The Rich Earth Institute's Farmer Guide to Fertilizing with Urine provides farmers with practical insights into reclaiming human urine as a nutrient-rich fertilizer. It joins Rich Earth’s guides to community and home garden urine recycling, offering resources to practitioners at different scales. The guide is rooted in Rich Earth’s extensive research with farmer-partners in Southern Vermont and enriched by insights from the international research community.

Farmers around the world have harnessed the fertilizing power of human urine for millennia. In recent years, interest in urine nutrient reclamation has been surging, driven by spiking synthetic fertilizer prices, global supply disruptions, and increasing regulations on aquatic nutrient pollution.

The Rich Earth Institute has been researching the production and use of fertilizer derived from human urine since 2012. As the operator of the first urine nutrient reclamation program in the United States, Rich Earth provides over 12,000 gallons of urine-derived fertilizer to local farmers annually. The Institute is now supporting other communities to establish their own urine reclamation programs.

As urine fertilizer supplies become increasingly available surrounding these early adopter communities, this guide aims to empower farmers to make informed decisions about integrating this soil amendment into their practices. Topics covered include regulatory considerations, urine nutrient content, application methods, crop-specific applications, and perspectives on communication.

Bibliographic information

Abe Noe-Hays, Julia Cavicchi, Gretchen Saveson, Tatiana Schreiber, Arthur Davis, Cory Howley (2024). Farmer Guide to Fertilizing with Urine Rich Earth Institute

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Recommended by SuSanA (other than SuSanA publications)Food security and productive sanitation (WG5)Urine diversion dehydration toilets (UDDTs) UrineRuralEducatorsPractitionersGuidelines and manualsEnglishFertiliserTrainer manuals (adult learning)

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