Farmers turn to composting to protect crops, revive soils

NORMAN PARK - A giant claw grabs limbs and leaves at Gromor Organics Inc. and puts them into a giant, red machine called ``The Monster&#39;&#39; that chews them into fine particles that become compost to enrich south Georgia vegetable fields. <br> <br> ``People look at what is on top of the soil,&#39;&#39; said manager Peter Germishuizen, a South African with years of composting experience in South and Central America. ``They don&#39;t look below. That&#39;s where the secret of life is.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Three vegetable farmers formed Gromor in 1999 to increase the organic material in their soils and to prepare for a 2005 ban on methyl bromide, a widely used fumigant that kills insects, nematodes, weeds, and pathogens in more than 100 crops. <br> <br> The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency imposed the ban after methyl bromide was found to deplete ozone. <br> <br> Germishuizen said the organic material in the farmers&#39; fields had dropped to about half a percent. His goal is to bring the level to about 3 percent by adding compost. Gromor can produce 29,000 tons a year. <br> <br> The town of Moultrie, located about 10 miles southwest of the site, supplies the yard waste. Taxpayers save a little by having it composted rather than dumped in the landfill, and the partnership helps the town of 14,680 meet a state mandate to reduce solid waste by 25 percent, City Manager Tony Rojas said. <br> <br> ``It&#39;s nice to know it is recycled and it just doesn&#39;t go in the ground to rot,&#39;&#39; he said. ``Our savings are minimal. The biggest thing is it doesn&#39;t cost us any more, but we know it&#39;s recycled.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Modern farming practices deplete soils of organic matter and eliminate microorganisms, earthworms and beneficial insects that promote plant growth and protect crops from pests. Depleted soil forces farmers to use more fertilizers, pesticides and water, which has become a critical issue for a state in its fifth year of drought. <br> <br> A growing number of farmers have responding by switching to more soil-friendly growing practices. They include the use of cover crops, such as rye or clover that enrich the soil, tillage methods that barely disturb the soil and the use of compost to increase organic material and fertility. Some use a combination of all three methods. <br> <br> Georgia has at least two other agricultural composting sites in Plains, which recycles peanut hulls, and Douglas, which uses municipal sewage sludge. <br> <br> The two essential ingredients for composting are carbon and nitrogen. Gromor mixes the yard waste, which supplies the carbon, with decaying vegetables or chicken manure, which supplies nitrogen. <br> <br> The mixture is then piled in rows about 4 feet high, some as long as 600 feet long, while the material turns into compost. <br> <br> ``In there is a factory,&#39;&#39; Germishuizen said, pointing to one of the rows. ``The workers are billions of microbes. If you look after them well, they&#39;ll never go on strike.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Germishuizen digs into the side of a row with a shovel and steam drifts from the interior, where the composting process generates temperatures between 120 and 130 degrees. <br> <br> Periodically, supervisor Jesus DelAngel uses a machine that straddle the rows and flips the mixture with revolving paddles while injecting water. The process sends up clouds of white steam. <br> <br> Fungi start the process, bacteria take over during the hottest phase, and then the fungi resume their work as the compost nears completion in 12 to 13 weeks, Germishuizen said. <br> <br> ``Our composting process accelerates what nature would do over a long period,&#39;&#39; Germishuizen said. ``This eventually becomes black dirt ... free of weeds, seeds and pathogens.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Kent Hamilton, one of Gromor&#39;s three farm owners at Southern Valley Fruit and Vegetables, said the growers hope the compost will improve fertility, increase the soil&#39;s water-holding capacity and increase carbon and microorganisms. <br> <br> The University of Georgia is conducting studies to assess the effectiveness of compost in controlling pests that were traditionally killed by the fumigant. <br> <br> Sharad Phatak, a horticulturist at the University of Georgia&#39;s Coastal Plain Experiment Station in Tifton, said he is impressed with the quality of Gromor&#39;s compost material. <br> <br> Phatak, a longtime advocate for cover crops and minimum tillage, said the growers who created Gromor are ``headed in the right direction.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> ``Every grower has to find their own comfort zone,&#39;&#39; he said. ``If they are comfortable with what they are doing and they are making money, I&#39;m not going to argue with success.&#39;&#39;