Sustaining potash operations today for tomorrow

At Mosaic, we often sum up the many parts of our business into a single sentence: we help the world grow the food it needs.

It sounds simple, but producing and delivering millions of tonnes of potash each year to customers all over the globe is complex. It requires teams of dedicated professionals making responsible decisions each day and at every step in the production and supply chains.

Helping the world grow the food that it needs is more than a corporate catchphrase to us. It’s our reason for being.

We have a deep connection to the land we live and work on in Saskatchewan. It has been home to Mosaic and its predecessor companies for more than 50 years. Currently, we have over 2,200 Saskatchewan-based employees.

We are mindful of the importance of agriculture in this province and to people everywhere as the world tackles food security and a growing population. Agriculture simply won’t keep up with global food demand without good crop nutrition. Farmers must feed two billion additional people by 2050 with production from essentially the same amount of land that is being farmed now—which means fertilizer, and the higher crop yields it drives, will remain essential.

To help fulfill our mission, we’ve built a resilient, responsible, financially strong and innovative company, capable of responding day by day, quarter by quarter and decade by decade to the everchanging agriculture markets.

This means that we must also put more attention not just on the products we produce but on how we operate over the long term. We hold ourselves accountable for the safety and well-being of our colleagues, our company and our natural resources.

By operating responsibly and sustainably, we are managing our financial risks, pursuing growth and innovation – and driving toward greater value for our stakeholders.

Environmental sustainability is particularly crucial to our success as a company. Mosaic employees continually seek opportunities to reduce our water, energy and waste footprints across operations. Examples of the programs underway at our operations include:

Water

Recent events in the province have reminded us just how precious our sources of freshwater are.

The use of water is a necessary part of potash mining, particularly at solution mines such as our Belle Plaine facility near Moose Jaw. This Mosaic property has an agreement with Yara Belle Plaine, a nearby facility, that sends water for a cooling process to the neighbouring plant. Then the heated water returns to Mosaic’s facility for use in potash production—allowing Mosaic to reduce the amount of energy that would have otherwise been spent on heating water by nearly 183 million kilowatt hours (kWh) per year. That’s the equivalent of reducing CO2 emissions into the air by 35,600 tonnes annually, or like taking 7,520 passenger vehicles off our roads each year.

By 2020, The Mosaic Company has made a company-wide commitment to reduce freshwater use in operations by 10 percent per metric tonne of product. In 2015, we achieved a two percent reduction in freshwater use from the 2012 baseline. It’s great progress, but we have more work to do.

Energy, Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Recycling

Mosaic employees are also seeking opportunities to reduce waste and save energy use at our plants and mines.

In 2015, employees at our Belle Plaine facility replaced nearly 200 lights with LED fixtures, cutting power usage by more than 156,000 kWh per year, reducing a further 97 tonnes of CO2 from being emitted each year. That’s like reducing gasoline consumption by over 41,000 litres annually.

Just recently, we introduced comprehensive recycling programs to our four existing potash mine sites in Saskatchewan. Colour-coded waste containers are clearly marked at each location to cut back significantly on landfill waste. Each site has the “blue bins” many of us are familiar with at home for paper, plastics, and cans. To take things one step further, bins for wood and metal are also available.

To underline our commitment to responsible energy use, Mosaic established a company-wide target to reduce our total energy use by 10 percent per metric tonne of product by 2020. In 2015, the company achieved a five percent reduction in energy use from the 2012 baseline.

In terms of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) reductions, Mosaic established a company-wide target to reduce our combined Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions by 10 percent per tonne of product by 2020. In 2015, the company achieved a two percent reduction in GHG emissions from the 2012 baseline.

Land, Biodiversity and Giving Back to the Community

We understand that the sustainability of our business relies on the sustainability of our communities – where we live, work and raise children. We strive to be a thoughtful neighbour who invests carefully and generously and seeks partnerships with organizations that are making a difference.

One such example is the Mosaic Community Food Farm in Moose Jaw. A collaborative effort of local non-profits and community minded funders, the Food Farm is a three-acre garden in beautiful Wakamow Valley. The garden grows fresh produce that is primarily distributed or prepared at the Moose Jaw and District Food Bank, Riverside Mission, and Hunger in Moose Jaw.

Mosaic also invested over $250,000 in species and land management programs in 2016. Here are several examples of our community investments:

• Mosaic supports the Nature Saskatchewan Stewardship program, which allows rural landowners to work together to promote prairie conservation through on-site visits and the development of educational activities that highlight the benefits of a healthy and diverse ecosystem.

• The Stewards of Saskatchewan program currently has almost 700 participants who have committed to conserving and protecting 74 miles of shoreline and over 290,000 acres of prairie habitat for wildlife and other species at risk.

• Our Belle Plaine facility has partnered with Wild and Cared Free, a wildlife rehabilitation center dedicated to returning wildlife back to the wild.

• Mosaic has a three-year agreement with Ducks Unlimited and other partners in the Western Winter Wheat Initiative.

To read more about sustainability at Mosaic, visit our website: