Big if true, or rather, if it scales up.
From AgFunderNews, July 10:
- NetZeroNitrogen (NZN), a UK-based startup developing a nitrogen alternative for plants, has closed a $1.6 million pre-seed round of funding.
- German VC Revent and Zero Carbon Capital led the oversubscribed round; an “Asian, climate-focused, strategic investor and a group of angels” also participated, including ex-Moderna CSO Tony de Fougerolles.
- NZN also received a recent non-dilutive Transforming Technologies grant by Innovate UK.
- The pre-seed funding will take NZN through its first stage of field trials in 2024.
Ag’s big nitrogen challenge
NZN is among the growing number of startups developing alternatives to synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, which produces an estimated 1 billion tons of CO2 equivalent annually, according to the company.
Production and use of nitrogen-based fertilizers account for about 5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Over-use and improper application of nitrogen is also linked to polluted waterways, poor soil, loss of biodiversity and dead zones.
Growing consensus is that agriculture sector must reduce its dependence on synthetic nitrogen fertilizer – though this needs to be balanced with maintaining food security and accounting for the estimated 20% population increase expected by 2050.
There are many different approaches to the nitrogen problem, from Grace Breeding‘s biofertilizer to Pivot Bio‘s nitrogen-fixing product and Sound Agriculture‘s “nitrogen enhancement” method.
‘Putting the fuel next to the engine’
“This is very much a precision application of the bacteria to the place where it’s needed,” NZN CEO Justin Hughes says of the company’s product....
....MUCH MORE
Somehow related from 2020:"The Corn of the Future Is Hundreds of Years Old and Makes Its Own Mucus"
Mmmm mucus
Okay, kidding aside, there is some interesting biology going on here.
From Smithsonian Magazine:
This rare variety of corn has evolved a way to make its own nitrogen, which could revolutionize farming....
