As the world’s largest producer of phosphate and potash, our top priority is helping farmers in key agricultural areas to economically produce more corn, wheat, soybeans, canola and other crops. We also have a responsibility to promote good nutrient stewardship throughout the supply chain—from mine to market.
We wanted to better prioritize and understand all the myriad issues material to our stakeholders, so in 2013 we conducted a materiality study with a third-party auditor. The valuable and impartial insights we received are helping us identify the most important actions we must take to further reduce our environmental footprint, in ways that are most meaningful to our stakeholders. We expect to finalize our materiality analysis in 2015.
Maintaining a healthy, safe work environment has been, and will always be, a primary focus for Mosaic. We were extremely troubled by the tragic accident in February 2014, which resulted in the fatality of a contract employee working on one of our Florida phosphates properties. We have conducted a thorough investigation and have shared what we learned, to avoid a future fatality.
Mosaic’s safety culture has evolved significantly, and our overall safety performance in 2013 was statistically our best ever—but we continue in our relentless pursuit of an injury-free workplace. This is more important than ever as we welcome 1,200 new employees through our completed and pending acquisitions.