Oslo, Norway: N2 Applied, the European agricultural technology business, today announced annual trial data from international testing sites which show that its sustainably-produced dairy slurry material can match and sometimes even outperform the yield potential of ammonium nitrate-based fertilisers.
The results are a significant breakthrough for circular agriculture as they offer a pathway for food production to no longer be dependent on chemical fertilisers, which have soared in cost by more than 250 per cent* over the past year and create greenhouse gasses when manufactured.
Using just air and electricity the technology within the N2 Unit performs a plasma conversion that ‘locks in’ both methane and ammonia in livestock slurry, producing a sustainable fertiliser. Data from several trials announced today by N2 Applied in its annual Performance Report shows strong yields when used as a fertiliser, and practical elimination of methane and ammonia emissions from the material. In one assessment by Oxford Agricultural Trials (OAT) in Goole, East Yorkshire, UK, the uptake efficiency of crop-available nitrogen applied to fields averaged 85 per cent for N2 Applied’s NEO (Nitrogen-Enriched Organic) fertiliser material, compared to 58 per cent for an ammonium nitrate chemical fertiliser and 53 per cent for untreated dairy slurry at the same application rates.
N2 Applied worked with independent test sites in Denmark, Norway and the UK in an annual exercise to assess methane and ammonia emissions from treated slurry, and this year looked more closely on yields, having established the environmental performance.
“These yield results are a dramatic breakthrough for food production, with the potential to vastly diminish farmers’ reliance on chemical fertilisers, at a time when the cost of them has become crippling for some and the war in Ukraine has restricted supply,” said Carl Hansson, CEO, N2 Applied.
“The ability to reach high yields without the use of chemical fertilisers and maintain soil health while doing so, really does offer the best of both worlds for the food industry and for the planet. Alongside further positive tests that showed near-zero emissions of methane and ammonia, the data is the most cohesive and compelling evidence so far that N2 Units are a viable pathway to sustainable circular farming,” he said.
To assess the potential of N2 Unit’s technology effectively, N2 Applied annual field trials are carried out by independent, established research partners in diverse locations with a wide range of soil and climatic conditions. The trials have been ongoing for five years.
*https://www.ft.com/content/a4439155-197b-4e63-baee-b4fa3229ac67
