The No-Till Growers Podcast Network Farmer Jesse

Most of you all know and love Karl Hammer from Vermont Compost (IG VermontCompost) already. If you’re looking for a concise “how-to” guide on how Karl makes his awesome compost, and even better known potting soil, this is not that interview. Karl is known for his verbose and winding stories that mostly answer the question given, but always entertain. There is a richness in speaking with someone like Karl with a lifetime of experience. So, prepare yourself for a deep and fertile conversation full of expert level nuggets
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Mentioned in the show...
Farmers of Forty Centuries by F. H. King
The Physics of Agriculture by F. H. King
The 131 School of Composting
The Bionutrient Food Association
Folks who make this show possible...
Optimize commercial compost production while maintaining high-quality with Viably. Use our link here to learn more, get a consultation, and let them know we sent you.
The Culinary Breeding Network's Variety Showcase for plant breeders, seed growers, farmers, chefs, comsumers, and more, on October 16th in NY. GET TICKETS HERE!
High Country News is an independent, non-profit, publication covering the land, wildlife, and communities of the Western US for over 50+ years. Check them out using our link here.
Xsense provides home safety and environmental monitoring products for your peace of mind.

Today, I'm in Austria, joined by Dr. Martin Wellacher. Martin is uber committed to the environment, as most of us in this industry are eco-conscious, but he is next-level. He doesn't even own a car. So, he needed to plan to meet, traveling by bus and by bike just to get to us. After a tour of the Komptech facilities and a tasty locally-sourced lunch, we had a rich conversation about his 30 years in the compost industry, starting out just when legislation was passed requiring household organics to be separated back in '92, where many states are just starting right now. At the time, he worked with universities doing research and with Komptech developing technology and research for the compost industry. He now has his own engineering and consulting firm. Not everywhere has a layout like Austria, where the highly populated urban areas are very close to the farms, but there are a lot of places that are like that, like where I am in New England. There is a lot that we can learn from Austria's last 30 years that we can glean and apply to our own homes and towns and states.
Folks who make this show possible...
Optimize commercial compost production while maintaining high-quality with Komptech. Use our link here to learn more, get a consultation, and let them know we sent you.
The Culinary Breeding Network's Variety Showcase for plant breeders, seed growers, farmers, chefs, comsumers, and more, on October 16th in NY. GET TICKETS HERE!
High Country News is an independent, non-profit, publication covering the land, wildlife, and communities of the Western US for over 50+ years. Check them out using our link here.
Xsense provides home safety and environmental monitoring products for your peace of mind.

Robert Rynk and Matthew Cotton, who you may recognize as the authors of The Composting Handbook, just came back from a tour giving composting workshops to Australian farmers. They had an intensive nine workshops over twelve days, about 1,600 miles travelled! Although a tiring trip, for sure, they seem to be even more optimistic about the future of composting. Let's listen in to what they have to say in retrospect.
Mentioned in the show...
The USCC Compost Operator Training Course
October 23rd - 27th, in San Marcos, TX
Folks who make this show possible...
Optimize commercial compost production while maintaining high-quality with Komptech. Use our link here to learn more, get a consultation, and let them know we sent you.
The Culinary Breeding Network's Variety Showcase for plant breeders, seed growers, farmers, chefs, comsumers, and more, on October 16th in NY. GET TICKETS HERE!
High Country News is an independent, non-profit, publication covering the land, wildlife, and communities of the Western US for over 50+ years. Check them out using our link here.
Xsense provides home safety and environmental monitoring products for your peace of mind.

Steven Wisbaum, of Champlain Valley Compost Co & CV Compost, has been growing organic food and making compost for over 30 years. Today, we talk about water management on the compost farm. He provides custom composting services to farms and makes his own premium manure-based compost. In addition writing a variety of compost related articles and guides, Steven has also become the largest distributor of ComposTex compost covers. Through these, he has helped composters around the world make a better compost using less labor and fuel. I use Steven’s ComposTex covers to cover our finished compost piles and they’ve made a big difference with the quality of our product.
Folks who make this show possible...
Optimize commercial compost production while maintaining high-quality with Komptech. Use our link here to learn more, get a consultation, and let them know we sent you.
Vermont Compost Company for premium living soils, composts, and potting mixes. Invest in your soil!
High Country News is an independent, non-profit, publication covering the land, wildlife, and communities of the Western US for over 50+ years. Check them out using our link here.
Xsense provides home safety and environmental monitoring products for your peace of mind.

Brenda Platt is the director and life-force behind the Composting for Community Initiative of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. ILSR has a vision of thriving, diverse, equitable communities. To reach this vision, they build local power to fight corporate control. They are a national research and advocacy organization that partners with allies across the country to build an American economy driven by local priorities accountable to people and the planet. Today, we’re going to talk about one of the institutes five key initiatives: the Composting for Community Initiative is advancing local composting to create jobs, enhance soils, protect the climate, and reduce waste through advocacy, training, research, demonstration sites, and coalition building.
Mentioned in the show...
The wealth of resources provided by the ISLR on composting
Folks who make this show possible...
Optimize commercial compost production while maintaining high-quality with Komptech. Use our link here to learn more, get a consultation, and let them know we sent you.
Vermont Compost Company for premium living soils, composts, and potting mixes. Invest in your soil!
High Country News is an independent, non-profit, publication covering the land, wildlife, and communities of the Western US for over 50+ years. Check them out using our link here.
Xsense provides home safety and environmental monitoring products for your peace of mind.

Michael Martinez is the founder and executive director of LA Compost. He has chosen compost as a way to show his care for humanity and build a healthy community. His work has been incredibly impactful. LA Compost now has a diverse network of 41 community composting locations across LA county. I heard Michael speak at the US Compost Conference last Winter. He often brings people to happy tears as he speaks from the heart about his love of compost. Hope you enjoy this interview as much as I did.
Editorial note, we had some technical difficulties and are only able to publish the last half of our wonderful talk. Please take a moment to learn more about the amazing work Michael and LA Compost are doing!
Folks who make this show possible...
Optimize commercial compost production while maintaining high-quality with Komptech. Use our link here to learn more, get a consultation, and let them know we sent you.
Vermont Compost Company for premium living soils, composts, and potting mixes. Invest in your soil!
High Country News is an independent, non-profit, publication covering the land, wildlife, and communities of the Western US for over 50+ years. Check them out using our link here.
Xsense provides home safety and environmental monitoring products for your peace of mind.