Building Better Nitrogen
Harnessing the Power of Nature
Farmers need nitrogen fertilizer to grow the food the world needs.
Our crop nutrition technologies harness the power of nature to deliver nitrogen to plants. They enable microbes to convert atmospheric nitrogen and deliver it to crops, providing a source of nitrogen throughout the growing season.
Our nitrogen is made in the USA, is safer to handle and does not run off into waterways — aiding environmental preservation.
Partnering with Pivot Bio, growers achieve better profitability, predictability, safety and sustainability.
Soil is Life
Soil is alive, dynamic and always changing. It is the factory of life. Millions of microorganisms — from bacteria to fungi, archaea to protozoa — form a balanced ecosystem with minerals, plant roots, insects, water, and air, building soil organic matter and carbon. As these microbes feed on organic matter and each other, they stabilize the soil, add structure and release vital nutrients to the plants above.
Over the last century, we have learned that agrochemicals disturb the natural nutrient cycle by inhibiting microbe density and diversity. Without microbes, vital tasks like suppressing pests and pathogens, holding water, balancing soil pH and nitrogen fixation are lost.
Of the millions of microorganisms in the soil, only certain microbes are capable of converting atmospheric nitrogen (N₂) to plant-available nitrogen (NH₃).
To create a more sustainable nitrogen solution, we spent more than a decade studying how microbes work in nature, ultimately developing the first nitrogen-fixing microbes for crops.
Our Breakthrough Innovation
We enable naturally occurring microbes to work as nature intended.
Mapping trillions of soil microbes pulled from many acres of the target crop, Pivot Bio scientists pinpoint a microbe natural to the crop's specific microbiome with the genetic code for nitrogen fixation.
We evaluate billions of ways to edit the microbe’s own genetic code to enable its nitrogen fixation powers. We do not introduce genes from other organisms. The changes made are all done within the microbes’ own genome.
Applied at planting, this microbe naturally adheres to the root, fixing atmospheric N₂ into NH₃.
These microbes continuously fix nitrogen, providing the plant with precise, steady NH₃ throughout the growing season, regardless of weather.
Our purpose-built microbes are produced using fermentation — requiring only water, sugar and basic nutrients to reproduce to the necessary concentration. While traditional nitrogen fertilizers rely on a complex network of international inputs and fossil fuels, our manufacturing process requires dramatically less energy with almost no greenhouse gas emissions. And because our product is made in the U.S., farmers are assured stability in the supply chain.
Unlike traditional fertilizers that store nitrogen in the soil, our microbes bind to the root, produce a steady supply of nitrogen, and ensure the crop receives nutrition during the season’s critical growth periods when it needs it most. There are no repeat passes and no leaching, runoff or economic loss from wasted product — just the right rate of crop nutrition, at the right time, in the right location.
We have the data to prove it. Through extensive testing and field trials, we confirmed the safety and scalability of our microbial nitrogen. We completed the broadest, single-season in-plant nitrogen study in the U.S. We measured and verified product performance, finding that our microbial nitrogen resulted in 14% more nitrogen in the plant and 12% more plant biomass compared to untreated plants.
Thanks to our breakthroughs, we are supporting healthier, more productive and resilient crops and preventing nitrogen loss to the environment, signaling a sea change in nitrogen management.
A Solution Based in Science
We have turned to nature for answers and to science for solutions. Through extensive research and field trials, we have proven a better nitrogen exists, from the soil.
Peer Reviewed Science
Access academic, peer-reviewed articles and research about our science, process and product.
Performance Data Reports
Review performance reports developed by Pivot Bio scientists and independent contract research organizations.
Independent & University Field Trials
See how our products performed in real-world growing conditions and under management in on-farm trials conducted by leading agricultural universities and research organizations.
Key Milestones
