Smithfield Foods Inc. and Florida startup Anuvia Plant Nutrients are partnering to create sustainable fertilizer from renewable biological materials collected from manure treatment systems at Smithfield’s hog farms. Operations in North Carolina, where Smithfield is being sued by environmental groups for creating health problems and odor issues, will participate in this project. Smithfield will collect and begin de-watering the waste solids, which are usually kept in large lagoons, before providing the remnants to Anuvia processing plants to create the fertilizer, which is higher in nutrient concentration than the original organic materials. The project is part of Smithfield Renewables, the company’s new platform dedicated to unifying and accelerating its carbon reduction and renewable energy efforts. “Through Smithfield Renewables, we are aggressively pursuing opportunities to reduce our environmental footprint while creating value,” Kraig Westerbeek, senior director of Smithfield Renewables, said in a release. “Along with projects that transform biogas into renewable natural gas, this is another example of how we are tackling this goal on our hog farms.”
Smithfield in partnership to create sustainable fertilizer from hog waste
