Civil Eats

APRIL 29, 2024

Steve Ela is an organic fruit grower in western Colorado who relies on compost to nourish his heirloom tomato crop each year. Ela knows first-hand how central compost is to his organic farm—and all organic agriculture. Department of Agriculture (USDA) compost rules could dramatically change the meaning of organic compost for farmers.

Compost 107

Compost Manufacturing Food Production 107

Civil Eats

MARCH 19, 2024

It’s also one with many potential uses ; it can be used as compost, as a means of decontaminating soil, as biofuel, and simply for growing more mushrooms. Stempel currently takes most of the material to a nearby compost facility, but local farms, gardeners, and florists also take a portion. It wasn’t a tough sell. In the U.S.,

Compost 117

Compost Farming Farming Logistics 117

UnderstandingAg

OCTOBER 29, 2023

Although no-till implies not tilling at all, many no-till market gardeners still rely on some form of light tillage to create a seed bed or apply copious amounts of compost as a mulch to create a seed bed. If you live in a high-rainfall climate, I recommend applying straw mulch after seeding to reduce crusting and soil loss.

Crop 90

Crop Cash Crop Seeding Harvester 90

Civil Eats

MARCH 11, 2024

He mostly grows salad greens across 3 acres of farmland. He steeps the compost like a tea, extracting the microorganisms in water, and then runs it through his irrigation system. In addition to applying compost tea, Robb supports fungal life by creating mulch from wood chips, which the fungi help decompose.

Farming 130

Farming Farming Crop Agriculture 130

Civil Eats

DECEMBER 4, 2023

The Rodale Institute , a nonprofit research institution for organic farming, cites that every acre of land farmed with plastic mulch creates upwards of 120 pounds of waste that typically end up in landfill, or otherwise break down into the soil or nearby watersheds. Depending on [those] factors,” she adds,” everything is scalable.”

Agriculture 129

Agriculture Agriculture Supply Chain Production 129

Modern Farmer

MARCH 1, 2024

According to its website, the material decays in controlled composting conditions. More than 200,000 acres of cotton is grown in the San Joaquin Valley—”enough to create at least seven pairs of jeans each year for every person in the state,” says Burgess. “I have one customer in the world.”

Textiles 98

Textiles Manufacturing Production Processing 98

Sustainable Food Trust

JUNE 14, 2023

By ‘lack of humus’ he is referring to the increasing trend, even then, to dispense with returning organic matter to the soil, for example, in the form of composted farmyard manure, that was made possible by the development of synthetic fertilisers.

Ploughing 52

Ploughing Crop Yield Farming 52