The Compost Solution Workshop

1. The Compost Solution Workshop Agricultural Compost Specifications February 28, 2007 Ronald Lew www.ciwmb.ca.gov

2. What is the Project? • Improve and expand compost use in agriculture by providing reliable scientifically-derived information on suitable compost properties to California growers • Develop comprehensive agricultural compost specifications • Develop Compost Use Index that incorporates information from the new specifications to allow growers make correct compost choices or their designated crop • Introduce the newly developed specifications to ag. community through workshops, brochures, and educational materials

3. A Partnership Between CIWMB, Agricultural Community, CDFA, UCR Extension, and the Compost Industry

4. Problem Definition:Compost and Agriculture:10% of all compost sold goes to Agriculture (Compost Infrastructure Survey, 2003)Agriculture has ability to use much more compostCompost has many benefits to growers

5. Compost and Mulch Benefits the Agriculture in a Number of Ways • Supplies macro- and micronutrients • Supplies beneficial microorganism • Suppresses certain soil-borne diseases • Binds and degrades specific pollutants • Improves soil tilth • Water holding capacity • Drainage potential • Reduces the need for fertilizers and pesticides • Encourages slow release of nitrogen • Improves drought tolerance • Improves plant health and vigor • Increases biodiversity

6. Why Isn’t Agriculture Using More Compost? • Cost vs. perceived benefits • Product quality • Lack of compost specifications • Education End Result: Incorrect choices of compost for designated use

7. Barriers to Effective Compost Specifications1) Tendency to bog down in discussion of regulatory standards2) Tendency to produce generic compost primarily for the purpose of recycling waste material, rather than tailoring production to specific uses and customers3) Tendency for research laboratories to focus on how compost performs rather than the physical-chemical characteristics of that compostcontinued….

8. Barriers to Effective Compost Specificationscontinued….. 4) Historically limited quality control in the field (users not always having affordable and portable instrumentation to verify product quality 5) Disagreement about what to include or exclude in specifications, especially for marketing purposes 6) Underlying basic differences among various professional disciplines about “what is good compost”

9. Idealized Compost Specifications: • Grade or category designations • Appropriate end-use and limitations • Feedstock ingredients • Process descriptions including cure times • Contamination limits, including regulatory standards • Physical-chemical characteristics e.g. pH • Performance characteristics • Adjusting for local conditions (soil, etc.) • References (literature, web sites, etc.) • Vendor notes (delivery, spreading, etc.)

10. Project Task and Timelines: • Task 1: Assemble team, conduct literature search, develop workplan, identify crops (Winter/Spring 2007) • Task 2: Determine research methods, conduct needed experiments (Spring 2007/Summer 2008) • Task 3: Set specifications (Summer 2008) • continued….

11. Project Task and Timelines continued…. • Task 4: Implement Use Index (Summer/Fall 2008) • Task 5: Beta Test ACP index (Spring/Summer 2008) • Task 6: Specification refinement (Fall 2008) • Task 7: On-line implementing and marketing (Fall/Winter 2008) • Task 8: Conduct workshops (Winter 2008)

12. www.ciwmb.ca.gov