How can I feed my soil? Which composting method best suits my farm? What am I trying to achieve with composting? These were some of the questions we tried to answer collectively in the always-buzzing Soil Medic Tent at Groundswell with the Land Gardeners, farmers, researchers, students and other compost enthusiasts.
As part of the Feed the Soil project, we shared our initial findings, characteristics and impacts of six different composting methods: windrow composting, hot composting, areated static pile composting, biodynamic composting, vermicomposting and lactic acid fermentation (Bokashi). We brought together results from our on-farm composting systems review and early learnings from trials conducted with compost practitioners on farms in the UK.
“It felt like ORC’s contribution complemented well the talks from practitioners sharing their experiences from around the world. I really enjoyed the session on vermicomposting which particularly resonated with our first findings that vermicompost had higher proportion of available nitrogen” Giulia Kessous, assistant researcher at ORC.
We were also there to listen. Farmers shared the challenges they face and the information they needed to make composting work at farm scale. Their feedback will help ensure the Feed the Soil project’s final resources are both scientifically robust and practical to use. Stay tuned!
Our work on compost does not stop with the Feed the Soil project as Groundswell was the opportunity to strengthen collaborative work with other researchers and practitioners in the UK and across Europe.
