Commercial exploitation of novel biofertilisers for increased soil health

氮是最常见的限制植物生长的养分，因此农民经常以化肥的形式使用它来维持作物产量。但由于一系列前所未见的事件(俄罗斯入侵、供应链中断、新冠肺炎等)，化肥价格现在比一年前高出**3-5倍，迫使农民减少施肥量。这将不可避免地降低它们的产量，并影响消费食品价格。此外，从天然气生产氮肥是不可持续的，因为它消耗了全球2%的化石燃料，产生了2%的温室气体排放，从而大大加剧了气候变暖。更糟糕的是，高达70%的应用产品没有到达工厂，使得这一过程不仅非常无效，而且代价高昂：由此导致的环境(富营养化、土壤退化)和健康损害仅在英国就花费了7亿英镑的农民和35亿英镑的纳税人。同时，有机农民努力为作物提供足够的氮素，因此遭受了巨大的产量差距(平均40%)：1。尽管国内需求不断增长，但不鼓励进一步的有机农场转换。土地利用变化间接导致温室气体排放，导致总体排放量高于传统农业(Smith等人，2019年)。总而言之，农民现在比以往任何时候都更迫切地**寻找新的替代品**。NouriSol开发的化肥利用了英国农民土壤中已有的微生物的力量：我们从他们的农田中分离出最高效的藻类，生产出缓释化肥，最大限度地减少对环境的养分损失。我们的产品从大气中捕获氮和碳。我们已经知道它可以替代有机肥和化肥。现在，我们找到了一个新的机会来推销我们的产品，以改善土壤健康。重要的是，这可以在较低的剂量下实现，因此**成本将更容易为客户所接受**。这项研究将为合理优化我们的产品并使我们的营销适应这一新的商业机会提供关键数据。新战略的实施还将有助于改善英国的土壤健康，估计每年耗资12亿GB，这是英国未来粮食自给自足的一个关键挑战。

Nitrogen is the most frequently limiting nutrient for plant growth, so farmers regularly apply it in the form of chemical fertilisers to sustain crop productivity.But fertiliser prices are now **3-5x more expensive** than a year ago, because of a series of events never seen before (Russian invasion, supply chain disruption, COVID-19, ...), forcing farmers to cut back down application. This will inevitably lower their outputs, and impact consumer food prices.Plus, the production of nitrogen fertilisers, from natural gas, is unsustainable as it globally consumes 2% of fossil fuels and generates 2% of greenhouse gas emissions, thereby substantially contributing to climate warming.Even worse, up to 70% of the applied product does not reach the plants, making this process not only highly ineffective but also costly: the resulting environmental (eutrophication, soil degradation) and health damages cost farmers £0.7bn per year and tax-payers £3.5 billion per year in the UK alone.Meanwhile, organic farmers struggle to provide sufficient nitrogen to their crops and consequently suffer a substantial yield gap (40% on average) that:1\. Dis-incentivises further organic farm conversion despite a growing domestic demand2\. Indirectly causes greenhouse gas emissions due to land use change, resulting in overall greater emissions than conventional farming (Smith et al, 2019).All in all, farmers are now, more than ever, **desperate to find new alternatives**.NouriSol develops fertilisers that harness the power of microorganisms already present in UK farmers' soils: we isolate the most efficient algae from their fields to produce slow-release fertilisers that minimise nutrient loss into the environment.Our products capture both nitrogen and carbon from the atmosphere. We already know that it can replace both organic and chemical fertilisers.Now, we have identified a new opportunity to market our product for improvement of soil health. Importantly, this can be achieved at a lower dosage, thereby as the **cost will be more palatable to customers**. This study will provide critical data to rationally optimise our product and adapt our marketing for this new commercial opportunity. Implementation of the new strategy would also contribute to improving UK soil health, estimated to cost £1.2bn/year and, a key challenge to future UK food self-sufficiency.