The fertlizer industry assumes the responsibility of developing guidelines on how best plant nutrients are managed in order to simultaneously minimize the impact on the environment and maximize the economic benefit. In the potash industry there are two international scientific institutes responsible for sharing information on how to most efficiently and effectively use fertilizers to provide for the food, fiber, feed and fuel needs of the growing human family. They are the International Potash Institute (IPI) and the International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI). The institutes not only instruct end-users – farmers- globally but also educate the industry, governments, and the public about the most current information on the safe and appropriate use of fertilizers. The institutes operate on all main potash markets such as China, India, Bangladesh, Sri-Lanka, Latin America, North America, Central and Eastern Europe, West and North Africa, West and South-East Asia .

IPI (International Potash Institute), founded in 1952, is a non-governmental and non-profit organization with its headquarters in Horgen, Switzerland. Starting from 1991 Uralkali has been an active member of the International Potash Institute (IPI). IPI carries out the major part of its work through a network of coordinators that work closely with researchers, government offices, extensions and agribusiness. In 2005 Uralkali delegated an agronomist to the IPI team to coordinate the IPI program in China.

More information about the IPI is available at (www.ipipotash.org).

IPNI (International Plant Nutrition Institute) is a newly founded in 2007, a non-profit, scientific organization dedicated to the responsible management of plant nutrients — N, P, K, secondary nutrients, and micronutrients. The mission of IPNI is to develop and promote scientific information about the responsible management of plant nutrition for the benefit of the human race.

Uralkali together with IPNI provide science-based plant nutrient and potash fertilizer use information to industry, farmers, agricultural and environmental leaders, scientists and public policy-makers. Uralkali facilitates the research on environmentally responsible use of potash fertilizers needed for agriculture to meet the future global demand for food, feed, fiber and fuel.

More information about IPNI is available at (www.ipni.net)