“The nation that destroys its soil, destroys itself” -Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Healthy soil essentially acts as an ecological immune system.  Conventional, intensive farming is compromising the long-term viability of soil fertility.  The diversity and productivity of living things depends on healthy soil.  Compost is increasingly being recognized as a critical tool in revitalizing the fertility of soil without the use of chemical fertilizers.

Soil Health Has Been Compromised

• Intensive farming strips soil of nutrients and reduces organic matter levels
• 1/3 of the world’s cropland has been abandoned because of soil erosion/degradation over the past 40 years
• The total annual cost of erosion from agriculture in the U.S. is approximately $44 billion per year

Key Functions of Healthy Soil

• Water retention, preventing erosion
• Sustaining plant and animal life
• Carbon sequestration mitigates global warming
• Filtering pollutants by buffering and detoxifying organic and inorganic byproducts
• Cycling nutrients: Carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and other nutrients are stored and cycled through soil

How Compost Improves Soil Health

• Suppresses plant diseases and pests
• Reduces or eliminates the need for chemical fertilizers
• Promotes higher yields of agricultural crops
• Improves soil structure:  Both water holding capacity/erosion control along with drainage and permeability
• Buffers soil acidity
• Facilitates reforestation, wetlands restoration and habitat revitalization
• Cost-effectively remediates soils contaminated by hazardous waste
• Removes solids, oil, grease and heavy metals from storm water runoff
• Captures and destroys 99.6% of Industrial volatile organic chemicals (“VOCs”) in contaminated air