Shropshire fertiliser producer scoops top prize for product at leading industry show

Oswestry based, Lohas Fertiliser, won the Sustainability Impact Award at this month’s Four Oaks Trade Show.

The accolade recognises the company’s carbon-negative organic fertiliser range, whose production and application have been praised by the judges, who said: “Innovative technology that eliminates the emission of harmful emissions in the production and use of this organic fertiliser.”

Based at West Farm in Shropshire, the company was founded by Carlos Kao and Lian Lin. Since launching in 2021 with a £1 million investment, Lohas has pioneered an enzyme-based fermentation process that converts organic waste, such as poultry manure, into a pathogen-free fertiliser within three hours. The product is already being adopted by growers, vineyards and horticultural specialists across the UK.

Carlos Kao said: “Winning the Sustainability Impact Award is a huge honour for our team and reinforces our commitment to transforming organic waste into valuable resources.

“This recognition shows our technology is helping farmers and growers and also addressing urgent environmental challenges such as nutrient runoff, ammonia emissions and greenhouse gas reduction.”

Visitors to the trade show were impressed with the couple’s latest product, organic soluble liquid fertiliser, also known as ‘fertiliser tea’, along with their fertiliser products produced as granules and pearls.

Harry Hoblyn, nursery manager and director at Rymer Tree and Nurseries, a professional horticultural grower, has trialled the Lohas fertiliser on Tillias and Crataegus and compared the Lohas granular, the Lohas pearls, another granular product against plants with no fertiliser at all.

He said: “The plants that had the two Lohas fertilisers filled their containers with roots significantly quicker than the other product, which is amazing.

“What I love about your product is how natural it is, the lower airmiles, and you seem like a great company that we'd like to support and I also love how quickly things rooted with it.”

Lohas Fertiliser is also celebrating successful trials at Harper Adams University where the product has been trialled growing broccoli and tomatoes, along with a further field-scale grassland trial.

Lian Lin added: “We are proud that our work in Shropshire is setting a standard in sustainable agriculture, and this award highlights the importance of innovation in building a circular economy and supporting climate-conscious farming practices.

“For horticultural growers, pathogen-free status is especially important. Our fertilisers have been consistently tested by independent laboratories, with every analysis confirming they are pathogen free and we are so proud of this.

“Four Oaks was a great event, giving us the opportunity to meet with industry leaders, nurseries and horticultural growers, which made the recognition even more meaningful for us.”

The Four Oaks Trade Show is one of the UK’s leading exhibitions for commercial horticulture. Held annually on a 23-acre nursery site in Cheshire, it attracts over 250 exhibitors and more than 4,000 visitors, including growers, garden centre chains, landscape architects, professional gardeners, wholesalers and retailers. It offers a showcase of machinery, growing media, sundries, plants and innovations across the horticultural sector.

With its current production capacity already reaching 150 tonnes per month, Lohas Fertiliser has ambitious plans to expand further to meet growing demand, while continuing to lead the way in sustainable farming solutions.