A Canadian company gaining a foothold in the U.S. is working to solve two environmental challenges in agriculture at once.

The Quebec-based clean technology firm Solugen Global has developed a unique process for turning pig manure into an organic-friendly fertilizer that can be used on many fruit and vegetable crops. Solugen bills itself as the only firm in North America capable of producing such a fertilizer continuously.

The company’s 200,000-square-foot treatment facility in Saint-Patrice-De-Beaurivage, south of Quebec City, gets its manure from the numerous pig farms that operate in the region, transforming the ammonia emissions into a liquid nitrogen fertilizer.

The process offers “an eco-energetic solution” to the multiple environmental impacts associated with managing manure, including greenhouse gas emissions, air pollutants, water pollution and phosphorus saturation in agricultural soils, said Patrick Vidal, the company’s business development manager.

In addition, the serves as a new form of nitrogen for organic agriculture.

“Our marketing strategy primarily targets the American organic agriculture market,” Vidal told Farm Progress. The product offers numerous advantages, containing no salts, pathogens or suspended solids that could clog pipes, he added.

The fertilizer, called Azogen 5-0-0, can be applied at low temperatures and “contributes to the microbial health of the soil, not to mention the fact that our ammonium is quickly available for plants,” Vidal said. Most other organic liquid fertilizers are slow-release, he said.

“The product is really interesting in terms of its clarity,” he said. “It looks like water, and has a density more or less like water.”

Azogen 5-0-0 is registered in Canada and listed as organic-friendly in the U.S. by the Organic Materials Review Institute.

The product is suitable for a multitude of specialty crops, including tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, lettuce, blueberries, raspberries and some tree fruit, Vidal said. It can be applied through drip systems, field irrigation, soil injection or foliar sprays. Its density is 1.08.

Increasing visibility

Solugen Global is working to increase its visibility in the West. The company will have a booth at the upcoming Organic Grower Summit Dec. 4-5 in Monterey, Calif. Presented by Farm Progress and Western Growers, OGS serves as a hub for organic producers and suppliers to discuss the latest trends, techniques and innovations.

Registration for the two-day event at the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa will open Sept. 2. For more information, visit www.organicgrowersummit.com. Solugen was a breakfast sponsor at OGS last year.

“We thought it would be interesting to come back this time with our booth,” Vidal said. “We went to the Tulare show in February. We didn’t expect much but we had a lot of visitors interested in our product.”

The roughly 9-year-old Solugen has opened a U.S. office in Salinas, Calif., where company CEO Andre Beaulieu Blanchette meets with growers and potential distributors, Vidal said.

On the company’s website, Blanchette touts the importance of a “circular economy-based model” in which agricultural effluents are treated at Solugen to create the Azogen fertilizer, which in turn is used in organic agriculture.

Solugen’s process saves resources by offering a short supply chain for hog farms in Quebec, which represent about 40% of swine production in Canada, Vidal said. The company uses hydroelectricity, a clean energy, to treat the manure, which it receives daily.

The company extracts liquid from the manure, leaving a solid residue, and treats the liquid through a thermal process that brings it to a vapor and then back into a clear, clean liquid, Vidal said. A separate sub-product, a liquid that “looks a little bit like maple syrup,” has a mix of nutrients that are currently being evaluated but not sold, he said.

For more information, visit solugenglobal.com.