From The Ground Up Farmers Test a New Kind of Nitrogen Source on the Farm  

Cody Goswick stands beside a gleaming silver machine in a barn on his farm in Lawrence County, Southwest Missouri. With a vent on the left side and an electronics box mounted on the upper side, the unit sits on top of a large, semi-transparent, plastic tank holding liquid. He inspects the control dials and listens to low electrical charges crackle through the unit.  

This Green Lightning equipment, designed to pull nitrogen straight from the air and turn it into nitrogen equivalent fertilizer, is at the heart of a farmer-led research project conducted by Cody and other farmers, to test alternative fertilizers on their rotational grazing fields, as part of the From The Ground Up Project (FTGUp). “We’re doing a test on Green Lightning, an alternative nitrogen source. We are applying it on some fescue [grass] to see what results we get,” Cody explains. 

FTGUp is a farmer-led project in Ohio and Missouri, working to improve the real-world, on-farm performance of conservation practices across the Midwest. Backed by researchers from The Ohio State University, University of Missouri, Central State University, Lincoln University, and non-profit partner Solutions from the Land, the project brings farmers to the center of agricultural research into conservation practices. Yield stability, protection from extreme weather, and profitability are key outcomes that the farmer-led research is investigating.  

This field-scale experiment by Cody and five other livestock farmers involve each of them testing four nitrogen source-treatments on their pasture: Green Lightning fertilizer, Urea fertilizer (Super-U), Ammonium Nitrate fertilizer, and a fourth zone with no fertilizer, serving as the control. With the support of FTGUp researchers, the ranchers designed a protocol to apply treatments and measure the outcomes.  

Treatments are applied using a utility drone in the spring when soil temperatures stay above 45°F for three days, and again in the fall. After about 30 days, livestock graze across all plots for 24 hours, and researchers take measurements throughout the growing season to track yield, forage quality, and animal grazing preferences.  

Nitrogen is one of the most important nutrients in agriculture. It is a core component of chlorophyll, the green pigment that allows plants to photosynthesize and produce food. More nitrogen in the field means more plant growth. On livestock operations, nitrogen-rich pastures have higher protein, better digestibility, and help enhance animal growth.  

“We want to find out if this [Green Lightning] is something farmers can use on an everyday basis to save some money on fertilizer. We’ll be doing tissue sampling to see what’s going on, and then we’ll put the animals out and see what they prefer: Green Lightning, Ammonium Nitrate, Urea, or even the untreated spot,” Cody explains.  

The Green Lightning machine, developed by Green Lightning Solutions LLC, is intended to use electricity to convert air and water into nitrogen in a controlled environment. The process mirrors what occurs in lightning storms, where nitrogen molecules are rearranged to create nitrogen dioxide and nitrate. “Inside the Green Lightning machine is where the magic happens. There are six heads. Three on each side. Each head has an electrode, along with water and air being fed into it. The system superheats the mixture, turning it into a gas, which then condenses and drops down into the tank, collecting what we call our Green Lightning,” Cody explains.  

Unlike conventional fertilizers, which often rely on centralized production and fossil-fuel–intensive processes, this system can run on-farm, powered by electricity, water, and air. Technology developers say it has the potential to reduce emissions and give farmers more control.  

Cody and his wife run their 100-acre cow-calf operation in Missouri, drawing on hard-earned experience from the U.S. and beyond, including a year they spent farming in New Zealand. They’re committed to pasture practices that protect the environment while keeping farm costs low and operations profitable. Like the other ranchers in the project, they’re cautiously optimistic about what this study will reveal. But they are deeply energized by the fact that farmers themselves are leading the research.  

By Joseph Opoku Gakpo & Lauren Spirk