How is fertiliser made?

If you've got a garden or a lawn, have visited a park or a sports field recently, eaten a vegetable or just marvelled at a pretty flower, there's a good chance that fertiliser is a significant, if hidden, presence in your day-to-day. 

Despite how common it is, understanding fertiliser use, where it comes from and how it is made is pretty uncommon. Here we're breaking down how fertiliser is made, and what types of fertiliser are in use in Australia. You can also learn more about the role of fertiliser, and how Bardee are producing a more sustainable, more efficient alternative in our vertical BSFL farming system in Melbourne. 

How different types of fertiliser are produced: 

• Nitrogen-based fertilisers are made by combining nitrogen from the air with hydrogen from natural gas or coal. This process is called the Haber-Bosch process and is very energy-intensive. The resulting ammonia is then used to make other nitrogen fertilisers, such as urea and ammonium nitrate.

• Phosphorus-based fertilisers are made from phosphate rock, which is a mined material. The phosphate rock is treated with sulfuric acid to extract the phosphorus. The resulting phosphoric acid can then be combined with ammonia to make a variety of phosphorus fertilisers.

• Potassium-based fertilisers are made from potash, which is another mined material. The potash is processed into potassium chloride, which is the most common form of potassium fertiliser.

In addition to these three main types of fertilisers, there are also a variety of other fertilisers that are made from different raw materials. For example, some fertilisers are made from animal manure, crop wastes, or compost.

Fertilisers can be made in either solid or liquid form. Solid fertilisers are typically granules or prills, while liquid fertilisers are solutions or suspensions. The type of fertiliser that is used depends on the crop being grown, the soil conditions, and the desired application method.

Fertilisers are an essential part of modern agriculture. They help to increase crop yields and improve the quality of food. However, the production of fertilisers can also have negative environmental impacts, such as air pollution and water contamination.

There is a growing interest in the development of sustainable fertilisers that are made from renewable resources and have a lower environmental impact. Some examples of sustainable fertilisers include:

• Biofertilisers are made from microorganisms, such as bacteria and fungi, that help to improve plant growth.
• Organic fertilisers are made from plant and animal wastes, such as manure, compost, and crop residues.
• Slow-release fertilisers release nutrients over a period of time, which helps to reduce the risk of nutrient runoff and water pollution.

The development of sustainable fertilisers is an important part of the effort to make agriculture more environmentally friendly.

How Bardee makes fertiliser: 

At Bardee, we make a fertiliser called Superfly. Its made from the castings (poo!) and exoskeletons of black soldier fly larvae, and its a more environmentally friendly alternative to the traditional fertilisers.

• Bardee collect food waste from restaurants, cafes, offices, hospitals, schools and more, and turn it into the ideal diet for black soldier fly larvae
• Black soldier fly larvae are a non-pest, non-invasive insect species whose natural role is to recycle nutrients from fallen fruit in the rainforest, back into plant food. In our facility in Melbourne, we feed the food waste to over a billion insects, who grow from the size of a grain of sand, to the size of a jellybean in just 7 days. With no added water, they consume 100% of the food, and shed their exoskeletons three times, enriching the castings with chitin. 
• Once all the food waste is gone, we seperate the insects, and process the castings into a balanced, nutrient-rich organic fertiliser, that helps to grow lawns, flowers, fruit trees, native plants and more. 

This product is particularly cool because it combines the nutrients recycled from the food waste, with an incredible biodiversity of microbes to make the soil healthy and thriving, as well as chitin from the exoskeletons of the insects - the result is an all-purpose slow release fertiliser, biostimulant and water-holding solution for plant and soil health, that is available to Aussie businesses and home gardeners alike, through our website, or your local Bunnings Warehouse. You can learn more about Superfly here. We hope you try it out for yourself!