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Spotted: With the global indoor farming market reaching over $14 billion (around €13.1 billion) in 2020 – with further growth expected – we are beginning to see a greater variety of indoor farming businesses finding creative ways to serve their particular needs. Re-Nuble is one of these. It provides vegan, water-soluble, organic hydroponic nutrients that are cost-competitive to synthetic mineral salts. More unusually, however, is the way these nutrients are derived – they are sourced from food by-products using fully-recyclable growth media.

Re-Nuble produces its vegan nutrient solution using a proprietary technology called organic cycling science. It describes this as a carbon-negative process that “creates a closed loop system through an organic nutrient supply chain”. Food waste is processed to remove nutrients, which are then placed back into the food chain. This cycle continues until a small percentage of a food’s solids no longer have any residual value.

The closed-loop system produces nutrients at a competitive price when compared to less sustainable commercial options. Re-Nuble also calculates the farm’s water savings, reduction in carbon footprint, and other data which farms can then use to meet local requirements.

The company explains its motivation: “if we need to increase food production by 2050 to meet the demand of the world’s growing population (…) then we wish to empower our communities with the ability to cost competitively grow organic (non-chemically-laden food) with local, sterilised waste streams.”

Increasing the efficiency of agriculture is key to not only producing more food, but also to saving carbon, water, and other resources. Recently, Springwise has also spotted a startup that helps coffee farmers maintain forests, and a platform that makes it easier for small farmers to use regenerative agriculture.

Written By: Lisa Magloff