Peter Klein, founder of Biota Nutri started his career growing roses, tulips cut flowers and peppers. He then worked for a fertilizer trading company for seven years. During this job, he found out that there is also another way to grow crops. About seven years ago, he founded Biota Nutri to help growers by offering products that are sustainable, organic, and future-proof. Peter believes it is better to make the sector circular.
Peter Klein
The idea originated around 2007/2008 when mineral fertilizer prices exploded. This had a big impact on growers and at that time it took a long time to regain their confidence. In addition, the pressure on phosphate created a lot of uncertainty. "I discovered that the mineral phosphate does not disappear but comes back differently. So let's reinvent it. The same goes for potassium and nitrogen. Making nitrates requires a lot of energy even if the source is renewable like hydrogen. But in the Netherlands, we have nitrogen emissions which can be used to feed plants. The only possible barrier to this is cost. That is why we have left ammonia in the air and then taken it out to another place. So is that the solution?"
Organic versus mineral fertilizers
Peter thinks there is room for improvement. For that reason, he founded Biota to help the sector become more sustainable and organic. Having worked with organic fertilizers for 16 years, he often hears that organic growing is not the solution to feeding the world because yields are lower. But when plants are supplied with the same elements as with mineral fertilizers, yields can be the same. This can be seen daily. "I am convinced that we can achieve higher yields with organic fertilizers because the uptake is better than with chemical fertilizers."
Biota's goal is to make the world a little better and, with the right partners, a lot better.
Towards sustainability
The world is changing and many factors make things unpredictable. Despite this, a shift can be seen towards minimal carbon emissions and organic, sustainable, and vegan practices. How fast this happens depends on regulations, demand, countries, companies, and markets. In general, I see a shift towards less use of chemicals and reducing groundwater pollution.
The biggest challenge is the different biological regulations worldwide, making it impossible to follow one path. "I hope every continent will adopt one type of regulation so that biological regulation becomes fair and uniform. It would also help if there were a label for sustainable cultivation in addition to the organic label, such as an eco-label."
Biota Nutri
Biota Nutri focuses on organic and sustainable markets. Biota Nutri aims to reduce CO2 emissions and increase the organic aspect in plants to ultimately optimally control costs for growers. The company aims to control costs and increase yields for organic growers. Biota is in the scale-up phase with three complete fertilizer lines they are currently marketing. With these lines, they can make any nutrient recipe and they can also be used as additives to mineral fertilizers to get the benefits of organic fertilizers.
For more information:
Biota Nutri BV
Veenderveld 55A
2371 TT Roelofarendsveen
Tel: +31 85 047 5710
biota.nu
[email protected]