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New Video: Advancing Farm-Scale Methods for Applying Urine-Derived Fertilizer to Corn
How do you efficiently apply urine-derived fertilizer to a field of corn?
That’s the question Rich Earth Institute has been exploring in partnership with John Janiszyn of Pete’s Stand in Walpole, New Hampshire, thanks to funding from the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program. Our latest video takes you into the field to see how this collaboration has evolved over several years, testing new equipment and application methods to make urine fertilization more practical for farmers.
The video begins with an overview of Rich Earth’s community-scale urine nutrient reclamation program and highlights some of the many ways urine-derived fertilizer is already being used on local farms, including hay fields, nursery trees, and drip-irrigated crops. Research from Rich Earth and others around the world has consistently shown that urine can provide nutrients comparable to conventional fertilizers when applied at equivalent nutrient rates.
The heart of the video focuses on our collaborative research into urine-fertilizing sweet corn. Beginning with an earlier Northeast SARE Farmer Partnership project, Rich Earth and Pete’s Stand developed a system that applied urine during cultivation, allowing the fertilizer to be immediately incorporated into the soil. This helped reduce nutrient losses and fit fertilization into an existing farm operation.
While the approach worked, it also revealed a challenge: urine contains valuable nutrients, but it is relatively dilute compared to many agricultural fertilizers. Applying enough nitrogen required slow tractor speeds and limited field efficiency.
To address this challenge, Rich Earth’s partner company, Brightwater Tools, developed a freeze-concentration system that removes water and creates a more concentrated fertilizer product. Building on earlier field trials demonstrating the effectiveness of concentrated urine fertilizer, the latest project focused on improving application equipment.
Working with John and a farm equipment manufacturer, we developed a ground-driven roller pump system capable of applying concentrated urine fertilizer to two corn rows simultaneously during cultivation. Because the pump is driven by a wheel contacting the ground, the fertilizer application rate is tied directly to distance traveled rather than tractor speed, resulting in more consistent nutrient delivery across the field.
The new system also simplified field operations by using a front-mounted IBC tote, eliminating the need for additional transfer pumping while increasing efficiency and reliability.
The video includes footage of the equipment in action fertilizing a corn field as well as reflections from John about the system and its potential for farm-scale urine fertilization.
