English These resources look at how farmers can work together in a local area to create and share compost. These documents explain the processes involved in creating a circular system.
Compost making with Jez Taylor – vlog
Compost can improve soil fertility through supplying mineral fertilisers such as potassium, phosphorus, and nitrogen and it can help to strongly influence the soil carbon storage which is also an important factor of soil fertility.
Jez Taylor, head of the market garden at Daylesford Organic Farm shares his recipe for making compost. He talks us through his top tips and secret ingredients(!) for a healthy heap at each stage of the composting process
Digestate and compost use in agriculture (WRAP)
Anaerobic digestate and compost can be considered renewable fertilisers, much like livestock slurry and farmyard manure. This guide provides an introduction to compost and anaerobic digestate, how they should be integrated into farm nutrient planning, and how they should be applied to the field.
Compost tea – a good brew? – blog
Can compost tea be used as an effective way to enhance soil microbiology as a microbial inoculant in an organic arable system?
Compost tea and its use as a microbial inoculant has been the subject of a lot of attention recently and there have been many bold anecdotal claims made about the benefits for crops and soils, but there is very little academic research proving efficacy.
Through the Innovative Farmers research programme and one farmer’s passion to investigate the potential of enhancing the microbiology in her arable fields, compost tea is now being tested on farm to help answer some of the questions surrounding the practice…
Use of green waste compost – pdf
This abstract was composed as part of a Defra-funded project looking at organic management techniques that could be applied on non-organic farms and help improve sustainability. It describes how to tackle reductions in soil organic matter in arable soils and find alternative sources of soil fertility. Green waste compost can be applied to fields as a valuable soil amendment, reducing fertiliser use and improving soil health, whilst reducing landfill. It lists the main agronomic, economic and/or ecological value you can expect to gain. It includes practical recommendations that will help you implement the method and other useful information such as the time of year you could apply the method, suitability according to your farming system, and equipment required. It also includes case study of a farm applying the practice. Potential benefits and barriers you would need to consider, financial implications, and how it relates to legislation are also listed.
Organics collection and reprocessing – WRAP
WRAP’s work on organics details how organic reprocessors can work across the food and garden waste supply chain, including local authorities and farmers, to produce renewable energy and valuable compost and biofertilisers by anaerobic digestion of these wastes.
Community Composting: A Practical Guide for Local Management of Biowaste Zero Waste Europe Guide
The members of the professional association Fertile Auro (FeA), have over ten years of experience in fostering decentralized management models for organic waste, with an environmental and social approach based in the concept of circular economy. They have designed and implemented tens of plans for the local management of organic matter, monitored thousands of domestic and community composters in different territories, gathered and analyzed data and samples from many experiences, both at national and international level… and even designed the first model of a modular community composter. Because of such experience, they found necessary to draft and suggest a reference guide for the implementation of community composting, allowing to foster the model’s good practices, and develop the state, community or local regulation guaranteeing both the model’s efficiency as well as the minimization of environmental risks and increasing social acceptance.
Social Farms & Gardens Resources
Social Farms and Gardens have curated a package of resources for farmers on a range of subjects. Use this page to access the resources and search for relevant information.
Webinar: Composting for small farms with Nicky Scott – CSA video
Join Nicky Scott, as he shares the tips and tricks of successful composting on a small farm and market garden scale. Nicky gives us all the theory behind perfect heaps, as well as sharing practical ideas for how to kick off or improve your own composting practise. This online webinar – in November 2021 – is part of the Farming the Future series of events.
