Valorization of lignin as a crop seed additive******

根据联合国粮食及农业组织(FAO)的预测，到2050年，世界人口将增加30%，而粮食需求将比目前水平增加70%。与此同时，耕地数量只会增加5%，农业生产者将不得不应对气候变化和日益严格的环境法规带来的挑战。这一挑战要求开发变革性和可持续的技术和产品，以解决耕地可获得性与日益增长的粮食需求之间的失衡问题。在这方面，以具有成本效益和环境友好的方式提高作物生产力成为一项高度优先事项。Retrievall Inc.是一家总部位于安大略省的小型私人公司，在植物种植、贸易和零售运营方面拥有30多年的经验。该公司分销一种农业作物生长产品(生物肥料)，以自然提高作物产量。他们获得了专利和使用专利工艺生产的成品的专有权。然而，由于生物肥料成品目前从欧洲进口，公司充分发挥潜力受到重大政治、经济、地理和货币风险的阻碍。因此，Retrievall现在有兴趣利用加拿大的资源在加拿大建立生产生物肥料的制造设施。因此，该项目的目标是提供概念验证证据，证明有机会利用加拿大现有的可再生资源开发新型、可生物降解和高效的肥料，以可持续的方式改善土壤质量和作物产量。Retrievall Inc.完全致力于将一种完全可再生和可持续的作物投入技术引入加拿大市场。一旦确立了建立新的、改进的过程和产品的主要机会，最终目标是三个方面：1)利用加拿大的资源在加拿大生产种子添加剂；2)应用新产品以更高的产出质量增加每英亩的农业产量；3)储存和稳定土壤中的大量碳，改善土壤质量，减少碳足迹和温室气体排放。

According to projections from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, by year 2050 the world's population will increase 30% whereas the food requirements will become 70% greater than the current levels. At the same time, the amount of arable land will increase only 5% and agricultural producers will have to deal with the challenges brought by climate change and increasingly stringent environmental regulations. This challenge calls for development of transformative and sustainable technologies and products that can address the imbalance between availability of arable land and growing food needs. In this context, increasing crop productivity in a cost-efficient and environmentally-friendly way becomes a high priority. Retrievall Inc. is a small Ontario-based private company with over 30 years experience as plant growers, trade and retail operations. The company distributes an agricultural crop growth product (biofertilizer) to naturally enhance crop yield. They have acquired exclusive rights for use of patents and finished goods produced using patented processes. However, as the finished biofertilizer product is currently imported from Europe, achieving the company's full potential is impeded by major political, economic, geographic and currency risks. Therefore, Retrievall is now interested to establish manufacturing facilities for biofertilizer production in Canada using Canadian resources. Hence, the objective of this project is to provide proof-of-concept evidence for the opportunity to develop novel, biodegradable and highly-efficient fertilizers from renewable resources available in Canada that can improve soil quality and crop yields in a sustainable manner. Retrievall Inc. is totally dedicated to the introduction of a fully-renewable and sustainable crop input technology on the Canadian market. The ultimate goal, once the principle opportunity for establishing a new, improved process and product has been established, is tri-fold: 1) produce seed additives in Canada using Canadian resources, 2) apply the new product to increase agricultural output per acre at a higher output quality, and 3) store and stabilize large amounts of carbon in soil, improve soil quality, reduce carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions.**********