Our business

As a leading manufacturer and distributor of Fertilisers to the Agriculture sector throughout Northern Ireland, we produce a comprehensive range of NPK, prescription blends, straights and micro-nutrient products. In addition to commodity Fertilisers, the company is committed to developing innovative and technologically enhanced crop nutrition products and services with the objective of improving crop yields, crop quality and farmer returns. 

Our ethical standards

Independent Fertilisers Ltd (trading as Goulding NI) is committed to conducting itself with the highest ethical and legal standards. We ensure that the operations within the business and its supply chain meet those standards at all times and are compliant with the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
We are aware that Human traffickers and illegal / unlicensed gang-masters target a range of industries including those involved in the Agricultural sector. It remains important therefore that we maintain our vigilance and continually improve our controls and procedures.

Our MSA processes, controls and measures

We recognise that
continuous improvement is important, and we closely monitor UK government
guidance, updates and requirements. During the period since our last statement,
Independent Fertilisers has the following in place: 

• E-learning training on Modern Slavery for all employees of Independent Fertilisers to improve general awareness and understanding of the risks. 

• New supplier compliance check process requiring new and existing suppliers to read and accept our stance in relation to preventing Modern Slavery. 

• Internal Modern Slavery Policy, outlining our response to the MSA Act of 2015, including detail of current procedures that we have in place. 

• MSA Steering group,
  comprising of senior HR, Operations and Finance representatives to meet on a
  regular basis to implement and develop MSA controls and procedures. 

Other existing procedures

• Independent Fertilisers also gives an opportunity for all employees to identify risks anonymously through its Whistleblowing process, which is detailed on notice boards on all sites and on the shared network drive. New starters also receive relevant information upon joining the Company within their new starter pack, to raise awareness of modern slavery, human trafficking and the whistleblowing procedure. 

• We continue our internal ‘risk checks’ to ensure that
  any permanent or seasonal employment (within our workforce) does not contravene
  our own ethical standards or any legislation or government guidance. 

• We will promptly answer questions posed by our customers in respect of the Modern Slavery Act who wish to know more about our operations and / or our supply chain.

Our supply chain

• We are a manufacturer and distributor, and our supply chain is global in its reach. We source from manufacturers directly or through intermediaries. Many of our suppliers are large in scale with deemed low risk of non-compliance to the Modern Slavery Act, however, as a Company we remain vigilant to all risks, particularly in small-scale businesses in whose sector there may sometimes be a higher risk of unlicensed manual, seasonal labour.
• Independent Fertilisers is committed to ensuring our supply chain is free from human rights abuses. We actively welcome comments and suggestions from anyone within our supply chain about how we can improve our operations or further reduce any risks in our supply chain. If you have any questions regarding this issue, please contact us at: Contact