Sourcing And Applying Compost Effectively

Andrew Braham: No two seasons are the same, no two years are the same, so everything's different. So you've always got to keep learning and every little bit you learn always helps you progress and get better and further ahead.

Lachlan Jefferies: We just encourage people just to try, just try it in a road, just try in a paddock, try it in a corner, those kind of things, and obviously have a control. So have an area where you're not adding material and you see the difference.

Tim Mendham: The cost per hectare is still expensive. A lot of farmers are looking at it and a lot of farmers are keen. I think a lot of farmers are looking over the fence to see how it goes on other people's places.

Craig Allen: G'day. I'm Craig Allen and you are listening to the Healthy Soils Podcast, a series about compost and how it can help create healthy soils that then grow the food we eat in Australia. The purpose of this podcast series is to help make the connection between organic waste generation and food production and to inspire you to think about what you can do when it comes to organic waste, including food waste and compost.

On this journey, we've been talking with farmers, composters, and soil experts about the role we can all play in getting organic waste out of landfill and instead turned into compost because healthy soils produce healthy crops which lead to healthy humans and animals.

In this episode, we tackle two key questions. Where can you get compost and how can you use it effectively? From sourcing the right type of compost to applying it for maximum benefit, we'll explore practical tips and insights to help you make the most of this powerful tool for soil health.

Compost on a commercial scale is about processing tonnes of organic material to strict standards, transforming soils, boosting yields, and improving sustainability. We'll hear from Andrew Braham of Braham Produce, who shares his experience sourcing and using compost in greenhouse farming. And we'll talk to Tim Mendham, an experienced farmer trialling pelletized compost. But first, Lachlan Jefferies, a compost expert and trusted supplier near Adelaide in South Australia will shed some light on choosing the right compost.

Lachlan Jefferies: Like so many things, we may read information or learn knowledge, but we're influenced by peers and so many that could be seeing some other farmer in the district using something, their neighbour, those kind of things. So yeah, it is really big on what are they trying to achieve.

We had one farmer who was using compost and it was a fringe benefit. They didn't even realise that in the wet when they're normally harvesting in the winter, they could get onto their compost paddocks quicker than what they could, the ones they hadn't used. That was a major benefit of getting to market than leaving their potatoes stuck in the mud as it is.

If a vineyard is planting some new plantings, they've really only got one opportunity to get compost into the soil. So they will apply and try and get compost and get down what's called a RipRow. So actually try and get it at depth, a metre or so down so as that vine grows, it can access that sort of life and diversity in the longer term.

We just encourage people just to try, just try it in a row, just try in a paddock, try it in a corner, those kind of things, and obviously have a control. So have an area where you're not adding material and you see the difference.

Craig Allen: One of Lachlan's customers is Andrew Braham, who runs Braham Produce, who are renowned for their high-quality capsicums or bell peppers and commitment to sustainability. What started as a small five-acre hobby farm has grown into a commercial business. Today, they're known for advanced irrigation systems, climate-controlled greenhouses and innovative pest management using beneficial insects. Andrew is passionate about soil health and he explains how they bring in truckloads of compost from Lachlan's company, Jefferies, to create ideal growing conditions on their farm.

Andrew Braham: We've been farming here since 2002. It used to be an old vintage where they used to grow wine. We bought the land, cleared the grapes out, cleared the land out and levelled it out and started building greenhouses and just did it sort of as a side practise.

We started to learn about soil health and good soil practises, and then we got into using compost, and we did a lot of trials with compost on the amount we applied, thickness, depth, how often, all those sorts of things. And then as we slowly got into it more and more, we actually put a formula out that we use ourselves, that we've done ourselves and dedicated to ourselves, and we've found that to be really good. So we don't over compost, we don't under compost, and we feel we've got the right mix.

We're not a hydroponic grower, we're actually a soil grower, so we're still the old traditional ways, but we do it in high-tech houses. So we've got a few bells and whistles that go with it, but we're still in soil production. We create humidity for the greenhouses. We control temperature, climate, all those sorts of things. So yes, we are protected cropping as in the sense, but in soil.

When you're growing your plant is actually mining minerals out of the soil. The best way I explain it is that we get up every morning, the day starts, we have breakfast, we burn energy, our energies get a bit low, we have lunch, our energies get a bit low again, we have dinner, same thing. Plant needs the same thing. When it gets up in the morning, it wakes up, it starts to transpire, which means it starts to take up all its nutrients and food the ground. It then uses that food to produce food. So to produce its product. So there's either a vegetative state or a generative state. Vegetative state meaning it grows leaves. Generative state means it grows fruit. That's what we control as we grow. We're controlling that balance, but it needs nutrients to feed itself too.

You've got to have organic levels in your soil. The higher your organic levels is, the better it is, and we get our organic levels from the compost. We need organic carbon because carbons are very important for plants too, so we get that from the compost as well. So that's why we need to have compost, because what happens is we are mining that out every year every time we're putting a crop in, so we need to put something back.

We buy 20 cubic metres at a time. We'll then bring it here to the farm. We sit it on the farm here for about six weeks before we use it. We keep turning it over. We then put it in a spreader. And because we're in greenhouses, we've got what they call orchard tractors and low profile spreaders. So we actually drive through the greenhouse and spread it into the greenhouse. We then deep rip the greenhouse, which makes big ruts through the soil, which then incorporates the compost into that and then we tillage the compost into the ground. We probably spread the compost at about 5mm thick roughly. It's around about 3-5mm thick and then incorporate it in and let it break down before we apart. So we don't apply it on the plants, we pre-plant. It'll be in the ground probably a month to six weeks before we actually plant into that soil.

Right here, we use 20 cubic metres per 2,000 square metres. So to hectares though five times, that's 100 cube per hectare. We've had a relationship with Jefferies for nearly 15 years. They're nice close by. We've had good results with their compost, and I've always been a stickler to say, well, you're on a good thing, stick to it, and you don't change. We've got a recipe that works for us and it's worked really well so we keep using it and we know it's a green manure compost, green waste, manure compost. We've tried different rates with them. They've helped support us. We've tried different profilings of compost, so either big chunks or little chunks. We've tried that to see if it makes a difference in the soil. We've done trials with them. We've always had a good relationship with Jefferies and we've just been loyal to them and they've been loyal to us in the way we support each other.

Craig Allen: It's clear that Andrew's experience with compost in greenhouse farming is seeing results, but what about innovations like pelletized compost? That's where Lachlan and Tim's insights come in. We've spoken with Lachlan in previous episodes and he shared his expertise on compost production and its role in sustainable farming. If you'd like to revisit those conversations, you'll find links to the episodes in the show notes.

As Andrew's trusted compost supplier, Lachlan shares his insights on pelletized compost, a ground-breaking product with the potential to transform the farming industry

Lachlan Jefferies: Whilst compost is a common term and a common element, whether it's into soil or mulch and yet we've had granules, but we have a pelletized product that's able to be stored easier than a compost product. And when we were talking about application, it can be spread through more conventional fertiliser spreaders, but also done at different rates so we can get into more of dryland farming situation and still try and support soil health in those forms. So yeah, definitely in forms where farmers are regularly using it, we need to try and adapt and ensure we're providing products that they can use.

We have farmers who might be applying 100 kilogrammes per hectare of some NPK type of fertiliser, and so we have had pellets going out at 25 kilos per hectare. What excites me about that is how much land can we cover and improve in health at that sort of rate.

In Australia, we have vast agricultural lands that are very tired and screaming out for organic matter. So the better we can apply to a bigger footprint, the healthier overall system and more resilient we will be as a country.

Craig Allen: From South Australia to the central west of New South Wales, we meet Tim Mendham, owner of Teasdale Park Farm in Blayney. He's a seasoned agricultural professional with decades of experience. Tim has a focus on innovative farming practises and soil health. As an advocate for compost application, he shares his experience participating in a trial using pelletized compost.

Tim Mendham: Something totally different I ever thought I'd be doing is a trial on pelletized because I didn't think you'd be able to get it to that. I got asked to do it. We got given one tonne of it. It was a bulky product, so it was a bit harder to deal with than I thought. We just got asked to sow at four different rates, 0, 50, 100, 150, and we did four passes each time with the combine, sowing barley and to feed back through our own cattle and we do four passes at one rate. We'd sow at zero fertiliser and just drop barley, and then we'd go into the next cattle, recalibrate the combine and sow another four passes, shut the fertiliser off again, sow another two passes with nothing, turn around and calibrate the combine again and sow another four passes of that and took a fair bit of time for the day, but I think the results showed that it was worth it.

We got a John Deere direct drill machine, a disc machine, and you put the seed in the front box or the compost in the back box, and you calibrate it by turning the wheel 13 and a half times each time and doing a bit of sums on the calculator. And then as it drives, the faster you drive, the faster it sows. So it always stays at that same rate, and it drops the seed out of the front box metered and the fertiliser or the pelleted compost out of the back box, and they both go down two different tubes. And then at the boot or the disc, which we're sowing about an inch underneath the ground, it would join them both together. And then it had a press wheel set up and it presses over the top and you can barely see where it's been. We just picked four rates and off we went and tried it.

Usual fertiliser, we sowed 100 kilos hectare. If we put an MAP or a DAP in, it'd be at a hundred kilos hectare. So that's where we sort of want to try. And it was silly going too high because it'd be uneconomical because you'd be filling the combine too much and too much time of doing that. So we sort of picked about 100 to start with.

The cost per hectare is still expensive. A lot of farmers are looking at it and a lot of farmers are keen. I think a lot of farmers are looking over the fence to see how it goes on other people's places. I think 95% of farmers know we do have to start doing more this way, but it comes down to the getting it, the trucking of it, the spreading and the cost at the moment. So I think once a lot of those things get better, it will be a lot easier to get and there'll be a lot more of it to go out.

I'm happy to do any trials we can because it's going to help me and everybody else out and more trials on so much different soils. So some soils will need higher rates, some soils will need lower rates. Like a more granite soil, it'd probably be best if we've got a higher rate, but then are we going to get to a point where you'll go too high? No one knows that yet.

Craig Allen: The key takeaway from what Tim has just shared is the need to tailor the application of compost to suit the soil and the crop that you're working with. He explains more about his process and gives tips for other farmers.

Tim Mendham: In our case, we usually spread compost on or a manure on in front of it, and hopefully the nature will take it in when it rains and that then we sow the DAP or MAP down the chute when we sow, and that's how we usually do it. But we usually go between 10 and 13 tonnes of hectare beforehand, and not each time, but when we start a new paddock off and that will give us enough for the couple of years of cropping and then we put back into a pasture. So usually you've just got to spread it on your front with a conventional spreader or a compost spreader.

I run a contracting business and we run three spreaders, so we got four spreaders. We've got two muck spreaders and two truck-mounted fertiliser spreaders. So a lot of the compost we can get through our truck spreaders, but a lot of normal spreaders can't get the tonnes out per hectare, so it's very slow for them and they haven't got the gear to load it fast enough in that, so it is very awkward for them.

The compost spreaders we've got, you can put it out fast and high rates, and so that's all right and very quick. But the trucks we've got, we'll still put it out very fast, but it's just another pass. We'll drive a compost, we can drive it 12, 13 metres with the trucks and the muck spreaders we've got. We've got to drive at 10 metres putting it out in a really high rate. We've got to drive at six metres. If our normal spreader goes to put out compost, they'll probably be back to six metres. And where the trucks we've got, we don't have to worry about that. We can get 12, 14 up to 16 metres out of it.

Some places are trying to line up the trucks and will help you line up the spreader, so then that takes the nuisance out of it for you. But it is a lot of stuff to line up, and a lot of farmers have got to get used to... If you're going to get a 10, 12 tonne of the hectare and you want to do 100 hectare paddock, it's a lot of trucks. So a lot of farmers have got to start to get used to that many trucks and that high rate where they'll only go two and a half tonnes of the hectare within lime. But if you go, there's a lot of difference between three, two and a half tonne and then 10 tonnes of the hectare.

A lot of compost that we're doing now, they're mixing the lime and the compost together, so then the farmer will get the bang for buck out of the lime as well. Me personally, we go between 10 and 13 tonnes of the hectare, and I'm seeing on a lot of other farms that they need the 10 tonne of the hectare. It might be two and a half tonne of hectare of lime with eight and a half tonne of compost. But you need to be going that sort of up to that 10 tonne of the hectare to get a result. Like six tonne of just straight compost or lime compost together will give you a result for the year. But if you do it at the right rate, you'll might three years later, still see the result.