Demand for Farm Compost on the Rise

Composters are finding themselves stuck in the middle between the high demand for fertiliser and the rapidly rising cost of petrol. This is both good and bad news for the composters. High demand means that their businesses are booming, yet the petrol prices are causing the cost for the compost to go up and in some cases, be a bit scarce.

Last year, over 50% of all the compost manufactured from “source-segregated waste” was utilised by the agricultural marketplace.

Earlier this week, industry members stated that the composting market was “buoyant” due to a booming interest from the farming sector and steadily priced gate fees.

Susie Holmes, a Soil Scientist the from Wolverhampton-based consultancy firm ADAS, recently told letsrecycle.com: “a lot more farmers are interested in compost and some people have not been able to get any. It’s a complete change and people are queuing up for it. Benefits of compost in terms of cost savings on fertilisers are now significant.”

Jeremy Jacobs, acting Chief Executive of the Composting Association, agrees that high compost quality as well as the rising demand from farmers is making farm compost increasingly desirable.

“The market for recycled organic materials continues to grow across all sectors. In particular, the demand from the agricultural sector is extremely strong as farmers take advantage of the significant benefits that composts and digestates offer, both in terms of their fertiliser replacement value, and also the additional benefits of providing improved soil structure, drought resistance and disease suppression,” Jacobs said.