Impacts of a compost school

THE UNIVERSITY of Maine Cooperative Extension (UMCE) Compost School has made significant impacts in the compost industry after only three years of operation. From the first session in June, 1997 through the school in June, 1999, 164 students have graduated. The majority of the students have come from New England, but some have come from more distant states as well as foreign countries. Over half are from government agencies or municipal projects; about one-third of the students are from the private sector, typically privately operated composting facilities. The rest are from the agricultural sector.

The UMCE also received a $102,000 USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) grant to provide professional development training for Cooperative Extension, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Conservation District, and State Department of Agriculture personnel from New England. Eighty individuals attended the school over a twoyear period. Participants under the SARE grant program reported that they have assisted 44 farmers in starting on-farm composting operations; 18 have linked up with municipalities for feedstocks to process.

Based on surveys conducted by the UMCE Compost School administrators, overall economic benefits to the compost industry have been reported by school graduates. These include: Increased profits by $1.5 million through a change in marketing strategy from wholesale to retail; Improved quality of 121,500 cubic yards (cy) of compost annually through changes in management and operational techniques; Established 12 new composting facilities with an estimated volume of 30,600 cy of compost annually; Created 15 new jobs in the compost industry; and Added new feedstocks to compost recipes at 20 facilities.

Many individual successes have been reported by participants at the UMCE Compost School. Two examples are:

Members of the potato industry in Colorado contacted the compost school requesting assistance with training of potato industry personnel for composting cull potatoes. The state was experiencing an outbreak of late blight and realized that composting was an effective method for handling the diseased potatoes. Industry representatives attended the compost school. They estimate that composting of cull potatoes in Colorado could involve up to 208,000 cy of organic materials.

In New Brunswick, Canada, a large correctional facility wanted to start a composting operation to handle its organic residuals. The two designated operators, with no prior composting experience, attended the compost school and returned to the facility and started a successful large indoor windrow composting project to handle the residuals consisting of pig manure, cow manure, paper, straw bedding, sawdust and kitchen scraps.

In 1998, the UMCE Compost School was the recipient of the Composting Educator of the Year award from the Maine Resource Recovery Association. - Neal D. Hallee

[Author Affiliation]

Neal Hallee, Ph.D. is Waste Management Specialist, University of Maine Cooperative Extension, Orono. Hallee serves as coordinator for the UMCE Compost School and is one of the school directors.