Nitrogen fertilizer helps feed the world. Without its yield-boosting magic, it’s possible that almost half of the global population wouldn’t be alive today.

But the benefits of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer have steep environmental and, increasingly, financial costs, lending new urgency to the production of sustainable, affordable alternatives.

• Not only is synthetic nitrogen fertilizer a major greenhouse-gas contributor and potential water pollutant, but over the last year, its price has skyrocketed as the cost of natural gas—a key input to fertilizer production—has surged.
• In 2020, well before these price hikes, American farmers alone spent over $24 billion on fertilizer, lime, and soil conditioner, per the USDA.

Zoom in: A group of startups, including Pivot Bio and Joyn Bio, are leveraging the promise of synthetic biology to try and produce affordable, environmentally friendly alternatives at scale.

The push for these bio-based fertilizers is in its early stages—although Pivot has a product on the market, Joyn said it may not have its technique refined for at least five years—but experts told us the concept holds promise in the long-term.

Here’s how startups like Pivot and Joyn are attempting to revolutinize fertilizer.—JM

Canoo has been taking on water, and Walmart may have just passed it a bucket.

Last week, EV startup Canoo Inc. announced that Walmart had agreed to buy at least 4,500 of its electric delivery vans. The news was a win for the EV maker, which over the last two years has experienced executive departures, an SEC probe, and investor skepticism, resulting in a paltry stock performance since it went public via SPAC in 2020.

• Walmart has the option to purchase as many as 10,000 of Canoo’s EVs over the next five years, according to the agreement.
• The price the retail giant will pay for the startup’s Lifestyle Delivery Vehicles was not disclosed, but Walmart expects to begin deploying the branded vans in 2023.

Big picture: Canoo, which also has contracts with NASA and the US Army, saw its share price more than double the day after the Walmart deal became public.

But the beleaguered company still faces some significant hurdles on its path to mass production and that ever-elusive EV startup goal: profit.

Read more about Walmart’s latest EV partner.—GD

Last week, a slice of the smartest people in the world (ETB readers) weighed in on the ever-present, ever-controversial debate around remote work.

To get more specific…Almost 2,200 of you responded to our question about whether companies should be required to at least consider employees’ WFH requests, assuming it’s possible to do the job from home.

• We didn’t just make up that scenario: The Netherlands is close to passing a law that would do exactly what we described.

By the numbers: The overwhelming majority of respondents (~78%) said yes, while the remaining 22% answered no.—DM

Stat: At least 71 US municipalities are paying remote tech workers to move there, up from ~24 last October.

Quote: “We need to recognize that there are going to be some very, very hard-to-decarbonize sectors, like agriculture, like aviation, shipping, long-haul trucks. And that carbon removal should be seen as the tool that helps to counterbalance those truly hard-to-decarbonize sectors, not as a tool to keep business as usual.”—Jennifer Wilcox, who wrote the book on carbon capture

Read: Everything that needs to happen for the hyperloop to become reality.

A nifty career compass: Roles are becoming less defined, so it’s time to craft your own playbook for career advancement. Get practical growth and leadership tips to propel your career forward with Oracle NetSuite’s Build Boldly guide.*

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• Join us September 29 in NYC for our first-ever Emerging Tech Brew Summit: The Next Decade of Tech. We’ve gathered key technologists, executives, and innovators to discuss critical topics at the intersection of emerging technology and food, energy, and health.
• Nissan will reportedly phase out its Leaf EV brand. The Leaf was the world’s best-selling EV through 2019, before being overtaken by the Tesla Model 3. Speaking of which, EVs accounted for 5.6% of new car sales in the US last quarter, double the share in Q2 2021.
• Monolith, a clean hydrogen startup, raised more than $300 million in funding. The company also received a conditional loan worth up to $1.04 billion from the DOE in December.
• Amazon Ring shared footage with law enforcement 11 times this year without a warrant or consent from users.

Snap poll: Do you own anything that qualifies as smart-home tech (e.g,. Amazon Ring, Alexa, smart lighting)?

Yes
No

Catch up on the top Emerging Tech Brew stories from the past few editions:

• How three startups working with large language models are thinking about ethics
• A conversation with DOE’s Jennifer Wilcox, who (literally) wrote the book on carbon capture
• This startup wants to invent brand new forms of meat