Phosphorus is the strategic key element of the food crop and animal production in agriculture that cannot be substituted. There are no any other materials with economically high P2O5 content (>35%) known other than apatite mineral, which have two major forms, mined phosphate rocks (but this is contaminated with Cadmium and Uranium) or bone char (that is a natural and pure apatite substance). The low toxic metal content phosphate rock resources are already depleted on global level, therefore phosphate is a critical raw material.
The fragile EU agri-food markets already seriously affected by multiple and with cascade effect impacting external factors such as global warming, pollution, loss of fertile soils/biodiversity and significant energy price increase . Additionally, the Covid-19 and the new geopolitical situation together are putting agriculture under extreme pressure with significantly increased fertiliser costs. The price of phosphate rock changed by +315% between mid 2021 and 2023. Due to the high dependence on imports of energy/fertilisers the agri-food sector became vulnerable. In this complex challenge the replacement of the imported Critical Raw Material phosphate rock with high nutrient dense, high quality/safe and EU origin P bio-fertilizers is the most important crucial challenge. The phosphate is recognized by the European Commission as critical raw material in 2023 (EU COM (2023) 160)
The BIO-NPK-C compound BioPhosphate biofertiliser is a full value alternative for replacement the non-renewable phosphate rock based and chemically processed toxic mineral fertilisers.