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Emerging technology may soon offer new solutions to livestock producers for improved composting techniques of manure and other so-called waste materials.
While the basic concept of composting - turning organic material into humus - has been referenced historically for several thousand years, the practical systems for today’s Prairie farmers are based on relatively new technology.
The AgTech Centre strives to answer the key question posed by livestock producers - what are the practical solutions to waste handling and management? With compost research, for example, techniques used in other parts of the world can be adapted to help producers turn so-called waste into more manageable, valuable end products.
Leading edge of technology
AgTech Centre is heavily involved in leading edge composting technology, evaluating both equipment and processes in a broad range of agricultural operations.
Recent and ongoing projects clearly illustrate the broad scope of research:
- Windrow composting of livestock manure.
- Effects of moisture on composting windrows.
- Use of a "compost tea" to inoculate compost windrows with microbes.
- Bin-style composting techniques.
- Compost quality issues as they relate to guidelines in Alberta’s Agricultural Operations Practices Act (AOPA).
- Windrow composting for livestock mortality including spent hens, swine and cattle.
- Evaluation of equipment designed for turning composting windrows.
- The role of composting in controlling livestock industry odours.
- Compost nutrient levels in cropping systems.
A team effort
Composting is a big subject with many unanswered questions. Alberta’s AgTech Centre specialists are part of a research network within government and educational institutions looking at the details of composting technology.
"It’s a co-operative effort," explains Virginia Nelson, an agricultural engineer-in-training and compost researcher at the AgTech Centre. "Where possible, we share facilities as well as our knowledge base and experience."
AgTech Centre specialists, for example, work closely with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada researchers at the Lethbridge Research Centre and other centres.
Their projects have looked at aspects of composting beef feedlot manure. Research includes: the effects of different types of livestock bedding material - straw and woodchips - on the composting process; and the value of composted manure in improving soil organic matter under irrigated cropping systems and in rehabilitating former oil and gas well sites. An ongoing project is examining composting economics.
AgTech Centre researchers also maintain contact with the Composting Technology Centre at the Olds College Centre for Innovation. Along with offering a wide range of composting courses, the college also operates the Centre with a network of government and industry partners in agriculture, forestry and oil/gas sectors to find ways to incorporate waste management into daily operations.
"There is a lot of good information available, but there is still misinformation floating around,ö says Nelson. ôOur goal, through our own research and working with others, is to provide producers with the most current, reliable and useful information on composting technology, as part of practical waste management options."
Reports available
To understand compost, producers need to be clear on the processes at work.
Each research project is ultimately produced in a report format available through the AgTech Centre. The list includes:
- Livestock Mortality Management (Disposal)
- Poultry Mortality Composting
- Swine Mortality Composting
- Large Animal Mortality Composting (pending review)
- Small Animal Mortality Composting with Low Death Loss
- Windrow Mortality Composting of Spent Hens
- Technical Assessment of Physical Compost Aeration Mechanisms and the System Effect on the Mechanical and Biological Efficiency of Composting
- Effects of Moisture Content During Composting of Feedlot Manure
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