
agricultural practices while increasing crop yields. Our European Development Center (ERDC in France) and FMC’s European
Innovation Center (EIC in Denmark), which is the global center for development of new biological crop protection solutions, play a
significant role in this.

Examples of our new sustainable solutions which are:

• CORAGEN^®, which includes the active ingredient Rynaxapyr®, is a highly selective insect control tool – superior to competing classes of chemistry and very popular among farmers around the world. It offers fast action, low dose rate and residual control in several crops – e.g. cotton.
• SPOTLIGHT^® PLUS, based on the active ingredient Carfentrazone, is a safe effective desiccant for use on all varieties of ware and seed potato and shoot control in several fruits, vines and olives. Spotlight® Plus has been for long time a reference on shoot control on grapes and olives, and has become the reference product for European potato growers after the non-renewal of diquat helping them to achieve a good quality harvest on their crops.
• ARC™ is a platform for pest monitoring that helps growers to be more precise in their insecticide application. Contributing to sustainability in agriculture, as examples ArcTM helps more effectively to manage insecticide spend and comply more easily with regulations.

  
  

  Digital tools are becoming increasingly important in agriculture. In Europe our Precision Farming initially was launched as Evalio^® AgroSystems – a popular digital Pest Detection Tool. In June this year we started to introduce the next generation of FMC’s precision agriculture platform under the name Arc™ Farm Intelligence, which we are currently piloting in Greece, Russia and Spain. Evalio^® as we know it, collects data from insect traps placed in growers’ fields, which are then analyzed to assess pest pressure and cycles. Based on this, we can recommend precise and sustainable crop protection applications that are tailored to a farmer’s unique needs. The new tool is integrated with Coragen and will contain new and improved features which help growers make more informed decisions on the farm as regards to insect control strategies.

  BIOLOGICALS

  Our investment in development of new biologicals is a true contribution to sustainable solutions meeting future needs and consumer demands – often in combination with our existing products. FMC is investing significantly in this field and has established its own global Innovation center for Plant Health since 2016. We acquired a rich promising microbe pipeline in 2013 and set up a strategic collaboration with Chr. Hansen in 2014. Our rich pipeline has resulted in the development and launching of new products with Hansen contributing valuable scale-up and manufacturing expertise. First new products are already on the market in Brazil, USA, and Asia-Pacific whilst currently being approved in Europe.

  

  Research Scientists at the European Innovation Center (EIC), Denmark.

  OUR COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

  FMC engages in the communities where major FMC facilities are located and we strive to impact the communities we are part of in a positive way. Examples of Regional Community activities include:

  • IN FRANCE, FMC has a local partnership with honey producers, to encourage sustainable bee keeping practice and support pollinator health. Here FMC’s manufacturing site in Uffholtz has beehives on site and in 2019 we produced the first high quality honey from the beehives which were given to employees on “Bee Day”.

  

  • IN SPAIN, since 2015, FMC collaborates and sponsors projects with universities in Cartagena and Valencia. FMC and Polytechnic University of Cartagena (UPCT) have collaborated in a partnership integrating research, training and divulgation activities in Southeast crop areas in Spain focused on optimizing the use of new tools for a sustainable agriculture. FMC and Polytechnic University of Valencia have maintained collaboration through different contracts and projects with the aim of improving the knowledge and correct use of Plant Growth Regulators and BioStimulants in the main citrus producing regions in Spain.
  • FMC RØNLAND, DENMARK supports the local community in several activities – a main activity being a program where FMC offers training of residents who are struggling to gain a foothold in the labor market. Since 2014, 118 residents have been through the program.
  • COVID 19- SUPPORT. In addition to the ongoing engagement in the communities where we do business, FMC has during COVID-19 expanded support to local societies where we are located with donations of masks to several local hospitals and donations for a foodbank for homeless people.

  OUR ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY

  FMC has set new aggressive environmental goals and a new baseline reflecting the new FMC as a pure agricultural company. Our four goals towards 2030 focus on limiting the environmental impact from our manufacturing sites – e.g. by using technologies and equipment that save energy, water and reduce emissions and waste. We always follow strict regulatory and authorities’ requirements for our industry.

  

  Note: Waste disposed intensity is calculated as the total amount of waste disposed (metric tonne) per metric tonne of product. Due to anticipated shifts in FMC’s product mix and expected growth through 2030, waste disposed intensity is expected to increase by 55 percent. Therefore, we will need to decrease our waste disposed intensity by 55 percent to maintain the 2018 base year intensity.

  ENVIRONMENTAL INITIATIVES AT OUR PRODUCTION SITES

  We continuously monitor, track and work to reduce the environmental footprint from our sites.At our R&D and production sites in France, we invest in the use of green electricity to avoid the use of non-renewable energy. We recently entered a new project that will help us reduce electricity and gas consumption – this will result in a 100% green electricity usage.
  The FMC production site in Stade, Germany is currently focusing on reducing the level of energy consumption by gradually introducing new environmental technology. In 2021 the site will shift to 100% green energy, from a level of 55% today.

  REDUCING USE OF PLASTIC IN PRODUCT PACKAGING

  By removing cylinders from FMC SU packaging in the EMEA region, FMC is able to reduce waste from plastic and packaging significantly.

  

  In 2018, some investments to the automatic packing line at FMC site Uffholtz were being planned including upgrades to the measuring cylinder machine that applied a measuring cylinder to each herbicide jar. It had been known for a while that many of the measuring cylinders were not being used by farmers, so a project was initiated to see whether FMC could remove the measuring cylinder from its herbicide range without impacting the usability or sales of the products. After discussions with the countries and market research, it was decided to remove the measuring cylinders from Uffholtz and other production sites supplying region EMEA from 2019/2020 onwards. The removal of the measuring cylinders is saving @17.6t/year ($126k/yr) of plastic waste.

  STEWARDSHIP – FOR RESPONSIBLE USE OF OUR PRODUCTS

  Safe and correct use of crop protection products is a key to sustainable agriculture.We steward the responsible use of our products by offering face to face training to customers and new easy to use training systems are currently being developed in the region to make it even easier to ensure the precise and correct use of products.

  

  Prevathon launch event in Mali.

  As an example, in July 2019 FMC organized a Stewardship day in Bamako, Mali, Africa as part of a major product launch customer seminar for the new insecticide Prevathon in cooperation a distributor, ministries of agriculture and cotton companies in west Africa. At the seminar we introduced the stewardship guidelines for both this product and insecticides in general. In Lebanon we gave a stewardship on-line session in May 2020 for the University of Saint Joseph, for students at the agriculture faculty (future agronomists) emphasizing the stewardship for pesticides in general. In South Arabia FMC train growers in proper use of products in green houses in order to minimize the risk of inhalation. During the training we hand out masks to farmers to actively ensure the use of protection equipment.
  
  

  OUR PEOPLE

  Our region covers Europe, Middle East and Africa and with approximately 1,500 employees we have local teams in 36 different countries across the region. The FMC core values and core competences help direct development and engagement of our people and we have ambitious programs for development of culture and people. Across the region our employees engage in community activities in the local areas where we are present.

  

  FMC colleagues from the Internal Controls Graduate Program at in Cork, Ireland volunteered their time in The Mercy Hospital Heroes Campaign and donated a cheque from their efforts to The Mercy Foundation.

  

  In 2019 we launched an extensive new leadership program with several tracks to equip current and future FMC leaders for their roles. In this region approximately 50 leaders attended the program. In addition, we established a regional Diversity and Inclusion council to ensure the strong FMC D&I culture reaches all corners of the organization.

  SAFETY – A CORE VALUE AT FMC

  

  Stefan Cordes, Warehouse Assistant, safely operates a forklift in Stade, Germany

  In 2019 employees have conducted safety programs across the globe as part of the ‘Th!nk. Safe.’ initiative. Our manufacturing site in Stade, Germany recently celebrated five years without a recordable injury.

  

  Download print version of the sustainability report summary