Feed the Soil: A research and knowledge exchange hub for novel organic waste management strategies to build healthy soils and healthy crops

Feed the soil, not your plants, has been a mantra of the organic farming movement since its inception in the last century. Composted organic waste is a key input to provide food to soil organisms and build soil health and fertility in organic systems. Recent growing interest in soil health and best management practices among conventional farmers has renewed interest in compost and its products (e.g. extracts, compost teas). Advocates for different composting systems and uses of the final product promote composting as a way to improve soil microbial diversity and function (particularly with a goal to make soils more “fungal”), sequester carbon, reduce reliance on herbicides and fungicides, and improve nutrient supply to the crop. In addition to these benefits, composting provides a way to reduce the volume of organic wastes prior to application and stabilise volatile nutrients in forms that pose less risk to the environment.

This is the first phase of a larger project which aims to develop a centralised research facility for the development of knowledge and dissemination on composting systems, particularly within an organic farming context.

Project Leaders and Partners

• ORC (project leader)
• The Land Gardeners

Project Aims

The approach

There is a lack of practical advice developed in real-world conditions in the UK on the best way to compost organic wastes and apply it (or its products) to produce a biologically active product to feed the soil. To address this gap will require a comparison of different composting methods and application strategies under robust, controlled, conditions, on a network of farms, so that some clear guidance for farmers can be developed.

Specific questions to be answered include:

• What is the best composting method and application system to optimise microbial diversity and function?
• What is the best composting method and application system to produce crops of high nutritional quality and density?
• What will be the impacts of implementing these methods on crop yields and farm economics?
• What will be the impacts of implementing these methods on the farm’s overall carbon footprint?

The project will be delivered in two phases. In Phase 1 the evidence about different composting methods will be reviewed and current research activities will be mapped. This will help to identify knowledge gaps and frame the activities during Phase 2 when methods will be tested in the field, carbon footprinting will be conducted and knowledge exchange activities delivered.

ORC’s Role

Project lead