Dou Laboratory

We seek to answer three fundamental questions that are central to building more sustainable agrifood systems:

• How can nutrients embedded in food-supply-chain waste streams be recovered for re-use rather than lost/wasted?
• How can circular strategies improve both food system efficiency and environmental sustainability?
• How can quantitative analysis of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) flows guide the transition to more resilient and sustainable agrifood systems?

As food moves through production, processing, distribution, consumption, and end-of-life waste management, these essential nutrients are continually transformed. With food loss and waste, the nutrients embedded in that biomass are also lost, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions, resource depletion, and environmental pollution.

By integrating laboratory and field experiments with systems analysis and life-cycle assessment, we develop science-based solutions that recover and recycle nutrients from food-supply-chain waste streams. Our goal is to improve nutrient stewardship, reduce environmental impacts, and enhance the resilience and sustainability of agrifood systems.

Fig. 1. Global food loss and waste (1,640 Mt, 2017 data) and distributions at different stages of the food supply chain. Adapted from Dou et al., Resour. Conserv. Recycl. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2024.107418, 2024

Over the past two decades, our research has expanded from nutrient management in agricultural primary production to nutrient stewardship across the entire agrifood system. This evolution reflects a growing recognition that improving environmental sustainability requires understanding nutrient flows beyond the farm gate, from food production and consumption to waste recovery and circular resource use.