The future of fertilizers in Spain does not solely depend on producing more. It depends on making better use of the resources we already have.
The decision by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to open a participatory process for the development of the future National Fertilizer Plan represents a strategic opportunity to strengthen the competitiveness of the Spanish agri-food sector and advance towards a more sustainable, resilient, and less externally dependent model.
Spain imports a very significant portion of the raw materials needed for fertilizer manufacturing. The volatility of energy markets in recent years has highlighted the vulnerability of this dependence and increased production costs for farmers and ranchers. At the same time, the need to reduce emissions, optimize nutrient use, and move towards a circular economy requires rethinking the future fertilization model.
The objectives set by the Ministry—improving fertilizer use efficiency, reducing external dependence, and strengthening value chain transparency—precisely address these challenges. It is now time to equip the Plan with the necessary regulatory tools to make them a reality.
Biomethane also produces fertilizers
When we talk about biomethane, we no longer focus solely on renewable energy production, but on its value as a circular economy infrastructure in rural areas. From agricultural, livestock, and agro-industrial by-products, it is possible to recover nutrients that return to the soil in the form of organic biofertilizers, helping to close the nutrient cycle and reducing the need for mineral fertilizers of fossil or imported origin. Furthermore, treatment processes allow for the recovery of water suitable for certain agricultural uses, generating a much more efficient use of available resources.
In a context of increasing pressure on water, energy, and raw materials, biomethane constitutes a circular economy infrastructure that simultaneously adds value to both the energy and agricultural sectors.
Three regulatory advances that can make a difference
If the objective of the National Fertilizer Plan is to promote more sustainable fertilization and strengthen the country’s strategic autonomy, there are three regulatory areas whose review could significantly accelerate the development of these solutions:
- Fully recognize digestate as an organic biofertilizer: Digestate is the result of a controlled biological process through anaerobic digestion that stabilizes organic matter, pasteurizes it, and recovers nutrients of high agronomic value. The European framework, especially Regulation (EU) 2019/1009, already recognizes the role of recovered materials in fertilization. The challenge now is to promote regulatory development that facilitates its effective incorporation into the market, while ensuring product safety, traceability, and quality. The recognition of digestate as an organic biofertilizer would help strengthen the circular economy and reduce dependence on mineral fertilizers.
- Adapt the criteria applicable to liquid digestate: The agronomic valorization of liquid digestate constitutes one of the main opportunities to utilize recovered nutrients. In this area, it is advisable to review certain administrative criteria, such as the minimum nitrogen content required for certain fertilizer categories, so that they do not limit the use of products that are of high agronomic and environmental interest. The objective should not be to lower technical guarantees, but to adapt regulation to the reality of products obtained through nutrient recovery processes, promoting innovation and efficient resource utilization.
- Facilitate the agricultural use of recovered water: Biomethane plants allow for the obtaining of treated or osmosed water which, after the corresponding treatments and provided it meets the requirements established in the applicable regulations, can be used for certain agricultural purposes.
The existence of Regulation (EU) 2020/741, concerning minimum requirements for water reuse, and its development in Spain through Royal Decree 1085/2024, represents a significant advance. However, greater administrative simplification in authorization procedures would accelerate the use of this resource, especially in a country where water availability is one of the main challenges for agriculture.
An industrial policy for recovered nutrients
The future National Fertilizer Plan represents an opportunity to go beyond a policy focused exclusively on the supply of conventional fertilizers. Spain has the capacity to recover nutrients from livestock and agri-food activity, transforming them into high added-value resources through already fully developed technologies. Fully integrating these recovered nutrients into the national strategy would allow for simultaneous progress on several objectives:
- Reduce external dependence on raw materials.
- Increase the competitiveness of the agricultural sector.
- Boost the circular economy.
- Promote decarbonization.
- Optimize the use of water and natural resources.
- Generate new economic opportunities in rural areas.
An opportunity to build a shared strategy
The opening of the participatory process by the Ministry constitutes an excellent opportunity to build a Plan that incorporates the technical knowledge of the entire value chain.
At IAM Carbonzero, we will actively participate in this process, collaborating with sectoral associations in the development of proposals that contribute to consolidating a modern regulatory framework, based on technical evidence and aligned with European objectives of circular economy, strategic autonomy, and energy transition.
Because the future of fertilizers does not depend solely on how they are produced, but also on our ability to intelligently recover and utilize existing resources. Biomethane can play a decisive role in this transformation.
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