WADDINXVEEN, The Netherlands, March 11 /PRNewswire/ -- The company Soil & More International B.V. has just been nominated for the prestigious Award for Innovation and Sustainable Development, awarded bi-annually by a panel of representatives from eight Dutch government ministries. In the panel's announcement of the nomination, they underscored the successes achieved through the organisation's exemplary strategy of thinking globally while acting locally in Third World and developing nations in the areas of both organic soil improvement and climate protection.

"This nomination is a major boost for us in terms of motivation" said Aart van den Bos, Director of Soil & More International, "It shows that throughout the many years spent in planning and research, here in the Netherlands and around the world, we have been on the right track!" The company recycles organic waste and phytopathogens to produce a high quality, humus-rich compost that not only can be used to replace expensive and ecologically problematic mineral fertilisers, but also helps fight global warming. Van den Bos: "Unused plant material is usually just discarded and allowed to rot, generating substantial methane emissions in the process. Developing a productive method to avoid this is our active contribution to climate protection!" Based on decades of research conducted by pioneering biodynamic agriculturalist Ehrenfried Pfeiffer (1899-1961), the method employed is now recognised by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and certified under the Kyoto Protocol.

Local organic producers participating in the company's multi-national project can benefit threefold: through use of the compost produced as a fertiliser, through sale of the organic fertiliser to other local producers (organic or nonorganic) and through sale of emissions credits accruing under the UN Convention on Climate Change. It was this added value generated for local producers and small farm cooperatives in Third World and developing countries in combination with an innovative advance towards global climate protection that led the judges panel to recognise the nomination as a strong candidate for the Dutch Sustainability Award.

Soil & More acts as initiator and organiser of the overall process as well as advisor, operating the large-scale composting facilities on-site jointly with local partners and generating revenue through referral commissions and organiser fees.

Contact: Aart van den Bos, Tel: +31(0)180-635-545