Institute Tests Possibility of Using Human Urine as Fertilizer
- 11 years ago
Last year, Vermont’s Rich Earth Institute collected over 3 thousand gallons of human urine to see if it can fertilize crops as well as chemical options.
Last year, Vermont’s Rich Earth Institute collected over 3 thousand gallons of human urine to see if it can fertilize crops as well as chemical options.
They got it from 170 volunteers including friends, neighbors, and even a local women’s choir.
When the time came to put it to the test, local farmer Jay Bailey agreed to spread the urine over a handful of his hay fields.
At harvest time, Bailey reported that the urine-assisted crops had twice the yield as the unfertilized ones.
Other studies have supported the Institute’s results, one of which even figured out that a single person produces enough urine to fertilize half to all the foodstuffs needed to feed another person.
So, what’s the holdup?
When asked, the Institute was quick to mention a couple of factors that make urine fertilizer a hard sell.
One is what they called the ‘ick factor’. Despite the fact that in most cases fresh urine is sterile, people aren’t likely to quickly warm up to the idea of their food being sprayed with it, or having to collect it in the first place. A larger worry concerns pharmaceutical drugs that might be in the urine.
Last year, Vermont’s Rich Earth Institute collected over 3 thousand gallons of human urine to see if it can fertilize crops as well as chemical options.
They got it from 170 volunteers including friends, neighbors, and even a local women’s choir.
When the time came to put it to the test, local farmer Jay Bailey agreed to spread the urine over a handful of his hay fields.
At harvest time, Bailey reported that the urine-assisted crops had twice the yield as the unfertilized ones.
Other studies have supported the Institute’s results, one of which even figured out that a single person produces enough urine to fertilize half to all the foodstuffs needed to feed another person.
So, what’s the holdup?
When asked, the Institute was quick to mention a couple of factors that make urine fertilizer a hard sell.
One is what they called the ‘ick factor’. Despite the fact that in most cases fresh urine is sterile, people aren’t likely to quickly warm up to the idea of their food being sprayed with it, or having to collect it in the first place. A larger worry concerns pharmaceutical drugs that might be in the urine.