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Boosting soil fertility with budget friendly composting

Composting is an important practice in organic farming. Learn more about the economical aspects, application, doses and benefits of composting.

Ajit Masurkar, Naturland e.V.

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Organic farming relies on natural resources and biological processes in order to optimise the long-term nutrient management. Compost is an important input, not only as a source of fertilization but also to improve the soil's physical and chemical properties. Composting is an easy and economical practice since its raw materials are readily available on organic farms - for example, farmyard manure or harvest residues. Recycling nutrients this way is a key principle of organic farming.

To explore the topic in more detail, the Naturland Academy recently conducted an online seminar with two Italian compost experts. Ambrogio Pigoli from Consorzio Italiano Compostatori explained the process of composting and its benefits:

"Farmers need to be aware of technical composition of soil ... so (they can) make better fertilization decisions"

Ambrogio Pigoli talked further about the mechanisms of industrial composting and its components. While explaining about the dose of industrial compost products, he stressed that it is not easy to give precise numbers for it as it changes according to the soil characteristics. Some estimated doses suggested by Ambrogio:

Crop typeRecommended compost dose (kg/ha)
Wheat and other cereals

Minimum dose: 3,000

Average dose: 20,000

Forage and pasture maintenance

Minimum dose: 1,500

Average dose: 10,000

Vines, olives and orchards (planting)

Minimum dose: 11,000

Average dose: 35,000

Vines, olives and orchards (in production)

Minimum dose: 6,000

Average dose: 10,000-30,000

He highlighted that there is often no maximum doses of compost since it doesn’t impact soil and growth negatively like chemical fertilizers. After applying compost in forage and pasture, cattle must be kept off that grazing area for at least 21 days.

"For me, compost is a heart of the farm."

Italian agronomist Alessio Capezzuoli spoke about financial and organizational aspects of on-farm compost and how to reduce the operating costs. He suggested

  • to place the compost site near by the main field to make the distribution of the mature compost easier.
  • to distribute approximately 20,000 kg/ha of compost to create perfect conditions for beneficial soil organisms to reproduce.
  • to reconsider heap methods of composting for which farmers use machinery to mix compost. Instead, incorporating a vermicompost system which utilises earthworms for the decomposition of material can reduce the cost of production. For example, for the decomposition of 40,000 kg of manure, around 5 kg of earthworms are sufficient.
  • to use sugary inputs like pumpkin in the compost heap to help with the accumulation of local varieties of earthworms. They will support the further decomposition process.

Further reading

Author

Ajit Masurkar comes from a family of Indian rice farmers. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in International Organic Agriculture and supporting the Naturland Academy with the development of new digital learning offers.