Divert Food-Derived Fertilizers Earn Organic Designations, Strengthening Food System Circularity
Divert, Inc., a circular economy company focused on preventing food waste, has announced new organic designations for two of its food-derived liquid fertilizers. The development strengthens the company’s efforts to recover nutrients from unsold food and return those resources to agriculture, creating a more circular connection between the food production, retail and farming sectors.
Divert’s 6-0-0 Organic ammonium liquid fertilizer has received an OMRI Listed® designation for use in organic food production under the standards of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Program. The fertilizer has also been registered as an Organic Input Material with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA).
In addition, Divert’s 7-0-0 Organic ammonium liquid fertilizer has received CDFA registration as an Organic Input Material. The company is also pursuing an OMRI listing for the 7-0-0 product, which would further expand its potential applications in certified organic agriculture.
The designations represent an important step in Divert’s strategy to transform food that can no longer be sold or donated into useful agricultural inputs. Rather than allowing unsold food to become landfill waste, the company’s technology is designed to recover valuable resources, including nutrients and energy, and put them back into productive use.
Expanding Food-Derived Fertilizer Solutions
The newly designated fertilizers are part of the Divert® Food-Derived Fertilizers portfolio. These agricultural products are produced through Divert’s Circular Infrastructure Platform, which is designed to recover resources from unsold food and create new uses for materials that would otherwise be discarded.
The company’s current portfolio includes several products serving both organic and conventional agricultural applications:
- Procyclos™ 6-0-0 Organic – Ammonium Liquid Fertilizer, which is OMRI Listed® and CDFA Registered.
- Procyclos™ 7-0-0 Organic – Ammonium Liquid Fertilizer, which is CDFA Registered and undergoing the OMRI listing process.
- Procyclos™ CST 1-0.5-0 – Conventional Solid Soil Amendment.
- Procyclos™ AMS 7-0-0 – Conventional Ammonium Sulfate Liquid Fertilizer.
Together, these products demonstrate how recovered resources from the food system can be developed into agricultural inputs. By creating fertilizer products from food-derived nutrients, Divert is seeking to establish a commercial-scale pathway that keeps nutrients circulating rather than losing them through disposal.
Turning Unsold Food Into Agricultural Resources
Divert’s approach is centered on its Circular Infrastructure Platform and a network of Integrated Diversion & Energy Facilities. These facilities process unsold food that is no longer suitable for donation and recover resources that would otherwise potentially end up in landfills.
The process supports multiple outcomes. Nutrients contained in food can be recovered and incorporated into fertilizer products, while the organic material can also be used to generate renewable energy. Divert says its facilities are capable of converting unsold food into carbon-negative renewable energy, reclaiming food-bound water for beneficial reuse and generating data that can help customers better understand and reduce food waste.
This model is particularly relevant as businesses across the food supply chain look for ways to reduce waste while improving resource efficiency. Grocery retailers, food manufacturers and other organizations routinely encounter food products that cannot be sold but may still contain valuable organic material and nutrients. Divert’s technology is designed to capture those resources and redirect them toward productive applications.
The fertilizer portfolio provides another pathway for those recovered materials to re-enter the food system.
Supporting Organic Agriculture
The new organic designations are especially significant because they expand the potential use of recovered food-derived nutrients within organic agricultural production.
The Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI) evaluates agricultural input products, including fertilizers, pest-control products and livestock-care products, against the requirements of the USDA National Organic Program. An OMRI listing helps identify products that meet applicable standards for use in organic production.
California’s Organic Input Material Program, meanwhile, registers fertilizing materials intended for organic crop and food production. The program also evaluates compliance with California fertilizing-material requirements and relevant USDA National Organic Program standards.
With the 6-0-0 Organic fertilizer now OMRI Listed and both organic fertilizers registered with CDFA, Divert has expanded the market opportunities for its food-derived nutrient products. The company’s pursuit of an OMRI listing for its 7-0-0 Organic fertilizer could further strengthen its organic agriculture offering.
Building a More Circular Food System
Divert believes the ability to recover nutrients from unsold food can contribute to a more circular food economy. Conventional food systems can often operate in a linear pattern in which agricultural resources are used to produce food, food is distributed and consumed, and waste is ultimately disposed of.
A circular model seeks to keep those resources in productive use for as long as possible. Divert’s food-derived fertilizer program is designed around that principle by recovering nutrients from food that has reached the end of its commercial life and directing them back toward agricultural production.
Ryan Begin, CEO and co-founder of Divert, emphasized the potential benefits of combining food-waste recovery with domestic fertilizer and energy production.
According to Begin, food that might otherwise be sent to landfills can instead be transformed into renewable energy and nutrients that return to the food system. He also highlighted the business implications of developing reliable, domestically produced sources of fertilizer and energy at a time when both costs remain elevated.
Divert’s strategy is therefore positioned at the intersection of food waste management, renewable energy, nutrient recovery and sustainable agriculture. Rather than viewing unsold food solely as waste, the company is working to treat it as a source of recoverable resources.
Advancing Resource Recovery at Commercial Scale
The organic fertilizer designations add another dimension to Divert’s broader resource-recovery strategy. By producing agricultural inputs from recovered food-derived nutrients, the company aims to demonstrate how circular economy infrastructure can operate at commercial scale.
The approach also gives food businesses an additional opportunity to participate in a more circular supply chain. Through resource recovery, unsold food can contribute to renewable energy generation, water reuse and fertilizer production instead of following a conventional waste-disposal pathway.
For agriculture, the availability of food-derived fertilizer products provides another potential source of nutrients, including options designed for organic production. For the broader food system, the model demonstrates how resources can move from one stage of the supply chain back into another.
Divert is a portfolio company of Ara Partners, a global private equity, infrastructure and energy firm focused on decarbonizing the industrial economy. Through its Circular Infrastructure Platform and Food-Derived Fertilizers portfolio, Divert continues to pursue a model in which food waste is transformed into useful resources.
The latest organic designations mark a further step in that effort, enabling recovered nutrients from unsold food to support agricultural production while advancing the company’s broader vision of a circular food system.
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