Farmer Guide to Fertilizing with Urine
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Farmers around the world have harnessed the fertilizing power of human urine for millennia. In recent years, interest in urine nutrient reclamation has been surging, driven by spiking synthetic fertilizer prices, global supply disruptions, and increasing regulations on aquatic nutrient pollution.
The Rich Earth Institute has been researching the production and use of fertilizer derived from human urine since 2012. It operates the first urine nutrient reclamation program in the United States, providing over 12,000 gallons of urine-derived fertilizer to local farmer partners each year. Rich Earth is now facilitating the creation of new urine nutrient reclamation programs in other communities.
This guide is primarily intended for farmers interested in partnering with established urine reclamation projects. If you are interested in establishing your own urine collection system, please visit Rich Earth’s Guide to Starting a Community-Scale Urine Diversion Project. For guidance working with urine fertilizer at the home garden scale, visit Rich Earth’s Guide to Using Urine Fertilizer for Home Gardens.
This guide compiles information and best practices from Rich Earth’s research with farmer-partners in Southern Vermont, as well as the literature from a growing community of researchers and farmers around the world who are reconnecting links in the food nutrient cycle.
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