With fertiliser prices surging towards £1,000 a tonne – up from £650 just two weeks ago – local authorities and the agricultural industry are being urged to ‘join up’ to alleviate some of the emerging pressures that surround demand for fertiliser.
The hike in fertiliser price is connected to the rise in the price of gas, which is key to the production process. Meanwhile Russia is also the world’s biggest exporter of synthetic fertiliser, supplying more than a fifth of urea, a key fertiliser used in the UK.
Kevin Quigley, the Commercial Director of food waste recycling firm Warrens, says the mandatory introduction of separate food waste collections imminent for local authorities, councils and the agricultural industry, could ‘alleviate some of the emerging pressures that surround demand for fertiliser’.
Fertiliser [is] an essential part of the food production process[…]The increasing gas prices will, unfortunately, contribute to the cost-of-living crisis in a variety of areas
Warrens uses anaerobic digestion (AD) to create energy from food which would otherwise go to waste. The waste treatment process also creates a biofertiliser as a bioproduct in the resultant digestate made up of nitrogen, phosphate, and potash, high in nutrients and readily absorbed by crops.
Mr Quigley says if AD plants are set to process more food waste as a result of the mandatory food waste collections, they will produce more fertiliser which could help to support the current supply and demand issue that farmers are facing.
Food production
Mr Quigley said: “Business and households are both facing rising prices in many areas including both food and fuel. The devastating war in Ukraine and the sanctions placed on Russia as a result of their invasion have caused gas prices to soar.
“Fertiliser, an essential part of the food production process, has been affected as a result. The increasing gas prices will, unfortunately, contribute to the cost-of-living crisis in a variety of areas.
“We are in an unpredictable situation at the moment so it is hard to offer concrete advice on how to best tackle the cost of living crisis, but plans to minimise and reduce the effects will help.
“The mandatory separate collection of food waste was already on the cards for local government as outlined in the UK government’s Environment Act and many are in the middle of making plans around how they roll this out.
“It’s worth highlighting that fertiliser is a product of the anaerobic digestion process that food waste goes through to create energy – if we’re collecting more food waste, we’ll produce more fertiliser and this could go some way to support the current supply and demand issue that farmers are facing.”