FAQ
Benefits for your farming operation
- Reduces nutrient leaching which can cause water quality issues (improves regulatory practices)
- Reduces nutrient evaporation and off gassing by tying up nutrients – Can reduce or near eliminate odor issues (improves regulatory practices)
- Even though compost application to fields currently falls into the same category as manure within the AOPA, applying compost is basically soil and can have reduced regulatory issues, as noted above
- During the compost process the volume of organics material can be reduced by ~50% or more – reducing truck spreading time, cost, soil compaction and can lessen dust complaint issues
Benefits for your soil health
- Improves water holding capacity
- Increases soil carbon content
- Improves soil structure for improved workability and better crop establishment
- Can inhibit pests and diseases within the soil structure
- Compost can be an inorganic fertilizer substitution – it has slow release crop-available nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphate, potash, magnesium, sulphur and others
- Many studies have shown reduced synthetic fertilizer needs while maintaining or increasing crop yields – input costs are reduced as profits increase
Water Holding Capacity
- For every 1% increase of organic matter in soil the water holding capacity increases, studies show ranges from 10,000-16,000 gallons per acre
- If there is only ~1% organic matter in the soil it can only hold up to 16,000 gallons – a one-inch rain supplies 28,000 gallons of water per acre.. where does the rest go?!
- Subsequently, soil with ~4% organic matter can have the water holding capacity for a two-inch rain event
- Barrhead, AB averages <1.7” of rain per month..
- Adding compost to soil is one of the best and most economical ways in adding organic matter to soils and thus increasing water holding capacity
Carbon Farming
- Carbon is a key currency of agricultural systems. This is an exciting subject with wide and positive implications for farmers
- When compost is applied to soil, reports range from .05 up to 10 tons per acre – per year of carbon cycled (or sequestered) back into the soil
There has been a flurry of recent research into soil carbon sequestration relating to carbon credits – meaning getting paid to cycle carbon back into the soil! Watch this space for future development.
To quote Nori’s Director of Carbon Economics Aldyen Donnelly: “It is technically impossible for Canada to comply with its 2030 and later year net greenhouse gas reduction commitments without carbon removal not only being on the table but being the major play in the nations emissions reduction management strategy.
More importantly, if you look at cropland and good production per capita in Canada, the greatest opportunity at a nation level worldwide is with Canada.”