N-Spire · Novel and Scalable microbial products for REgenerative agriculture

Crop farmers in the EU are facing significant pains due to increasing regulations, such as the EU Farm-to-Fork strategy (F2F), which targets ambitious reductions in the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. These regulations will reduce dependence on foreign resources and reduce environmental damage from excess fertiliser use. Disruptive innovation will be necessary, to protect the security of European food supply, from reductions in crop yield and quality. Biofertilizers derived from living organisms represent a more sustainable alternative for crop yield improvement and have the potential to phase out chemicals. Several commercial products exist; however, their adoption in row crop farming is limited. The majority of products are not cost-effective, they exhibit low shelf-life, perform inconsistently under field conditions and the formulations are not compatible with farming practices.To solve this, N-Fix has developed N-Spire, an innovative project taking an integrated approach to revolutionize the agricultural industry by transitioning from conventional farming practices to a new and scalable agronomic system. The primary objective is to improve soil health and contribute to a more sustainable and regenerative agricultural sector. N-Spire involves the integration of Hydrothermal Carbonization, Solid-State Fermentation, and formulation techniques into a unified manufacturing technology platform. This combination yields a natural bioactive fertilizer that harnesses the synergistic advantages of hydrochar as an organic fertilizer and the capabilities of beneficial organisms.N-Spire will have significant impacts, contributing to: i) reducing the reliance on chemical fertilisers and pesticides in agriculture, ii) improving soil health while enabling sustainable productivity, iii) valorising agricultural residues as feedstock, iv) enabling carbon sequestration by converting biomass residues into stable organic compounds.