Organic nitrogenous fertilizers and methods of making the same

A method for producing a concentrated amino acid fertilizer from an enzymatic hydrolysate of proteinaceous plant material, comprising:

• a. performing an extraction process on a slurry of plant material in water at a predetermined temperature and alkaline pH range for a predetermined period;
• b. separating a first liquid portion of the slurry from solid material in said slurry;
• c. hydrolyzing the first liquid portion derived from the plant material by adding protease enzymes, at a temperature in a range of about 48° C. to about 60° C., and at a pH in a range of about 8 to about 9;
• and
• d. heating the resulting hydrolysate to a temperature in a range of about 75° C. to about 90° C. to deactivate the protease enzymes.

A method of producing a liquid nitrogen fertilizer from organic material, comprising:

• a. performing a non-enzymatic extraction process on a slurry of plant material in water at a predetermined temperature and alkaline pH range for a predetermined period;
• b. separating a first liquid portion of the slurry from solid material in said slurry;
• c. performing an enzymatic digestion step on the first liquid portion using one or more proteases at a predetermined temperature and pH range for a predetermined period to produce a first hydrolysate;
• and
• d. concentrating the first hydrolysate to yield a nitrogen-rich fertilizer composition including about at least 50% w/w of the composition consists of free amino acids and oligopeptides of less than 2000 Da.