On-farm Composting

Farmers have been using the natural process of composting for centuries. Modern industrial scale agriculture moved away from using composting as a standard farm management practice. More recently, on-farm composting and the use of compost in agriculture have seen a resurgence.

Organic and biodynamic farmers are not the only agricultural producers using compost to increase and maintain soil health and provide key nutrients for their crops: many broad acre and other farmers across the nation use compost products to reduce irrigation needs, increase yield, increase carbon and nutrient levels in soil and to improve soil structure. 

Throughout the 20th century chemical fertilisers have been used to increase and maintain production, however they cannot replace the loss of organic carbon in the soil, are increasingly expensive and, ultimately, deplete soil nutrient levels. Compost provides both the nutrients and organic carbon necessary to rehabilitate degraded soils and to support production in intensive farming systems. Application of compost can reduce the need for irrigation water and increase production, particularly where soils are already degraded by
many years of farming.

Some farmers make their own compost using straw, manures and other readily available agricultural wastes or local by-products of food processing. They manage the composting process using readily available farm machinery and apply the compost to their own land. Some farmers are purchasing specially designed machines called ‘windrow turners’ and monitoring equipment so they can gain greater control of the composting process and produce high quality composts called ‘humic’ composts.

In Australia, on-farm composting is still in its infancy but is gaining momentum.

On-farm composting is well suited for rural and semi-rural areas where this concept is able to deliver significant benefits for waste management, the environment, the community and farmers. On-farm composting schemes provide local solutions for local problems and they make use of farmers’ existing skills in managing biological / mechanical systems as well as of their machinery and facilities.

To find out more about On-farm Composting go to the following links:

• http://www.environment.gov.au/settlements/publications/waste/composting/index.html
• Avoid Composting Pitfalls - Biological Farmers of Australia (pdf)
• The "Can Do" composting series by Pam Pittaway on the Biological Farmers of Australia website - http://www.bfa.com.au/index.asp?Sec_ID=46