Pivot Bio sustainability program verifies the avoidance of more than 315,000 MT of CO2e since 2022

Date:04-23-2024

Pivot Bio, a leading sustainable agriculture company, announced that growers opting to validate their implementation of better nitrogen management practices through the company's N-OVATOR program have avoided more than 315,000 metric tons (MT) of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e) over the first two years of the program – about 2.5x the annual residential energy used in Berkeley, where the company is headquartered (a city of over 115,000 people), the amount of carbon that is absorbed by a 375,000-acre forest for a year, or about the same impact as taking over 75,000 cars off the road for a year.

During the 2023 N-OVATOR program, about 20% of Pivot Bio's customers, together, documented the replacement of more than 16,500 tons of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer across over 800,000 acres with Pivot Bio's leading microbial product, PROVEN^® 40. A significant portion of these growers received payment amounting to almost 30% of what they paid for Pivot Bio's product.

Synthetic nitrogen fertilizer is a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions, water use, and nitrate leaching. By replacing synthetic nitrogen with Pivot Bio's efficient microbial nitrogen, growers prevented over 237,000 MT of CO₂e from manufacturing and nitrous oxide volatilization, over 91 million gallons of water use, and avoided an estimated 14,000 tons of nitrates from entering our aquifers and watersheds.

"The impact our customers are making is not theoretical – it is real, quantifiable impact. Our growers are positively impacting agriculture and the environment on-farm and beyond while improving the consistent performance of their crops and driving financial results. Replacing synthetic fertilizers, our microbial nitrogen provides growers with more choice and a new, powerful tool as good stewards of the land and environment today, and for years to come," said Pivot Bio CEO Chris Abbott. "These benefits will only increase as more growers shift to microbial nitrogen and the amount of synthetic nitrogen our products can replace rises."

N-OVATOR™ is the first insetting program to focus on nitrous oxide emissions, encouraging the adoption of more sustainable nitrogen management practices by connecting growers with companies looking to reduce their Scope 3 emissions and pay for practice change to mitigate the footprint of their supply sheds. To date, the program has paid growers over $6 million, in partnership with major consumer packaged goods companies, ingredient suppliers, spirit producers, and grain buyers who are working to improve the sustainability of their agricultural supply chains.

In recognition of the program's potential to drive significant change in on-farm nitrogen management, at scale, Energy + Environment Leader announced that N-OVATOR™ has been honored with their Top Project of the Year award for 2024. The recognition comes on the heels of Pivot Bio being named to Fast Company's list of the World's 50 Most Innovative Companies, a testament to the data-backed, demonstrated progress PROVEN^® 40 is enabling across U.S. farms.

"It's an enormous honor for the N-OVATOR program to be recognized by E+E Leader for the impact it's delivering," said Randy Minton, Pivot Bio head of commercial sustainability. "The N-OVATOR program is changing the way businesses and growers partner together across the value chain. It's a real privilege to be a part of this work to improve nitrogen management by finding new ways to partner to improve grower economics and sustainability."

Pivot Bio's crop nutrition technologies harness nature to solve agriculture's biggest challenge: delivering nitrogen to plants to feed a growing population without the negative impacts of synthetic fertilizer. These products are used across 5 million domestic acres, replacing up to 25 percent of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, while improving growers' profitability and productivity.