This edition of Bem Viver, a program by BdF, shows how the interaction between two technologies—developed separately in Brazil and China—is being studied in the Asian giant. The combination of these innovations could offer more and better options to reduce the use of chemical inputs in family farming.
For over two decades, Brazil has been developing a technology known as “rock remineralization” (rochagem in Portuguese), which uses powdered rocks to fertilize soil. China, over the same period, developed the accelerated composting technology, which shortens the time required to produce organic fertilizers. Now, a partnership between the University of Brasília (UnB) and the Organic Recycling Research Institute of the China Agricultural University (CAU) is exploring the combination of both technologies.
The study is led by Caroline Gomide, a professor at UnB and visiting researcher at CAU. While China’s accelerated organic composting is not the only method of its kind, it is the most cost-effective when compared to others, such as those developed in Europe.
Gomide explains that, typically, converting organic waste—whether from kitchens or agriculture—into organic compounds takes 4 to 6 months. With the technology developed by CAU, this transformation occurs in just 7 days, and the final product (after maturation) is ready in about a month. Although the study combining this method with Brazil’s widely used rock dusting is still ongoing, early results show promising potential in merging the two technologies.
“The availability of inorganic nutrients for the plant in this organic fertilizer—produced through the combination of the technologies—will be much better than when using only organic matter or only remineralizers,” says Caroline Gomide.
This happens because, as the UnB professor explains, microorganisms help make nutrients available while also decomposing organic matter and releasing it for plants. “So plants will have greater access to nutrients, leading to healthier plants, healthier soil, and more microorganisms as well.”
“This follows one of the teachings of [Brazilian agroecology pioneer] Ana Primavesi, which is: a living soil is a healthy soil. With healthy soil, we have healthy plants and healthy food,” Gomide concludes.
Rock dusting in Brazil
Suzi Huff Theodoro is one of the leading researchers in Brazil—and globally—in the field of remineralizers. She recently visited China to discuss the ongoing cooperation and integration between the two technologies.
The professor explains that soils lose minerals (or have them altered) for various reasons, whether due to climate or other factors (in a process known as weathering), because plants absorb them, or due to misuse by agribusiness and other extractive models.
“When you add a fresh rock (as we call it in geology)—a newly ground rock—to the soil, you are inserting minerals into the soil; in other words, you are remineralizing it,” Huff Theodoro explains.
According to the researcher, one of the most important aspects of remineralizers is that they come from local sources, with no need for importation (especially in Brazil), and they are adjustable to different agroecosystems. Around 85% of the synthetic fertilizers used in Brazilian agriculture are imported. The war in Ukraine exposed Brazil’s dependence on these inputs, leading to increased demand and rising prices. About 23% of these agricultural inputs imported by Brazil come from Russia.
The Northeast and Southeast regions of Brazil have rocks suitable for family farming, the professor explains. “This diversity of usable rocks benefits the local economy and stimulates local and regional development. You don’t need to travel long distances to access fertilizers,” says Suzi.
According to the National Fertilizer Council (Confert), Brazil accounts for about 8% of global fertilizer consumption. It is the fourth-largest consumer, behind China, India, and the United States.
More than 73% of fertilizers are used in monocultures of soy, corn, and sugarcane. The most widely used nutrient in Brazilian agriculture, according to Confert, is potassium (38%), followed by phosphorus (33%) and nitrogen (29%). Professor Suzi believes that there are at least three ways in which remineralizers strengthen agroecological production: increased productivity, cost reduction, and ecological benefits.
Regarding the latter, she states that unlike chemical fertilizers, remineralizers pose no risk of contaminating water, soil, or air. Suzi Huff Theodoro also highlights their contribution to climate change. “Unlike chemical fertilizers, which release greenhouse gases when used, remineralizers—when applied to the soil—have the ability to capture carbon.”
Under President Lula’s administration, in 2023, Confert approved the National Fertilizer Plan, which includes, among various targets, “reaching an installed capacity of 5 million tons/year of remineralizers from products and co-products by 2025; 7.5 million by 2030; 12 million by 2040; and 16.5 million by 2050.”
The risk of organics as part of a new technological package
The National Fertilizer Plan also sets a target to “increase the production and stock of organic and organomineral fertilizers by at least 25% by 2025; 50% by 2030; 200% by 2040; and 500% by 2050.”
For researcher Caroline Gomide, the path toward agroecology and food sovereignty cannot continue to rely on a model in which peasants are not at the center.
“If we fall into the logic of a technological package where peasants become dependent on purchasing or are unable to produce or access these materials due to cost, we’re simply shifting from one form of dependency—on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides—to another,” she alerts.
Beyond being unfeasible for family farming, Gomide points out to another issue with this approach:
“It’s economically problematic, but there’s also another risk in the indiscriminate use of bio-inputs: anything driven purely by profit, without truly understanding the crop environment—the planting environment, or in this case, the soil microenvironment and the soil-plant-root interaction—tends to be overused. And it’s precisely this kind of logic that led to the emergence of superbugs in the case of antibiotics.”
