06/05/2026
So why do buyers fear the use of compost in fresh vegetables? Why are people afraid of compost made with animal manures, and only want compost made from green waste if they can use compost?
Over the many years of the LGMA, there has been some confusion regarding composting. Is a turned windrow system of composting a verified method of composting? Yes, it is, and was done back in the late 60’s and early 70’s regarding the composting of bio solids or human waste. Was it an effective method of killing off human pathogens? Yes. Back in those days, they were only worried about Salmonella, not STEC’s like O157:H7, because those really hadn’t been discovered until the early 80’s. They were more worried about regrowth of Salmonella, which is a lot hardier than your STEC’s, but by having a rich biodiversity in the compost and meeting the standards of testing back then, Salmonella couldn’t grow. This has been confirmed in recent years back in 2008 by Clemson University when they tried to inoculate compost with human pathogens, and nothing would grow in the compost that was well mature and stable as well as under 1000 most probable number of F***l Coliforms or also known as thermal resistant coliforms. It didn’t matter what the feed stock was as long as the compost was stable, meaning all the biological energy or bio thermal chemicals reaction that would heat up the compost had finished, and the compost at 35% moisture content wouldn’t heat back up to over 121°F, which is considered active composting.
So this brings me back to my first statement of why be fearful of compost? There is no difference between green waste compost and manure based compost besides the manure compost is more nutrient rich for the soil. But still, there are those who are afraid, worried that something from the black lagoonmight crawl out and infect our fresh vegetables and fruits like the toxic avenger.
So why mine out all of our biodiversity and not give back to the soil that gave to us? We mono-crop even though we do crop rotation; we are still mono-cropping. Does this type of farming mimic a 300-year-old forest floor? No, it doesn’t, but a good biodiverse compost made from many feedstocks like green waste, manures of different animals and/or crop residues like culls from a salad plant do make that great biodiverse compost like that of the 300-year-old forest floor, so when a pterodactyl flies and has an accident over your field, the soil will absorb and outcompete the pathogen that might be there and still give you a healthy plant that fights off plant diseases.
So why do you think buyers are afraid of compost?
