Grown in Marin

On-Farm Composting - 6/10/04

Composting on-farm reduces the need for bringing in outside inputs for crop farmers, and adds another income stream and efficiency to animal agriculture operations. This workshop will cover feedstock selection, pile and windrow building, aging, organic certification requirements and fertility analysis. Join us at the McEvoy Ranch compost operation with Jeff Creque to find out how to manage on-farm composting.

Speakers:

  • Jeff Creque, rangeland and soil fertility expert
  • Kevin Lunny, who has begun an experimental project for composting dairy waste on the LaFranchi Dairy
  • Anita Sauber, who runs the Marin Organic Certified Agriculture Program for the Agricultural Commissioner's Office.

Resources: 

Complete resource site:
http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/farmcompost.html
http://vric.ucdavis.edu/selectnewtopic.compost.htm

Compost Info
http://vric.ucdavis.edu/veginfo/topics/compost/makingcompost.pdf

Disease Control 
http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/compost/disease.txt 

Erosion Control 
http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/compost/erosion.pdf

Operator's Fact Sheet 
http://compost.css.cornell.edu/Factsheets/FactsheetTOC.html

On-Farm Composting Handbook
http://www.nraes.org/publications/nraes54.html 

Rapid Composting 
http://vric.ucdavis.edu/veginfo/topics/compost/rapidcompost.pdf 

Composting Manure Nebraska Study 
http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/compost/analysis.txt

Sources of Worms and Equipment:

  • The Worm Concern, 1450 Tierra Rejada, Simi Valley, CA 93065, Jay Escover, (805) 496-2872
  • Resource Conversion Corporation, 7825 Fay Ave. Suite 380, Suite 380, La Jolla, CA 92037, Joseph Roberts, (618) 551-4800

Case Study: Agricultural Composting, New York 
http://compost.css.cornell.edu/feas.study.html#cost