Hey, Guess What: You will learn how something as simple as human urine—an old-time fertilizer complete with good nutrients—is making crops happier and helping our planet.

The Real Talk: It is not all easy—there are some tricky bits, like figuring out how to move it around and getting past the “yuck” factor with folks.

What I Will Share with You: The incredible science of how it works, how people use it, and how it is catching on worldwide.

By Najee Quashie
Reporting from Massachusetts

Diversion process of urine from wastewater streams – Rich Earth Institute

The diversion process separates urine from wastewater streams, reclaiming its nutrients as fertilizer while reducing pollution in aquatic ecosystems. Photo permission from the Rich Earth Institute.

Hey, fellow organic growers! Remember how farmers in ancient Rome and China fed their crops with human urine? They had no choice back then, but their ingenuity inspired a comeback. With water pollution, climate worries, and the push for natural fertilizers on our minds, urine is stepping up as a free, nutrient-packed option. We all produce it, proving itself in today’s fields. Let’s dig into why peecycling could be a game-changer for our farms and the planet.

The Nutrient Boost Right Under Our Noses

Urine is no waste—it is a treasure chest for your crops! The Rich Earth Institute, a crew of innovators up in Vermont, points out it is brimming with nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and extras like magnesium and calcium. It is everything your plants hunger for, straight from the source. Unlike synthetic fertilizers that burn energy or tear up the earth, urine is a gentle, green alternative that fits into our organic ethos.

It matters because flushing those nutrients away sends them into rivers and lakes, feeding algae instead of your fields. The Institute’s Urine Nutrient Reclamation Program collects about 12,000 gallons annually from 250 Vermont farmers and neighbors, saving millions of gallons of flush water since 2012. By rerouting urine into the soil, we cut waste, protect waterways, and give our crops a natural lift.

Urine-diverting flushing toilets – Rich Earth Institute

Examples of urine-diverting flush toilets. With permission from the Rich Earth Institute.

From Barn to Field: Making It Work

You are already pros at working with nature, so adding urine to your toolkit is a breeze. The Institute’s guide for farmers walks us through the steps—here is the rundown:

Collect: Gather urine in sealed containers like jugs, buckets, or tanks—whatever works for your setup. Keep it airtight to hold onto the nitrogen and prevent ammonia from escaping into the air.
Clean It (If Needed): Safety matters for market crops eaten raw. Let it sit in a sealed container at 68°F or higher for one to six months—six months is safest for pathogen die-off. The Institute pasteurizes it at 176°F for 90 seconds, meeting EPA standards, then applies it when crops are actively growing to maximize uptake and minimize runoff. Pick the method that fits your scale and local rules.
Feed the Soil: For hay, spread 1,000 gallons per acre after a cutting—50 lbs of nitrogen per acre. For smaller plots or other crops, base it on your crop nutrient needs, then apply about 200 gallons per acre per application (roughly 10 lbs of nitrogen), splitting it into smaller doses every few weeks during growth. That is about 0.5 gallons per 100 square feet per dose, tweaked to your soil’s needs. Apply it straight to the soil—drip or pour, not spray—to keep nitrogen in the ground. Mix with water (1:1 to 1:10) if the soil is dry or plants are sensitive. Balance is everything: too little starves your crops, too much risks leaching.

Timing is key: hit the plants when they are growing fast to soak up those nutrients.

For home gardens, find the Institute’s guide here.

Cubbie and funnel system – Rich Earth Institute

The Institute’s “cubie” and funnel system, a portable unit with a ping-pong ball seal, allows donors to collect urine, contain odors, and minimize nitrogen loss, with full cubies capped and delivered to the urine depot for the donation. Photo permission from the Rich Earth Institute.

Is It Safe and Organic?

Safety is always on everyone’s mind, especially regarding organic standards. Urine is naturally low in pathogens—fecal crossover is the real concern—but pasteurizing or storing it wipes that out. Heavy metals? Minimal, far below what you would find in manure or phosphate fertilizers. Pharmaceuticals like caffeine show up in trace amounts—picture a pound of lettuce every day equating to a cup of coffee after 1,000 years. Testing from the Institute shows crops barely absorb them, and soil microbes likely break them down. PFAS? The Institute and Wasted’s tests show they are extremely low to undetectable; carbon filtration can be used as a backup if needed.

As for organic certification, urine sits in a gray area. It is not sewage sludge, which the USDA’s National Organic Program (NOP) bans outright, but it is not explicitly greenlit either. The NOP does not mention urine specifically, leaving room for interpretation. The Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation regulates the Institute’s pasteurized urine fertilizer as a distinct product from biosolids while upholding the same rigorous testing and pathogen-reduction standards. The Institute continues collaborating with state regulators and wants clear guidance from the NOP. Right now, it is up to each state’s certifying agency to decide. Check with your local certifier to see where they stand—some states, like Vermont, are already exploring this, and others might follow as the conversation grows.

What the Research Shows Us

The BBC says urine can double yields for crops like kale and spinach, even in tired soil—perfect for folks rebuilding fertility naturally. Betsy Williams, a Vermont farmer in the Reclamation program, told them, “We’re eating nutrients and cycling them back to our fields.” Sounds like the closed-loop system we all dream of, right?

A 2024 study in Applied Soil Ecology tested urine on spinach, comparing a light dose (170 kg N/ha) and a heavier one (510 kg N/ha) to synthetic fertilizer and a water-only control. The soil microbes—our little partners in nutrient cycling—remained resilient to urine, acting just like they do with chemical fertilizers. The mix of different species stayed the same, with just a tiny change (about 3% of taxa changed). One cool thing is that bacteria like Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter, which grow better with urine, turn ammonium into nitrate, making more nitrogen available for plants and other organisms. There is a heads-up, though—it might nudge up nitrous oxide (N₂O), a greenhouse gas, so we will want to watch that. Still, the soil thrived, proving urine is a solid, sustainable option for us.

Hurdles We Can Handle

We are no strangers to challenges, and peecycling has got a few. Scaling up a collection can be tricky—your fields might need more than your farm crew can supply! Hauling liquid urine takes fuel, but places like the University of Michigan are testing ways to concentrate it. Plumbing rules have not caught up either—urine-diverting toilets are not yet standard.

Then there is the “ugh” moment. Betsy admits, “It smells a bit at first,” but Jamina Shupack, Executive Director of the Institute, says that fades quickly. And if you are worried about pharmaceuticals or coffee in urine showing up in your harvest, Jamina says, “You’d need a truckload of greens to feel a speck of caffeine.”

Regulations can be a slog, too. The Institute teamed up with septic haulers and bent some rules, but elsewhere, urine is still seen as “waste.” We might need to nudge lawmakers together.

A Growing Movement We Are Part Of

The practice of peecycling is more active in other parts of the world. A researcher in Paris collects urine, which farmers then use to fertilize crops like wheat for products such as “Biscodor” biscuits. Meanwhile, the City of Paris is installing urine-separating toilets in 600 households to test urine recycling as a fertilizer. In Sweden, they are drying it into powder to fight algae. South Africa has installed 82,000 urine-diverting toilets to increase sanitation access in underserved communities while generating revenue by selling urine-based fertilizer. This is estimated to yield 10,000 ZAR (approximately $540.54) for every 1,000 liters produced. Nepal is testing a urine-diversion toilet system to create affordable squatting toilet pans locally, aiming to enhance sanitation and supply urine-based fertilizer in remote areas lacking sewer infrastructure. Lastly, researchers in Niger are testing a low-cost fertilizer made from sanitized human urine to enhance pearl millet yields for under-resourced women farmers.

Urine: Our Organic Future?

Urine ties us to ancient wisdom and our modern mission. It is free, renewable, and reduces our reliance on harsh synthetics. Sure, we have logistics and that initial cringe to sort out, but it grows food beautifully without trashing the soil. Betsy puts it best: “We’re just doing our part.” For organic farmers like us, peecycling is a practical step toward the healthy, just systems we are building—one bucket at a time.

If you reclaim urine as a fertilizer, fill out the Institute’s survey to contribute to a growing body of knowledge about where, how, and why people fertilize with urine in their home gardens worldwide.