BERKELEY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Pivot Bio, agriculture’s leading nitrogen innovator, joins the Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM for Climate) as an Innovation Sprint Partner, committing at least $291 million in product development funding over four years to accelerate the adoption of climate-resilient microbial nitrogen fertilizers.
Pivot Bio introduced the world’s first nitrogen-producing microbes to U.S. farmers in 2018. Since that time, the company has introduced multiple microbial nitrogen products for wheat, sorghum and other small grains in addition to its flagship product for corn. Farmers have quickly converted their nitrogen management programs to include nitrogen produced by Pivot Bio’s microbes, while reducing their dependence on synthetic nitrogen fertilizer.
“Microbial nitrogen fertilizer has the potential to permanently and immediately deliver reductions in GHG emissions, while delivering co-benefits to watershed health, biodiversity, and farmer margins,” said Karsten Temme, Ph.D., co-founder and CEO of Pivot Bio. “This could be one of the most important technologies for accelerating progress against the world’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.”
Adhering to the root of the plants, Pivot Bio’s microbes convert atmospheric nitrogen to a usable source of the critical nutrient throughout a crop’s growing season. These microbes stay with the plant, eliminating the waste associated with fossil fuel-dependent synthetic fertilizers that are applied on top of the ground. Unlike synthetic fertilizers, Pivot Bio’s microbial fertilizer does not leach into waterways nor volatilize into the air, improving air and water quality.
“Farmers are the foundation of the world’s food system and humanity's greatest stewards of our land,” said Temme. “Pivot Bio is committed to partnering with them to deliver better nitrogen while helping to heal the planet.”
Over the next four years, Pivot Bio will continuously improve the nitrogen production capacity of the Company’s microbes and expand into new geographic markets to help more of the world’s farmers nourish their crops with the most climate-friendly and easy-to-use nitrogen on the market.
“As an AIM for Climate Innovation Sprint Partner, we will bring together the best minds and ideas to accelerate our pace of product development and increase farmer access to a dependable and sustainable nitrogen,” said Temme. “We are working toward a world where microbial nitrogen is the main source of crop nutrition and encourage farmers, government leaders and members of the private sector to get in touch to join us in that mission.”
COP27, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, has been called the “food COP,” devoting an entire day, November 12, to agriculture for the first time. Conservative estimates place the total emissions associated with synthetic nitrogen fertilizer at approximately 9 units of CO2eq for every unit of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer produced. Approximately one-third of those emissions are caused by the Haber-Bosch manufacturing process, with direct and indirect emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O) accounting for the rest. Replacing synthetic nitrogen fertilizer with nitrogen-producing microbes avoids these emissions and has the potential to reduce water use (more than 15,000 liters per ton of synthetic N fertilizer) and improve human health outcomes by reducing ozone depletion and particulate generation.
To learn more about Pivot Bio’s innovation sprint, please watch this video message.
About Pivot Bio:
At Pivot Bio, we believe in meeting the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generations. Our unparalleled understanding of the crop microbiome will help create a future with cleaner water and air. We are dedicated to providing farmers with solutions so they can grow high-quality, environmentally-responsible, and sustainably-focused crops that help feed families worldwide. For more information, visit www.pivotbio.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.
