1 kg of vermicompost per hectare.
When you first hear that figure, it sounds as if someone has left out a few zeros. What can such a small amount of organic matter possibly do for the soil?
But on Justin Regehr’s family farm in Kansas, vermicompost is not used as a fertilizer. It is the starting material for a biological product applied in-furrow with the seed at planting.
And that changes how you look at the figure.
Not a fertilizer, but an inoculant
Justin suggests thinking of this product in much the same way as an inoculant used to treat soybean seed before planting. Its purpose is not to supply the plant with a significant amount of nutrients, but to introduce beneficial microorganisms into the root zone.
The application requires about one kilogram of dry vermicompost per hectare. A liquid extract is then prepared from it using an extractor.
Molasses and humic acids are added to the solution. At first, the molasses serves as food for the microorganisms. Later, as the plant develops its root system, it begins supporting the soil biology through its own root exudates.
The solution is applied in-furrow at planting.
From straw to a biological product
The farm does not buy the vermicompost either. It is produced on-site in repurposed plastic containers. The tops have been removed, and numerous holes have been made in the sides for aeration and drainage.
The compost is made from wheat straw, wood sawdust, cattle manure and soil collected from shelterbelts where neither tillage nor chemical products had been used. Composting worms are also introduced into the containers.
Justin showed us one of these containers. It had been completely full about six months earlier. By the time of our visit, roughly half of the material remained, and the vermicompost was almost ready.
The finished vermicompost goes into the extractor, where the liquid extract is prepared. The resulting solution is loaded into a separate tank that is never used for chemical products and then taken to the field.
The entire system, from the vermicompost containers to the extractor, operates right on the farm.
More than biology
In a longer conversation about the farm, Justin described the switch from mineral starter fertilizer to biological blends as one of their most effective changes over the past five years. Costs fell from $20 to $5 per hectare.
Of course, this approach requires knowledge, time and testing under local conditions. Justin’s experience is not a ready-made prescription for every farm or every field.
But something else about this story caught my attention.
As farmers, we are accustomed to looking for solutions among the products we can buy: a different fertilizer, a new product or a more effective blend. On Justin’s farm, I saw the opposite approach. They are trying to understand which of the inputs the farm needs can be produced on the farm itself.
Perhaps the next step in developing a farm does not always begin with searching for another product. Sometimes it begins with taking a closer look at what is already at hand.