Pinkowski: Hormuz closure will push 45M more people into food insecurity
Nico Pinkowski · The ‘brutal reality’ of scaling low-carbon fertilizer · Jul 15, 2026 · at 38:56
Nico Pinkowski, CEO of Nitricity, cites projections regarding the humanitarian impact of global nitrogen fertilizer supply disruptions.
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“And because of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, it is estimated that over the next year, an additional forty-five million more people around the world are going to go into food insecurity.”
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More from Nico Pinkowski
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“They didn't really want another piece of equipment to make fertilizer on the field, and so while that is an elegant and kind of exciting tech vision, it's not customer focused.”
Pinkowski: Fertilizer accounts for 5% to 7% of global emissions
“Today, fertilizer uses coal or natural gas and accounts for about five to seven percent of global emissions if you account for the manufacturing and the field application emissions.”
Pinkowski: Distributed on-farm fertilizer tech requires near-zero maintenance to pencil out
“You need really, really reliable technology that virtually never needs to be serviced for that to pencil out.”
Pinkowski: Simple interconnects like manifolds can be showstoppers in hardware scaling
“Something as simple as a manifold actually can be a total showstopper.”
Pinkowski: Pilot plants exist to build operational safety, not just test tech
“But the pilot is more than just to prove the technology can work. The pilot is your team's opportunity to practice running a factory safely and reliably. And that organizationally, you are ready to build your first-of-a-kind commercial factory.”
Pinkowski: Delhi, California offers some of the state's cheapest electricity
“Delhi, California has a large hydro dam. It's part of Turlock water and power district. And there's very low cost power. It's, I think, some of the cheapest electricity in all of California, and it's about a 90 minute drive from Fremont.”