Nick Sokol: Growing a sustainable future

Nick Sokol: Growing a sustainable future
by Brynn Downing for ORNL News
Oak Ridge TN (SPX) Jan 14, 2025

A healthy global food supply requires healthy soil, which requires fertilizer to replace and or enhance the nutrients found in the soil. Many farmers use synthetic fertilizers, which are produced from petroleum and fossil fuels. Synthetic fertilizers have been historically cheap, but events in recent years have driven the price up and the supply down: supply chains disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic then faced a reduced supply of Russian-made fertilizers, due to the war in Ukraine. The lack of fertilizer threatens global food security, in addition to making growing food cost-prohibitive for small scale farmers.

Nick Sokol founded Algaeo, whose technology enables farmers to efficiently grow organic fertilizers on-site from microalgae, making the entire experience of farming easier and less labor intensive while also producing healthy and good-quality food.

Sokol is a member of Cohort 2024 of Innovation Crossroads, a Department of Energy Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program node at Oak Ridge National Laboratory that partners energy and advanced manufacturing entrepreneurs with ORNL researchers to develop transformative technology to overcome scientific challenges. Sokol is working with Dale Pelletier, a group leader in Integrative Microbiomics, and David Weston, of the Biosciences Division.

Sokol explained that "ORNL provides a lot of opportunity to utilize resources to not only test different blends that could be beneficial for different crops, but also look at the response of these crops when treated with the blends. We can refine things like the application rate for different crop types, different soil types, different environmental and growing conditions to optimize our product further. I think being able to leverage the Oak Ridge ecosystem for its different tools, technologies and expertise has been extremely advantageous."

"I'm fascinated by interconnectedness," Sokol said. "I knew that after I earned my PhD, I wanted to work on something that would benefit the planet and people."

The algal strains that Algaeo produces not only improve soil health and boost plant growth, but also capture carbon dioxide and nitrogen from the atmosphere to feed the algae. In comparison, the production of synthetic fertilizers releases substantial air pollution and greenhouse gases.

The application of synthetic fertilizer can degrade soil quality, leading to valuable nutrients leaching into waterways and creating aquatic dead zones downstream. Algaeo's technology enables farmers and gardeners to produce organic biofertilizers and biostimulants on their property, eliminating the price fluctuations and uncertainties of the fertilizer market for small-scale farmers operating on thin margins.

In addition to connecting Algaeo with ORNL researchers to develop different microbial blends, Innovation Crossroads offers Sokol mentoring as he builds his business model, from developing funding models to practicing pitch opportunities. "I had participated in opportunities with the Knoxville Entrepreneur Center and the 100Knoxville program, which helps Black entrepreneurs accelerate the development of their business." From there, Sokol connected with Dan Miller, Innovation Crossroads director, who encouraged him to consider applying to the fellowship.

"I want to be in that space where I can do work that will benefit people," said Sokol. "Fertilizer is extremely important not just for the farmer, but also for their customers and society at large."