Amid a fertiliser crisis driving up the cost of fruits and vegetables, researchers, start-ups and companies are looking to the future of an energy-intensive industry.
One of the factors driving price hikes in fruit and vegetable stalls is the elevated price of the fertiliser urea. Prices are at record highs after China slashed exports, fertiliser supply out of Russia dried up, and gas prices drove the energy-intense process of creating crystallised urea from atmospheric nitrogen sky-high.
RLF AgTech managing director Ken Hancock says fertilising technology has barely changes in 100 years.Fertiliser is an expensive but unavoidable input factor for farmers; plants need nitrogen to produce chlorophyll, the green pigment that makes photosynthesis possible. But there is a cheap, renewable way of producing urea. Chances are you did it today.Freguia is part of a $3.
Another early-stage startup with its eyes on wastewater is Australian Hydrothermal, based in Adelaide. Director Dr Benjamin Keiller is focused on the potential of hydrothermal carbonisation technology . The process sees waste, such as sewage or food scraps, placed in water that’s heated beyond 200 degrees but pressurised, so it doesn’t boil.
Meanwhile, other agtech companies are focused on the efficient use of fertiliser. Between 60 and 70 per cent of nitrogen is never taken up by the target plants.
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