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Policies To Put Carbon Back In Soils
Carbon 180, the Center for Carbon Renewal, spent the last 3 years working with producers, local organizations, and policymakers in the Rocky Mountain states to understand how policies and science can modernize to support practices that put carbon back into soils. |
Connections: Why Regenerative Agriculture Needs Recycled Organics
The importance of recycled organics in regenerative agriculture needs to be understood, not only by the municipalities that manage the feedstocks, but also by climate strategists and most importantly, state and federal agencies. Part VII |
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Connections: What’s Cooking?
Finding the ingredients to make a potting mix that plants will love from Class A digested biosolids entails trying a range of recipes, sniff tests and parameter measuring. |
Connections: Too Much Nitrogen To Eat
We’ve gone from famine to feast when it comes to nutrients to help plants grow. One example is nitrogen. Here’s a climate-smart strategy to wean off synthetic N by using the N in recycled organics. |
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Draft Soil Enrichment Protocol Incentivizes Carbon Storage
The Climate Action Reserve (CAR) released a first draft of its new Soil Enrichment Protocol (SEP) on April 17th that gives carbon credits for regenerative farming practices. |
Connections: Irrigation + Compost Math
How much does adding compost to production agriculture soils reduce irrigation needs? Let’s do the math. Part V.2 |
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Connections: Why Compost Is Cheapest Irrigation System
The bottom line is more organic matter means that the soil holds more water. Part V.1 |
Book Review: “The Waste Between Our Ears”
In times of rising heat, fire and rising waters, this new book by Gerry Gillespie presents recycling and composting as the means to achieve a zero waste economy. |
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Market Opportunities for Anaerobic Digestion In India
Under the auspices of the Global Methane Initiative, U.S. EPA developed a report, “Market Opportunities for Anaerobic Digestion of Livestock and Agro-Industrial Wastes in India,” to help inform project developers, policymakers, and other interested stakeholders about the potential for biogas capture and use in India. |
Organic On The Front Line Of California’s Climate Resilience
Fundamentally, organic farming practices, including use of compost, build healthy soils that store carbon and water — and yield food that builds healthy people. |
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Food Waste Reduction Roadmap For Farms
New guidance released on March 17 by the United Kingdom’s Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) provides growers with advice on how best to measure food surplus and waste on farms to identify the causes — and to help inform where action is needed. |
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Seeking Farmer Perspectives On AD
Risa Lewis, an undergraduate in the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources program at the University of Connecticut, has focused her senior thesis on on-farm anaerobic digestion in the Northeastern United States. A component of Lewis’ thesis is to conduct a survey on “Farmer Perspectives & Investment in Anaerobic Digestion”. |
Compost And Plant Disease Suppression
A microbial, community ecology approach to design compost amendments creates more reliable and resilient methods to suppress globally distributed soilborne pathogens. |
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Innovating To Reduce Phosphorus Impacts
Two companies are demonstrating the integration of composting and filtration technologies for the Vermont Phosphorus Innovation Challenge. |
Composting In Brazil
Composting agro-industrial residuals — from livestock manure to sugarcane sludges — is on the rise, with compost utilized for agricultural production. |
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Is Organic Certification Right For Your Compost?
The ability to produce a ”Listable” product greatly depends on its input materials and how those are processed. Typical composts and digestates are relatively inexpensive to List. |
Agriculture, Compost And Water Quality Intersections
A more defined connection between compost, soil health, and water quality is vital for inclusion in predictive watershed modeling and consequently, nutrient management plans. |
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Smithfield Foods Goes Big On Biogas
A commitment to anaerobic digestion on 90 percent of its hog finishing farms in 3 states was followed by formation of a joint venture with Dominion Energy, called Align Renewable Natural Gas. |
Digester Developer Finds Sweet Spots
Vanguard Renewables uses an “everybody wins” approach as it builds, owns and operates anaerobic digesters on dairy farms to process food waste and manure. |
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Testing Vermicompost In Hydroponic Systems
Alternative sources of nutrients such as organic-based vermicomposts could supplement a large portion of conventional fossil fuel-based hydroponic solutions. |
Hyperlocal Food To Soil Loops
San Diego nonprofit collaborates with local generators, growers and gardeners “to transform food scraps into social, environmental and economic goods for communities.” |
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Servicing Farms To Get Produce To Market
Professionally managed gleaning and value-added processing of gleaned harvests are contributing to enterprise creation and reducing the amount of food loss on farms. Part II |
Innovating To Reduce Wasted Food Left On Farms
Gleaning and minimal processing have facilitated enterprise development and markets for edible produce that is unharvested or cosmetically imperfect. Part I |
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Community-Scale Composting At Urban Gardens And Farms
The Neighborhood Soil Rebuilders program, developed by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, teaches community leaders how to compost locally in order to support food production. |
Farm Digester Developments
Conference presenters at BioCycle REFOR17 in Portland, Oregon discussed policies, trends and opportunities in the agricultural digester sector. |
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Microscale AD In The High Country Of North Carolina
To extend farmers’ growing season, project at Appalachian State University is evaluating heating options for microscale AD, including solar thermal and composting heat recovery. |
Digestibility Of Food Waste-Derived Animal Feed
Research study measured digestibility of targeted high value nutrients in three food waste streams in pig-feeding trial. |
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On-Farm Composting Hits Zoning Hurdle
Under Maryland’s composting regulations, farms that meet the state’s exemption must still comply with local zoning ordinances. |
Poultry Litter Digestion And Digestate Analyses
Data indicates codigestion with other substrates can improve biogas yield and quality. And most of the organic N is converted to ammonia, which can be converted to ammonium and nitrate by soil microbes. Part II |
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Closing The Loop
Growing A Revolution, published in Spring 2017, examines how restoring fertility to soils can be done rapidly and effectively through recycling organic matter and regenerative farming practices. |
Compost Fares Well In Fertilizer And Soil Amendment Rules
New definition for compost, and model language to exempt compost, biosolids and manure products, where warranted, under the Urban Landscape Fertilizer regulations, are among latest AAPFCO developments. |
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Poultry Litter Digestion
Poultry litter — a heterogeneous and fairly dry mix that includes manure and bedding — can be diluted to improve its digestibility. Part I |
Integrated Solutions On Half-Acre Urban Lot
Solar greenhouse, seasonal farm, and food scraps collection and management using microlivestock, insects and composting, are among the activities at educational facility. |
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Small-Scale Anaerobic Digestion For Agricultural Waste Management
A study in Germany assessed performance of 10 farm digesters that utilize different engineering designs producing under 75 kW of electricity. |
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California Climate Smart Ag Initiative Launched
Gov. Jerry Brown announced creation of the Healthy Soils Initiative in 2015. A recent Summit brought stakeholders together to discuss implementation and funding. |
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Mesophillic Static Pile Composting Of Animal Carcasses
MSPC offers many of the benefits of traditional on-site burial while minimizing the potential for environmental impact. |
Commercial Compost Application On Western Washington Farms
WSU Cooperative Extension in Snohomish County’s Compost Outreach Project has worked with over |
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Compost Use On Perennial Fruit Crops
Over a decade of research on application of compost to a variety of fruit crops shows range of benefits, including disease suppression and better crop use of nitrogen. |
Low Lead Poisoning Risk From Urban Gardening
Recently published journal article finds low risk of lead poisoning when growing food in urban soils. Using compost is a key tool in risk mitigation. |
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Compost And The Organic Farming Connections
BioCycle talks to the Rodale Institute’s new executive director and its compost production specialist about composting and compost use in organic agriculture. |
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Compost’s Role In Potato Industry Sustainability
Growers in New Brunswick, Canada, where the potato industry is struggling, have “an organic matter crisis.” Compost use trials have been underway for several years. |
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Compost And The Battle Against Citrus Greening
Reliable harvest data is still five to six years away, but plots where compost was applied are showing faster, healthier citrus tree growth. |
Preconsumer Food Scraps To Dairy Feed
San Diego County dairy farm captures more than 720 tons/month of preconsumer organics to feed its herd. |
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Compost Entrepreneuring In Nevada
Full Circle Soils and Compost focuses on making 100 percent specialty blends, based on specific soil analysis, “for any growing scenario.” |
Compost Use Trials On Ontario Farms
Results find compost benefits are dependent on soil type, crops being grown and their nitrogen requirements, the soil’s need for organic matter and the weather. |
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Agricultural Demand For Compost In Metro Portland Region
Economic analysis of compost supply, demand and utilization involved gathering data from various sources, including agricultural extension services, Metro and interviews with composters and farmers. |
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Leaf Composting Helps Preserve Family Farm
What began with a contract to compost leaves from the City of Charlottesville, Virginia has evolved into a sustainable soil amendment products company. |
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Building Farm And Food Scrap Digesters
A steady stream of anaerobic digestion facilities are coming on line, most equipped to process food waste. This first of a two-part series profiles several farm digesters. Part I |
Compost And Mulch Aid Drought Survival
Composts and organics should be emphasized as much as efficient irrigation techniques to keep crops growing in these times of uncertain water supplies. Part I |
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Cooperative Approaches To International Agricultural Biogas Projects
Small-scale digesters around the world offer many benefits to rural communities. Some employ cooperative approaches that result in large-scale benefits across the agriculture sector. |
