KainX

KainX t1_j2earhh wrote

Other answers so far are incorrect.

Legumes, and few other types of plants are categorized as Nitrogen Fixers.

Nitrogen is one of the elements required to make protein, and not necessary in fats or carbs

A nitrogen fixing plant is one that has a symbiotic relationship with one of a few specific types of bacteria. These bacteria make colonies attached the roots of these plants (shown in the link). The bacteria take nitrogen from the atmosphere (gas) and turn it into a form of nitrogen fertilizer that plants can use (liquid).

Legumes, and other N-Fixers essentially get free fertilizer, where the rest of the plant kingdom does not. These N-fixers have a surplus of nitrogen compared to other plants, so they can use it their seeds, assumingly as a form of energy storage, instead of relying on carbs or fats to store energy in the seed.

In fact, Legumes and other nitrogen fixers are a component to regenerative, sustainable agriculture, because they can produce nitrogen naturally, instead of us making N fertilizer out of fossil fuels.

tl;dr legumes and their bacteria buddies get free nitrogen, which is needed to make protein, while almost all other plants have to struggle to get nitrogen so they use oils and carbs to store energy in the seed instead.

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KainX t1_j1rrpvo wrote

Ones urine and feces are all the fertilizer a person needs. We only need to buy food for one year of life to sustain us until death from old age, and even then, that corpse has enough nutrients to continue the cycle to make another.

Edit: the downvotes show me that people here do not understand nutrient cycling, closed loop systems, regenerative agriculture, or how composting and pathogens work.

Urine is easy and safe to use, there have been plenty of articles and studies posted on reddit about it so we can skip this part of the conversation

With poop, I can only assume the downvotes are from people who immediately imagine growing potatoes in poo, which is not how its dealt with.

aerobic septic systems render feces safe to use, this can be bolsterd with UV-C lights for extra insurance.

anaerobic systems are cheaper and less effective, but are used almost everywhere outside of the cities already

If you buy conventionally farmed food, you can bet you are already eating food fertilized with municipal sewage

Half the worlds population does not have running water to flush feces away, meaning **they need simple on site solutions**. For this, dry-toilets or compost toilets are used.

Composting is a simple way people can process feces from dry toilets. Poop is anaerobic, and composting is an aerobic process (unless you do it wrong, but there is a clear difference). Aerobic microbes will consume and destroy anaerobic pathogens

Do not plant root crops in poo, its a pretty simple rule. But It can be safety used to feed an apple tree, with layers of mulch on top.

If they colonize mars do you really think we are just going to jettison our sewage nutrients away so we can ship more in from earth?

Each and every person has and makes enough fertilizer for themselves technically speaking, just because we flush away out feces away with potable water is the normal, does not mean it is smart, efficient, or sustainable.

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KainX t1_iti8dqm wrote

This sound great, but they do not explain a whole lot in the article. Would you explain more about;

What are these protein substances that we would see in one of the fermenters? Is it a goopy film that is dried?

What are the microbes being fed / What input materials are being turned into protein?

How does carbon monoxide end up in protein?

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Black Soldier Fly production are great at turning organic matter into proteins and fats, but they can not handle a lot of fibrous plant matter, but they would probably love these fermented leftovers.

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