Industries
Fertilisers & plant nutrition
What changes this industry: bio-solutions with evidence, technologies, suppliers and open money.
Overview of the industry
Mineral fertilizer — fossil-gas nitrogen, cadmium-bearing rock phosphate, mineral-only programmes that run down soil organic matter — and the biostimulants, microbial inoculants, organic and recovered fertilizers already sold to farmers.
Fertilizers and biostimulants need registration (EU Fertilising Products Regulation 2019/1009; in Russia: the Ministry of Agriculture catalogue of pesticides and agrochemicals, EAEU rules). The articles are overviews, not fertilization plans.
Articles#
| ID | Problem → alternative | Replaces | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| NU01 | Stress and N-use efficiency → seaweed extracts, protein hydrolysates, humic substances | Insurance N top-ups, stress-oriented synthetic growth regulators | Partial |
| NU02 | Cereal N → Azospirillum, Azotobacter, engineered diazotrophs | 10–25 % of urea / mineral N on cereals | Partial |
| NU03 | Soil fertility → digestate, compost, vermicompost, frass, organo-mineral granules | Part of mineral NPK; mineral-only programmes | Partial |
| NU04 | P supply → struvite recovered after biological P removal | Rock-phosphate fertilizer share; Fe/Al-salt P removal | Partial |
Related articles elsewhere#
- Biogas and digestate sources: EN01, EN04
- Organic waste streams: waste circular
- Peat-free growing media: CE01
Reviewed but SKIPPED (no proven bio-alternative)#
| Substance / use | Hazard | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Synthetic nitrification and urease inhibitors (DCD, DMPP, NBPT) | Residues (DCD found in milk, NZ 2013); cost | Biological nitrification inhibition (BNI sorghum, Brachiaria) is real but still at breeding/research stage — not a product yet |
| Potash (KCl) for high-K crops | Mining, chloride load | K-mobilizing bacteria are sold, but field evidence for replacing potash on K-poor soils is weak |
| Micronutrient deficiency correction (B, Mo, Cu) | — | Microbes cannot create elements (see A36); real deficiencies need mineral supply |
What it replaces 4
Screened candidates 1
| NU05 | soybean Bradyrhizobium inoculation instead of nitrogen fertilizer fold into A35 — Duplicate topic. | D3 |
Technologies 18
| Agroecology & regenerative farming A bundle of practices — no-till, cover crops, microbial nitrogen, agroforestry and rotational grazing — that rebuild soil carbon and cut synthetic inputs while … | Agri-tech & precision |
| Bio-seed coatings Biodegradable chitosan, alginate and cellulose seed films that replace acrylate microplastic binders, encapsulating live rhizobia, Bacillus and micronutrients … | Agri-inputs & biocontrol |
| Biofertilizers & biopesticides Living inputs for crop protection and nutrition — Bacillus thuringiensis biopesticides, predatory mites and bumblebee pollination, microbial biostimulants and … | Agri-inputs & biocontrol |
| Biofortification The program layer of biofortification — the international breeding institutes, nutrition-testing laboratories and commercial seed players that breed, evaluate, … | Crop biotech |
| Biofortification of crops Breeding and genetically engineering staple crops to naturally accumulate higher levels of essential vitamins and minerals, addressing global hidden hunger. | Crop biotech |
| Biological nitrification inhibitors Plant root-exuded compounds — brachialactone, benzoxazinoids, sorgoleone — that suppress soil nitrifying bacteria and keep fertilizer nitrogen in the stable … | Agri-inputs & biocontrol |
| Biostimulants Products that act on plant physiology and stress tolerance rather than nutrient supply or pest control — humic/fulvic acids, protein hydrolysates, seaweed … | Agri-inputs & biocontrol |
| Chitin & chitosan Chitin from crustacean shells and fungal biomass, converted to chitosan for water-treatment flocculants, medical hemostatics, agricultural biostimulants and … | Fibers & textiles |
| Composting & vermicomposting Aerobic composting and vermicomposting turn municipal, agricultural and food-processing organic waste into soil amendments — compost, worm-cast vermicompost and … | Logistics & supply chain |
| Endophytic microbes as agri-product Bacteria and fungi that live symptomlessly inside plant tissues, delivered as seed coatings or foliar sprays to fix atmospheric nitrogen from within leaves, … | Agri-inputs & biocontrol |
| Mycorrhizal inoculants Mycorrhizal inoculants deliver arbuscular and ectomycorrhizal fungi as seed, in-furrow and transplant treatments that extend the effective root surface 10–100×, … | Agri-inputs & biocontrol |
| Nitrogen-fixing cereals & biological nitrification inhibition Development of biological nitrification inhibitors and engineered root-zone microbes that allow cereal crops to utilize nitrogen directly, reducing synthetic … | Crop biotech |
| Nitrogen-fixing microbial inoculants Commercial deployment of nitrogen-fixing bacteria via seed treatments and soil inoculants to enhance crop nutrition, soil health, and reduce reliance on … | Crop biotech |
| Rhizobiome services Services and platforms that manage the root-associated microbiome — seed-treatment inoculants, AI-discovered PGPR consortia and rhizosphere-engineering … | Agri-inputs & biocontrol |
| Soil health certification & assessment Metagenomic sequencing platforms that assess soil microbiome composition and function, generating standardized soil-health passports used to verify … | Standards & certification |
| Soil-microbiome management services Commercial services that diagnose and steer the soil microbiome — DNA-based soil testing, AI disease-risk and nutrient-cycling models, field microbial-biomass … | Agri-inputs & biocontrol |
| Synthetic Microbial Consortia for Soil Engineered multi-species microbial communities designed for precision agriculture. | Agri-inputs & biocontrol |
| Viticulture terroir engineering Mycorrhizal inoculants and microbial biostimulants applied to vine roots and vineyard soil to shape nutrient uptake, stress resilience and the metabolites that … | Agri-inputs & biocontrol |
Opportunities 2
| Grant | Strengthening plant health: addressing emerging plant pest risks European Commission | Apr 8, 2027 183 days |
| Grant | African Union – European Union Partnership on Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture (FNSSA) European Commission | Sep 23, 2027 351 days |