Groundswell Agronomy Report

Hello folks. Here is a link to the Groundswell Agronomy Report. This research was undertaken by the lovely Chris Houghton from Chis Houghton Agricultural. Enjoy!


Groundswell Final Agronomy Report

The Economics of Groundswell

Hi folks
During the Groundswell project the very clever Michael Reynolds agricultural economist extraordinaire was busy pouring over our budgets and crunching the numbers. You can down load his report here:

The Economics of Groundswell

Groundswell Evaluation

Hi folks

The independent evaluation of the Groundswell project is now available from SCRIBD.
To download this and other Groundswell reports you will need to create a scribd account (very easy) or use your facebook log in.



The Magic Pudding - understanding the outcomes, impact and futures of Groundswell 2007 - 2011

Congratulations Armidale Dumaresq Council!

Breaking news from the ABC! Welcome to the City to Soil family.

Armidale to get new food waste system
Updated Fri Apr 8, 2011 8:49am AEST

Armidale Dumaresq Council says it believes it is the first council in the New England North West to put in a residential compost system as a part of its waste collection service.

The City to Soil system sees domestic food waste collected, composted and distributed to local farmers and residents.

The council says it will soon be easier for Armidale residents to recycle their food waste with the unique program, due to begin in the second half of this year.

The Chair of the Waste Management Committee, Councillor Bruce Whan, says most of the infrastructure is already in place and the program shouldn't cost more then $10,000 to $20,000 to set up.

"Because we believe that it is going to divert so much of what is currently waste and make a useful product out of it, which farmers and residents can use as a high quality compost," he said.

"We have being looking at various composting processes for quite some time and this one is very low in terms of infrastructure and it also is a very easy process."

Councillor Whan says there is very little to do to finalise the progam and it will be easy to implement.

"Basically we've got most of the machinery that we need now, so it's simply a matter of just using ordinary tarps, instead of specialised tarps, which some of the processes use," he said.

Yes - but what did they really say?

Groundswell Information Sheets

To the right here ladies and gentlemen, we have links to the Groundswell Information Sheet series. You have to admit they sure look pretty. We really hope they are useful too.

City to Soil - the movie!

City to Soil YouTube Channel!

Here you are here folks: 


http://www.youtube.com/user/CitytoSoil

galloping towards the end

Hi folks. Well, it has been a little while between posts. The Groundswell team are all noses down tails up wrapping up the project part of Groundswell. Meanwhile, City to Soil collections happily continue in Goulburn and Condobolin. The Barbaras (Dr Barbara Pamphilon and Barbara Chevalier) from the University of Canberra Australian Institute of Sustainable Communities are up to their armpits in an independent evaluation of the project. The Groundswell Film is FINISHED and we have already given away all our copies.

Do not fear! If you would like to download the full version, you can do so here: City to Soil - become part of the solution. The file is an MP4 and it is 171 megabits small. Please help spread our story far and wide.

In other exciting news, City to Soil has a youtube channel! Unfortunately the film is 17 minutes long - 2 minutes longer than the 15 minute youtube limit. Do not fear, Geoff from Mosquito Productions is busily cutting it in half - you will be able to watch it in two parts. We will also stick some smaller bits of film, interviews and other nice things here as they become available.

Also, in preparation for what happens after the Groundswell project wraps up and your loyal project manager is once more set free into the wilderness, we are playing around trying to find the easiest places to leave all the research papers, evaluation, tools, resources and forms that will magically materialize in the next 7 weeks.  Unless anyone has a better solution, we are thinking SCRIBD might be a nice place to leave all the PDFs. As a practice, I have uploaded the Groundswell Mid Way Review to the Scribd website to see if this works for people.

Oh, and here is another one: the Groundswell Agronomy Trials - Mid Project Report. Chris's final report will be ready in March 2011. Stay tuned. He was smiling the other day. I think Chris likes our compost.

This leaving stuff in the cloud thing is all new to me so any comments or suggestions will be happily received. Please let me know if you have trouble downloading any of the reports.


I know the link to the City to Soil - become part of the solution film works just fine, so if you are having problems with that, I am sorry, I can not help you!


Thats all for now.

Simone

Groundswell Field Day - Goulburn District

Topic:
Agronomic evaluation of the use of composted urban waste in agriculture.

The Project:    
The Groundswell project aims to have farmers and Councils working together to pull urban organic waste out of the cities and back onto agricultural land, reducing organic waste going into landfill and improving agricultural soils.

Background:
Through the City to Soil process residents in Goulburn Mulwaree Shire have been provided with a combined food scrap and garden waste collection which is composted at the Goulburn Waste Management Depot. Compost made through the project has been made available for three on-farm trials in the Goulburn district. See www.groundswellproject.blogspot.com for more information.

The trials:
The agronomic evaluation has been carried out by Chris Houghton Agricultural from Crookwell. The aim is to determine how the end product can be best used:

• What happens when it is applied at various rates to agricultural land?
• Is it as a fertiliser or does it have a role as a soil conditioner?
• Does it restore soil carbon levels and/or lift moisture holding capacity or have any other unexpected     benefits.
• What types of enterprises (pastures, crops, horticulture) is the compost best suited to?
• Are there any problems with its use?
• How available is the compost and where can you get it from?

Why should you attend:   
You will be able to see for yourself and discuss the trial outcomes of the agronomy evaluation to date. You will also be able to speak with the people involved in the project.

DETAILS

• Date:  Friday 15th October.
• Start time:  8.30am at Strathmere, Federal Highway, Yarra
• Finish: 12.30pm – 1pm at Andrew Divall’s property with a barbecue lunch provided by Goulburn Mulwaree Council.
• Travel: By private vehicles.
• RSVP: By 12 October via email on: leanne@chrishoughtonag.com.au or call/text Chris on 0409 816 433.

What the day will involve:    
The day will start at Andrew Sieler’s property “Strathmere” (A on map below), at Yarra on the Federal Highway just south of the Hume Highway to the west of Goulburn. There will then be a visit to a cropping trial at Forest Lodge (B) on the Middle Arm Road, and then to the GMC Waste Depot (C) to see the compost being made. Finally we will visit another grazing trial and have lunch at Andrew Divall’s property “Narrambulla” (D), to the east of Goulburn.





Directions:
To get to Andrew Sieler’s property (A) on the Federal Highway, travel about 1.5 km south towards Canberra, and the gate is just before the Yarra “Rest Area”. Here will be a sign to get your attention.

Work underway at Landtasia On Farm Composting site

See that pile of dirt behind Dave, Gerry & Richard. Well, it doesn't look like much, but it's going to be the Landtasia Boutique Composting Emporium. Thats why they all look so happy.

Shouldn't take long.

Once we work out where these pipes go.

Keeping it Clean

There is no doubt that physical contamination of organic waste directly impacts on the cost of processing and the value of the end product. But how do we successfully engage the whole community in organics collections? How do we get universal participation while keeping glass, metal and plastics out of the organic waste stream?

With almost universal participation and contamination rates around 0.2% the systems for collection established by Goulburn Mulwaree Council and Lachlan Council as part of the Groundswell City to Soil project are leading the way in Source Separation of household organics. The community engagement strategy adopted by the councils is simple, cheap and effective however it does challenge entrenched approaches to waste education and the usual way of doing things.

The two councils have been providing a combined food scrap and garden waste collection to 10,800 households for almost 16 months as part of the Groundswell City to Soil project funded by the NSW Environmental Trust. The Jan/Feb 2009 issue of Inside Waste highlighted the low contamination rates achieved by householders in the project. Contamination rates have ranged between 0.076%, 0.4% and 0.2% over the past 16 months and have never exceeded 0.4%.

The Groundswell City to Soil community engagement program is based on the assumption that to get people to do something, you need to give them the right tools, information and motivation.

Right Tools.
Fundamentally we need to make it easy for people to do what we want them to do. The challenge here is to find tools that are universally desirable to use.

More importantly, the tools need to pass the “75 year old mother” test. Basically, if you can’t get your granny to use the tools, then you haven’t got the right tools. One of the main reasons why people don’t compost is they don’t like that smelly kitchen bucket. So we need a system that does not produce odours and does not need washing. People are used to placing food scraps into plastic bags, tying them up and placing them in a wheelie bin. So it makes sense to replicate these existing behaviours.

The best tools we could find are vented kitchen bins and compostable bags. They work because they emulate and improve on what people are doing already. Compostable bags improve on the existing system because they eliminate odours in the kitchen AND in the wheelie bin. And yes, my 75 year old mother happily uses her vented bin and compostable bags to this day.

Right information.
Information about the collection needs to be provided in ways that reach everyone in the community regardless of literacy. We need to let people know exactly what we want them to do and why we want them to do it. Thought needs to be given to the tone of information as well as graphics and medium.

The Groundswell project has developed humble two colour graphics in preference to glossy photos and kept information relentlessly upbeat and as simple and inclusive as possible. Pictures of specific people with specific kitchens and food scraps will alienate anyone who can not relate to that image.

Rather than worry about multi lingual brochures, information about City to Soil has included drawings which explain what we want without the need for words or literacy. The project has purposefully chosen cheap or free forms of media including council mail outs, press releases, updates in rates notices, word of mouth, a blog and steered clear of glossy advertisements to maintain the simplicity and “normalness” of the collection.
A word about integrity
Our simple, constant message is “if you put your food and garden waste into this bin, we will compost it and get it back into agriculture.” It is a simple and powerful message.

The result is people KNOW that everything they put in the City to Soil bin is going to end up on a local farmer’s paddock. The collection becomes about food and food production rather than waste and garbage.

For this message to work however, you need to convince the community that this is what you are doing . You need to show them the compost and show them the occasional farmer and the occasional load of compost made from their food and garden waste being applied to a paddock.

A photo of one of the more photogenic of your customers preferably out in the paddock with some rolling hills, a truck full of beautiful compost, a few sheep and a short press release with a nice juicy quote from the farmers saying how wonderful the community is and how lovely the compost is, is always a winner.

Motivation

What gets people to source separate their organics? Why would people do this? For me this is the most interesting and contested area of the waste industry. I strongly believe that councils, waste companies and the government consistently underestimate the community. People assume that universal participation is unachievable and as a result design non compliance into their systems.

Obviously there is no single universal motivator to get people to correctly source separate. Our research showed that there were actually six. Specifically we trawled through the NSW DECCW “Who Cares about the Environment” research and found that there were 6 reasons why people might participate and different people would respond to one, some or all of those six.

The six motivators are:

• Help address climate change



• Reduce waste to landfill



• Reduce waste costs



• Improve agricultural soils



• Support local farmers



• Win prizes

By consciously using combinations of all six motivators in media releases, article and letters, we are able to reach the whole community. For example, someone who has no interest in climate change may be motivated by the prospect of reduced waste costs or reduced waste to landfill.

The purpose of running a prize program for zero contamination is to reward people for doing the right thing, generate positive messages about the program, generate community conversations and to reinforce the message that City to Soil is about food production rather than waste or garbage. Wherever possible, take a photo when presenting the prizes and get a short quote from the prize winner for a press release.

In summary, the Groundswell City to Soil Community Engagement Strategy taps into known motivators and transcends the requirement to change people’s values. Education messages and materials have been kept very simple.

The use of drawings & social marketing strategies ensures people do not have to be literate to correctly participate. The program transcends conventional education strategies which rely on values change or environmental awareness. It is also notable for its ease of implementation, simplicity, affordability and effectiveness.

The success of the education program is dependant on making sure that the right tools have been provided, and that the right motivators have been identified. People need to know what you want them to do as well as why. Strengthening the link between people and where their food comes from is integral to keeping physical contamination out of the organics stream.

A good community engagement strategy builds positive links between households, councils, processors and local farmers. And that can only be a good thing.

This article was written by Simone Dilkara and appeared in the Jan/Feb 2010 issue of Inside Waste. If you would like a pdf of just the article (not the whole magazine) please email simone.dilkara@environment.nsw.gov.au

So which one is the compost one?

Chris our agronomist is busily calculating the yields from our two pasture and two grain trials. He says not to hold our breaths.....its been very dry and we may need to wait another season to truly see results in the soil and in the paddocks. Despite a terrible season of failed crops in the Central West region the wheat trial in Condobolin (picture taken in winter) did actually produce some wheat. Here we all are trying to work out which plots have compost on them and which plots have DAP and which have neither or both. Luckily you can't see our confused faces.

We will keep you posted.

Netwaste Visit to Goulburn

The composting site at Goulburn has become a top holiday destination for folks interested in low cost composting of food scraps and garden waste. In November the NETWASTE group of councils popped in for a visit and even took us out to lunch later.

Luckily it was a collection week so the NETWASTE folks were able to see first hand what the City to Soil collection looks like when it arrives. "Look mum - no smell!" Gotta love those compostable bags.

A new compost toy!

Things are highly mechanised at Condobolin now!

Back to the land!

Please excuse our long hiatus- it has been a very busy few months for the Groundswell Project Team. We return to our regular broadcast with great tidings. Behold ......................

Last month 60 tonnes of finished compost were delivered to Goulburn’s two on-farm trial sites at Narranbulla near Marulan and Strathmere at Yarra (pictured above). Last year these two properties were selected from over 20 farms who expressed an interest in participating in the trials.

The trials involve farmers setting aside approximately 12 ha (30 acres) of land. Divided into three plots, one will be left unfertilised, one treated with super phosphate and the other with Goulburn’s City to Soil compost. Stock movements through these paddocks will be monitored over the next 12 months to determine changes in the DSE (dry sheep equivalent) of each treatment. Additionally, a small area has been fenced off on each site to undertake randomised plot trials. These will assess the effect of City to Soil compost on fodder yields and soil health.

In April an audit of the City to Soil bins showed contamination levels of 0.2%. This is an outstanding result and the Goulburn community should be really proud of that effort. The main source of contamination in the City to Soil bin is plastic bags. These can not be composted and need to be removed by hand, which adds to the cost of doing the composting.

Currently the City to Soil collection is diverting over 100 tonnes of organic waste from the landfill each month. How cool is that?

And how cool is this truck thingy?

A good day at the office!

Goodness! This looks like 100 tonnes of beautiful, finished compost.

Would you like a closer look?

Does it get any better than that? This is what it is all about folks!

Goulburn has officially finished their first two batches of City to Soil compost. This week we have had a visit from the "Joker" (the big green thingy) to screen the compost. This marvelous machine belongs to SoilCo.

Here is a photo of compost being loaded into the "Joker"

Its kind of a rotating drum thing. The 26mm mesh allows all the fine particles to fall through onto the conveyor belt on the left. The larger bits travel through the length of the drum and end up on the conveyor belt on the right. It really is quite neat.

This photo shows where the big bits end up.

And this photo shows the MOUNTAIN of beautiful screened compost.

And here are Wayne and Gavin, composters extraordinaire from Goulburn Mulwaree Council. I think they look like happy composters don't you?

Nice work guys!

First Batch of Finished Compost!

Eugene and Cecil Coe with the finished compost


Press Release from Condobolin!


It's been an exciting time for the Wiradjuri Condobolin Coroporation. The first batch of compost produced from Condobolin’s City to Soil collection is finished and a sample has been sent off to an independent laboratory for testing.

Gerry Gillespie from the DECC said “The compost is looking really good. It is just lovely and the WCC have done a great job”

Eugene Coe from the WCC has been very pleased with the response from Condobolin residents “The community has really got behind the collection. We have had very low rates of contamination”

Acting Director Barrie Toms from the Lachlan Council praised the efforts of the community “It has been really great to see the support shown to the project from the Condobolin community. Council has received a lot of positive feedback. Residents really like the fact their food and garden waste is being diverted from landfill and being used to make a valuable product rather than being wasted.”

To emphasise the need to keep contamination out of the City to Soil collection, prizes are awarded each fortnight to three households who’s City to Soil bins only contain things that they should and nothing that they shouldn’t. The prizes are a $100 hamper of fresh fruit and vegetables and a range of environmentally friendly products. “People’s eyes really light up when they see the prizes” Mr Toms said. “ It’s great to reward people for doing the right thing, and it really brings home the idea that City to Soil is about compost and food production rather than waste.”

When asked what will happen with the compost now it is ready, Cecil Coe and Eugene said they were keen to start using the compost to grow fresh vegetables. "We would like to see how it goes in a market garden. It would be good to use the compost to grow fresh vegies for the Condobolin community”.

“Other options would be to bag up the compost to sell to residents, or to let it stockpile until there is enough to sell to a farmer in one large batch.”

Teacher Dennis Byrne from NSW TAFE is very pleased with how the trial has been going. “There is still a bit of testing to do to make sure our composting process breaks down any residual chemicals from people’s food or garden waste. We monitor the piles carefully for temperature and ph during the composting process. We are also testing for heavy metals and pathogens like salmonella or e-colli. The goal would be to produce a product that meets the Australian standards and is also eligible for organic certification.”

At the end of the day, the WCC needs to recoup the costs of processing the compost by either selling the product to farmers or the community or using it in either a market garden or nursery setting. Lisa Hibbert from the WCC said “It is early days yet, but everyone we talk to about the idea of a market garden thinks it is a great idea that would be great for Condobolin. Both Cecil and Eugene are qualified horticulturalists. With their great skills in this area, it could work really well.”

When asked what challenges they had had making the compost, Cecil mentioned that “Overall people are really good and only putting food scraps and garden waste in the bins. We have had some problems with a few households putting the wrong thing in but overall the response has been very good.”

“It is really important that the end product is something that people will want to use – and that means making sure there is no plastic or glass in the mix. Every piece of contamination put into the bins has to be pulled out by hand, so we really encourage residents to only put their food scraps and garden waste in the City to Soil bins.” said Gerry Gillespie

Audits undertaken in July last year show that 41.3% of materials in the general waste bins are organic and suitable for composting. A further 20% is paper, much of which is also suitable for composting. “The key to making the project sustainable is being able to get the organic material – the food scraps and garden waste out of the general waste bin and into the City to Soil bin. We need to see a quantifiable reduction in the amount of organic waste in people’s general waste bin to keep the project going in the long term.” said Mr Toms.

The introduction of City to Soil kitchen and garden waste collections in Lachlan, Goulburn Mulwaree, Palerang and Queanbeyan Council areas is being undertaken through a project known as Groundswell – which has been funded by a $1.96 million grant over three years from the NSW Environment Trust. The WCC has also received support from the Commonwealth government to build the composting shed at the landfill site.

More information can be found on the project blogsite: http://www.groundswellproject.blogspot.com/

As you can see, everyone is happy about the WCC's compost! And look how beautiful that shed is.

L-R: Michael Reynolds - Groundswell Economist, Eugene Coe - WCC, Cecil Coe - WCC, Dennis Byrne, TAFE Teacher, Simone Dilkara - Groundswell Project Manager

Farmers Join City to Soil

MEDIA RELEASE




CAP: (l-r) Agronomist Chris Houghton, City to Soil (Groundswell) Project Manager Simone Dilkara and Andrew Sieler ‘Strathmere’, Yarra, prepare for the on-farm trial of compost.


From City to Soil … farmers join unique composting trial

Two Goulburn area farmers have volunteered for a unique composting program involving organic waste from households being used to improve agricultural soils. The farmers will establish trial sites to test the benefits of compost compared to unfertilised soil and land treated with superphosphate.

Goulburn Mulwaree Council is currently preparing the compost for use on the farms. It is collected through an initiative known as City to Soil, which involves organic kitchen and garden waste being collected from some 9000 households in Goulburn and Marulan on a monthly basis.

This organic waste will then be transformed into high quality compost at Goulburn Waste Management Centre before being transported to the farms from autumn next year.

Andrew Sieler, who runs the 600 acre fine wool property ‘Strathmere’ at Yarra, said he joined City to Soil to both support efforts to reduce landfill and assess the benefits of compost in a farm environment.

"The project has a lot of potential to remove waste from landfill and put something back into soils at the same time," Mr Sieler said. "We don’t really use compost on a larger scale and it will be interesting to see what happens. If it turns out to be commercially viable for Councils and landholders then it will benefit everyone."

The second farm involved in the trial is the 800 acre Narranbulla Partnership at Marulan. Farm Manager Mark Hart, who runs Angus cattle at Narranbulla, said involvement in City to Soil provided an opportunity to further their interest in organic fertilisers and assess the viability of compost on a commercial farm.

"We have always been interested in organic fertilisers and when we saw an Expression of Interest advertised, we thought our property would be suitable for the trial," Mr Hart said.
The on-farm trial will involve both farmers setting aside approximately 30 acres of land. This will then be divided into three plots, with one left unfertilised, one treated with the commonly used superphosphate and the other fertilised with the City to Soil compost.

Agronomist Chris Houghton will oversee the trial and assess the stocking rate of each plot, measured in DSEs (Dry Sheep Equivalent). "The three plots on each property have a uniform soil type and pasture," Mr Houghton said. "Soil tests have been taken before the trial starts and we will assess each area for carrying capacity over the next two years. Both Strathmere and Narranbulla are ideal for the on-farm trials as they have large enough areas with consistent soil. Andrew and Mark are both happy to fence off around 30 acres for the trial to take place."

Mr Houghton said the Goulburn and Marulan communities had been very supportive of the City to Soil program. Organic kitchen waste, plus garden waste, has been collected from the Goulburn suburb of Eastgrove since July this year. Specially designed kitchen waste bins are now being delivered across the remainder of Goulburn and nearby Marulan.



"I have been really impressed with the level of enthusiasm shown by the community," Mr Houghton said. "City people are interested in the whole food cycle and feel that by having their organic waste composted they are contributing to the quality of food they receive and helping farmers at the same time. Particularly with the drought we have seen in recent years, City people know that farmers do it tough and want to help."

Goulburn Mulwaree is one of four Councils involved in the City to Soil Project, which is being implemented through a project known as Groundswell. The other Council areas involved are Lachlan, Palerang and Queanbeyan.

Groundswell is funded by a $1.96 million grant over three years from the NSW Environmental Trust.

MEDIA INTERVIEWS:
Please contact:
Agronomist Chris Houghton on 0409 816 433.
City to Soil (Groundswell) Project Manager Simone Dilkara on 0447 273 099.
To arrange an interview with Andrew Sieler, please call Simone Dilkara or Goulburn Mulwaree Council’s Communications Unit on 4823 4412 or 4823 4548.




CAP: (l-r) Farm Manager Mark Hart and Andy Divall from ‘Narranbulla’, with agronomist Chris Houghton and City to Soil (Groundswell) Project Manager Simone Dilkara on the site where compost will be trialled at the Marulan property.

Goulburn Mulwaree Council
LOCKED BAG 22 GOULBURN NSW 2580
Telephone: (02) 4823 4444
Fax: (02) 4823 4456
www.goulburn.nsw.gov.au

Lots and lots of compost!

Thought you might like to see Goulburn's first WHOLE of town City to Soil collection. Here it is - almost 100 tonnes of food and garden waste composting along nicely. David our composter extraordinaire has really got the process down pat - the temperatures have been hovering around 60 - 70 degrees, and everything is breaking down beautifully. It even smells nice!

And what about contamination? Well, I am very very happy to report that Goulburn and Marulan folks were EXCELLENT at keeping contamination out of the collection. The biggest problem we are having is with people putting their lawn clippings into plastic bags - please don't they STINK! and it can be quite tricky to get the grass out of the bags without breaking the bags up and leaving bits of plastic in the compost.

Well done Goulburn and Marulan folks! I can't wait to get out there and see how this week's City to Soil collection is going.