May 27, 2011
Joachim Felker, member of the board of executive directors of the K+S Group headquartered in Kassel, Germany, was elected Chairman of the Board of the International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI), Atlanta, GA, USA.
As of 22 May 2011, Joachim Felker, member of the board of executive directors of the K+S Group, chairs the IPNI Board (Photograph: K+S KALI GmbH)
The election was held on 22 May 2011, at the annual meeting of the IPNI in Montreal, Canada, within the scope of the 79th Annual Conference of the International Fertilizer Industry Association (IFA). Joachim Felker will hold this office for the next two years.
“I look forward to the challenges this new position within the IPNI will present, and I am confident that I will be able to continue in the direction which my predecessors have pursued,” said Felker. “As a German company and as the world’s fourth-largest potassium producer we see it as our task to contribute our knowledge and our experience in the field of plant nutrition management, for a more sustainable agriculture – worldwide. Research, development, industry and practice need to closely cooperate internationally, in order to successfully meet the challenges set by an increasing world population and the necessary food security. This will only be possible if we use plant nutrition as a means of raising worldwide productivity.”
As a member of the board of executive directors of the K+S Group, Felker is, amongst other things, responsible for the potash and magnesium business segment. This business segment is responsible for the K+S KALI GmbH’s potash and magnesium crude salts at six mines in Germany. The K+S KALI GmbH is not only a traditional mining company and German producer of fertilizer. The company has also developed an excellent reputation for its many years of experience in the field of sustainable plant nutrition. Due to its thorough and independent research, but also due to its cooperation with external agricultural scientists, the K+S KALI GmbH has developed its potassium, magnesium and sulphur-based fertilizers to meet the demands of an efficient and sustainable agriculture – and will continue to do so.
The K+S KALI GmbH is a member of the IPNI, and has for the past four years contributed to this organisation.
The International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI), headquartered in Atlanta, GA, USA, is a non-for-profit, scientifically oriented organisation. Since 2007, it has been involved in a great number of international projects, searching for ways to meet the growing demand for food, feed, fibre and fuel, and looking for solutions based on responsible plant nutrition and therefore sustainable agriculture.
The IPNI has identified the challenge as the safeguarding of food security, while recognising the balance between plant production, environment and eco-system.
By collaborating and cooperating with renowned institutions worldwide the IPNI focuses its know-how, such as on agricultural research. Membership in IPNI is composed of companies that are basic producers of one or more of the major plant nutrients, such as nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium and sulphur.
