{"id":3214,"date":"2026-06-28T11:38:34","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T11:38:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3214"},"modified":"2026-06-28T11:38:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T11:38:34","slug":"could-a-fertilizer-breakthrough-at-lawrence-livermore-lab-spark-the-next-green-revolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3214","title":{"rendered":"Could a fertilizer breakthrough at Lawrence Livermore Lab spark the next Green Revolution?"},"content":{"rendered":"

GILROY \u2013 Next to seemingly endless rows of bell peppers, sweet corn and leafy greens at B & T Farms stand thousand-gallon drums of nitrogen fertilizer, the cost of which has increased 125% since 2020 amid supply shocks and wars around the world.<\/p>

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As these costs have trickled down to consumers at grocery stores, an innovation from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory seeks to cut California farmers\u2019 reliance on global supply chains with a new type of agricultural alchemy that turns wastewater into nitrogen fertilizer \u2014 sometimes called \u201cblack gold\u201d in the ag industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether it was 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine, or if it\u2019s this year with the war in Iran, when those imports get disrupted, the cost of fertilizer\u00a0just skyrockets,\u201d said Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientist Jeremy Feaster. \u201cThat can really break the economics of a farm.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though the United States is a massive producer of nitrogen fertilizer due to its large natural gas industry, the cost of it is still subject to global market variations.\u00a0Geopolitical shocks like the COVID-19 pandemic or overseas wars can choke supply chains, create more demand for the limited supply and cause prices to spike, said UC Davis agricultural economist Dan Sumner.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s especially important for farmers because nitrogen fertilizers serve as a key nutrient for crops that accelerates growth and enhances yields during harvest, Sumner added. Without it, few California crops would produce the yields that farmers need to survive.<\/p>\n

At B & T Farms, co-owner Paul Mirassou oversees 4,000 acres of crops, from sweet corn and broccoli to poblano peppers and Napa cabbage. He estimated that his operation spends approximately $1 million per year on fertilizer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we didn\u2019t have (nitrogen), we\u2019d have a tenth of the yield,\u201d Mirassou said. \u201cWe wouldn\u2019t be able to farm.\u201d<\/p>\n

As critical as nitrogen is to plants\u2019 growth, only half of the nitrogen from applied fertilizer is actually used. The nitrogen that fails to be absorbed by plants ends up as wastewater, where it is unsafe to be consumed by people.<\/p>

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But what if there was a process that could reclaim nitrogen and clean wastewater? That\u2019s the question that Feaster asked himself at Site 300, a former bomb-testing site during the Cold War at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The lab\u2019s Environmental Restoration Department had been working to remediate the site and clean groundwater that had been contaminated with nitrates, a nitrogen compound found in bombs.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing able to remove nitrates from water was a huge challenge for them. The technologies they currently have don\u2019t really work great,\u201d Feaster said. \u201cIt kind of sparked our thought, like, \u2018What if we were able to concentrate that nitrate and then be able to actually recover it?\u2019\u201d<\/p>

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