Windfall Bio Wants to Convert Methane Into Nitrogen Fertilizer

Windfall Bio Wants to Convert Methane Into Nitrogen Fertilizer

Tim Hammerich
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
This is Tim Hammerich of the Ag Information Network with your Farm of the Future Report.

Methane is recognized as a powerful greenhouse gas emitted by some agricultural operations. But if captured under the right conditions, it can also be used for energy or even fertilizer. Windfall Bio is developing a microbe that can convert methane into usable nitrogen for crops, says CEO Josh Silverman.

Silverman… “Methane is really bad for the climate when it's in the atmosphere, but it's actually a really valuable resource. If you can capture it, you can use it, you can turn it into something valuable, right? And the difference between this and CO2 is methane has energy. Methane has inherent value. If you have methane, concentrated enough, you have electricity, you have power, you can heat your barn with it. So our goal is to really put the tools into the hands of the farmer that now they can capture this methane. The one thing that farmers and agriculture in general is really good at is better efficiency, right? If there's a waste stream on a farm that a farmer can capture and use, they use it. Like that's the no-brainer, right? And so our goal is really just to put those tools in the hands of the farmer. They can take this resource of the wasted methane. They can access it, they can immediately become more efficient. They can reduce the costs on their own farm. And by the way, they can also be good for the climate. At the same time.”

Silverman says the company is looking for pilot partners as they begin to commercialize their technology.

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