A collaborative project conducted from 2010 to 2015 involved 17 partners from government, industry and academia. It explored technologies to support a more efficient and sustainable strategy for phosphorus (P) use on UK arable land, dubbed ‘feed the crop, not the soil’. Through (i) a review, (ii) experiments on crop performance and P run-off, both in pots and the field, and (iii) modelling, the project explored how the farming industry might make the transition to this new approach.