There are economic and environmental costs associated with composting. Producers must invest time, money and land in order to develop an effective composting operation. Composting may also be contributing to the greenhouse effect, since the process of composting emits carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide to the atmosphere.
In an effort to educate the agricultural industry about the costs and benefits of composting, staff at Alberta Agriculture and Food (AAF) have assembled a database of references to scientific literature, government documents and web sites which describe the economic, environmental and technical aspects of on-farm composting. Over 500 references have been included to date, and all references have been arranged into groups describing similar topics. Select a group name in order to display a bibliography of references on that topic.
| Group | Description |
| Alberta | Literature written or published in Alberta. |
| Ammonia | Literature describing the processes of ammonia emissions during the composting process. Ammonia is a by-product of the composting process, and emissions of ammonia can result in a loss of nutrients from the composting raw material. |
| Animal Mortality Composting | Literature describing ways of disposing of farm-animal mortalities using composting. Composting is being advocated as a low-cost, environmentally friendly way of disposing of animal mortalities. |
| Assessing Maturity | Literature describing ways to assess compost maturity and to check if compost applied to soil is toxic to plants. |
| Bioremediation / Soil Remediation | Literature on the breakdown of chemical contaminants in the soil during the composting process (bioremediation) and the beneficial changes to soil physical and chemical properties when compost is added (soil remediation). |
| Cold Climate Composting | Literature describing techniques of composting in cold-climates, such as Alberta. |
| Composting Process | Literature describing the composting process. |
| Economics | Literature describing the economic costs and benefits associated with composting. The literature attempts to address the question: "Under what circumstances is composting economically feasible?" |
| General Resources | Literature with general information about on-farm composting. |
| Greenhouse Gases | Literature describing the loss of methane and nitrous oxide during composting, and appropriate management techniques that can be used to minimize losses. |
| Manure Emissions | Literature describing nutrient losses and greenhouse gas, ammonia and odour emissions from stored (non-composted) manure. |
| Nitrogen | Literature describing the fate of nitrogen-containing organic compounds in raw materials, which is central to the composting process. |
| Odours / Volatile Organic Compounds / Bioaerosols | Literature describing emissions of odours, VOCs and bioaerosols during the composting process. Odour is emitted when anaerobic conditions occur within the compost pile. Volatile Organic Compounds are intermediate products in the degradation of complex organic materials by microorganisms. They are plentiful in immature compost. Bioaerosols refer to microorganisms and other organic constituents of compost which become airborne. |
| Plant Disease Control | Literature describing ways in which compost can be used to control plant diseases. Compost-amended soil has been shown to have disease-suppressing properties. |