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Farm Compost Marketing Insights

January 15, 2013

Effective marketing can influence whether a company survives in today's economy or not. This is true in any business, including compost. Compost operations must compete with other compost operations, as well as gardening supply centers and retail stores selling multiple brands of compost, peat moss, and fertilizers.

To expand and support compost markets in the Northeast, NERC was awarded a grant from the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program. Resources developed by NERC for the project, as well as presentations from seven compost marketing workshops, are posted on NERC's Compost Marketing webpage.

NERC is also providing technical assistance to farm compost operations. NERC developed operation-specific marketing plans and provides ongoing advice to compost operators. Recent site visits were made to three farm compost operations in New York State.

Cobblestone Valley Farm photoCobblestone Valley is a diversified organic farm certified by NOFA-NY Certified Organic, LLC, located in the heart of New York State in the small town of Preble. The backbone of the farm is dairy production and products, with all other enterprises connected to and synergistic with milk production. The farm also produces certified organic pastured poultry, which includes broilers and turkey, grass-fed beef, pastured pork, pick-your-own strawberries, and compost.

Manure from the farm's dairy barn is combined with straw, sawdust, old hay, old silage, and animal bedding to make compost. The compost ingredients are assembled into a windrow, with adequate pile turning and maintenance to ensure proper composting.

Cobblestone Valley compost is primarily sold in bulk through direct farm sales. The compost is marketed through the farm's CSA (community supported agriculture) and its website.

compost windrow photo

Devine Gardens compost photo

The Devine Gardens 75 acre farm was purchased in November 2009. The barn and some pasture land on the farm are leased by a farmer for raising 30 head of cattle, as well as pigs.

Devine Gardens worm bin photoDevine Gardens specializes in vermicomposting—"worm composting." Manure and bedding from the livestock operation is first composted in bays using an "aerated static pile" system where air is forced through the pile. The material is kept in the pile for three-to-five days at temperatures of at least 131°F. The material is then transferred to large wooden bins housing the worms. The worms eat the partially composted manure/bedding and leave behind "castings" rich in soil nutrients. These castings and composted manure/bedding are harvested and cured for sale.

The resulting vermicompost product is sold through several retail centers and the Central New York Regional Market (Syracuse), as well as through the Devine Garden's website. The operation will also be marketing a premium compost product this spring.

Devine Gardens compost for sale photo

Fern Hill compost bays photoFern Hill Compost started as the manure management system for Fern Hill Farm, a business that breeds Thoroughbred horses for the race track. The horse operation had generated a large accumulation of manure which, not being the primary focus of the farm, simply decomposed in a pile. Due to concern with the environmental impact of uncontrolled decomposition on the ecosystem, the farm operators constructed a composting facility in the summer of 2009.

The process utilized by Fern Hill Compost is "aerated static pile composting" with periodic re-mixing. This is a managed process that takes months to complete, but the benefits can clearly be seen in the quality of the finished product.

Fern Hill Compost is sold in both bag and bulk through numerous retail outlets, the Central New York Regional Market (Syracuse), and through the Fern Hill website.

Fern Hill compost bag label photo

For more information about NERC's Compost Marketing Project contact Athena Lee Bradley.

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