The Corn That Grows Itself
Close to 100 million tons of nitrogen added to the world’s crop fields are lost to the environment every year, either as gas emissions or as runoff.While nitrogen fertilizer deserves considerable credit for driving a century-long global increase in crop yields, it’s also nasty stuff. And, as the hypoxic zone indicates, nitrogen fertilizer is a huge environmental hazard: Close to 100 million tons of nitrogen added to the world’s crop fields are lost to the environment every year, either as gas emissions or as runoff. Pivot Bio, a Silicon Valley startup, believes it can convince farmers to swap out nitrogen fertilizer in favor of specially-fermented soil bacteria that can fuel crop growth organically, without the waste and ecological hazard of traditional methods.
Source: onezero.medium.com