February 21, 2023 4.30 pm This story is over 23 months old

Bill Gates provides funding for Lincoln-based sustainable crop fertiliser firm

The company met with Bill Gates and Rishi Sunak

By Local Democracy Reporter

A local firm has received large investment from a Bill Gates-led fund to scale-up its sustainable crop fertiliser technology to a global market.

Crop Intellect is a research and development company based at the Riseholme Campus of the University of Lincoln, developing technologies that increase the sustainability of crop production.

It’s R-Leaf technology has been developed and tested as a solution to reduce synthetic nitrogen inputs for farmers, capturing air pollution and turning it into fertiliser for plants.

It is multi-award-winning technology, and is currently being trialed by supermarket giant Tesco as part of a national effort to reduce nitrogen fertiliser usage in farming.

R-Leaf technology was discussed and explained to British PM Rishi Sunak and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates. | Photo: “The Daily Reflector” by Justin Tallis/Imperial College London

The latest feather in the cap of this local company comes in the form of substantial funding from Breakthrough Energy, a fund set up by billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and InnovateUK.

The funding figure has not been disclosed, but will assist development of R-Leaf into a global solution that can be tested on crops beyond the United Kingdom, testing the scaleability of serving a worldwide market.

Gates met with Crop Intellect alongside Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at Imperial College London last week to champion a new wave of British firms that are committed to combatting climate change.

| Photo: “The Daily Reflector” by Justin Tallis/Imperial College London

Dr Apostolos Papadopoulos, a crop and soil scientist at Crop Intellect, met with Bill Gates and Rishi Sunak at the event, saying that his company’s technology is proud of its Lincolnshire roots.

He said: “Although we are working globally, it is great to be based in Lincolnshire, surrounded by an open-minded farming community and many distributors and manufacturers serving farmers.

“R-Leaf will enable farmers to reduce nitrogen fertiliser, increase farm profitability and prolong soil health to retain crop productivity.”

As well as benefitting the planet, it is claimed that this technology is also benefitting the people who live on the planet too.

It removes air pollution associated with premature deaths reaching 26,000 per year in the UK alone, and R-Leaf has the potential to contribute towards reducing climate change with an output of 5.4 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per hectare.


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