Composting vs. Synthetic Fertilizers: History and a Guide

International trade is much more fragile than it looks. Strait of Hormuz is only a singular bottleneck. There are many many more levers for collapse.

As the world goes to war over crude oil, please remember that agriculture using local resources is possible. Crude oil is the source for not just LPG, petrol, and diesel. It is also used to produce urea. Urea is the majority of the fertilizer used across the globe. Urea is rich in nitrogen.

Nitrogen is the most abundant resource in the atmosphere – 78%. Capturing it for agriculture is possible with biological processes : it is more democratic than centralized governments fighting over barrels.

Everyone has access to air and animals and plants. We don’t need to look towards the Middle East to conduct agriculture. We were an agricultural powerhouse. I am sure we can find a method to decrease our reliance on imported products. This will help us grow food independently as a nation.

How is Animal Waste used in India?

Most Indian farmers use cow / buffalo dung and other animal waste the wrong way.

They dig a pit, fill it up, age the manure and then use it.

The problem with this is that a pit has ideal conditions for fermentation:

water logging during monsoon
no oxygen because it is underground

Fermentation causes Methane and Ammonia emissions.

Methane is carbon rich.
Ammonia is Nitrogen rich.

2 of the 4 most important macro nutrients are lost in the process as gases.

Muthukumar of Sivanthipuram takes care of all animals in the farm

How is Crop Waste used in India?

Farmers burn leaf litter and crop waste not fed to animals. Many of them believe this practice is beneficial.

Myth that most farmers believe: The soil needs to be bare. This keeps the farm devoid of ants, termites, snakes, scorpions, spiders, and more.

Truth is : these species are essential to agriculture by providing a lot of essential services for free. For example : Snakes keep farms free of rats. Spiders keep the population of a lot of flying pests in check. Fungi help in nutrient recycling. Termites digest dead plant material.

Vanya loves to join us in activities in the farm. Here she is helping us rake leaves from under the old mango trees

Features of a good compost

To ensure that macro nutrients are captured in the soil properly, you need to compost it and not just age animal waste

Composting needs 3 things:

An ideal carbon to nitrogen ratio
Ideal Moisture
Sufficient oxygen via aeration

Ideal carbon to nitrogen ratio in compost can be achieved if you have enough perennials / trees and fast biomass producing species along with animals in your farm.

Ideal Moisture needs monitoring and control during peak summer, monsoon. Covering with fronds or tarpaulin or any low cost roof helps.

Sufficient aeration needs passive design (meshed composters and pipes for aeration) or active management with chicken or mechanical / manual turning.

Diversity of animal waste, bird manure, leaf litter, crop waste, wood ash from firewood stoves help in making compost an all round soil amendment.

Adding bone meal or rock phosphate for phosphorus, and charcoal to make this compost slow release, completes the diversity needed to make high quality organic fertilizer.

Thermophilic Bacteria are the heroes in tall heaps of compost. So, please monitor the temperatures in your compost pile regularly for best outcomes.

Making your own charcoal is an easy and satisfying process

Click here to Buy compost from Vaanavil Farm & Food Forest

History of Composting

Composting needs observation, time, patience and a scientific approach. And not many farmers were taught this post independence.

When industrially produced fertilizers started being used in the first half of the 20th century, they were far superior to aged animal dung, which is not as effective with much lesser carbon and nitrogen than possible. Organic farming didn’t stand a chance.

Organic farming was being done without a choice because there was no alternative. Quite often, farmers were only doing what was taught to them by their parents. With improvements taking several decades to generations to happen.

A British botanist Albert Howard developed the Indore method of composting in 1930s after learning from Indian farmers. So there was a lot of brilliance in pockets in India from the perspective of modern definition of organic farming. But scale was never achieved.

The ending of world war 2 in late 1940s meant that the factories which were manufacturing ammonium nitrate for ammunition were directly repurposed to now manufacture synthetic fertilizers in the US and Europe, using the Haber Bosch process.

Dominance of US and Europe post the wars cemented the use of synthetics in agriculture world wide via global trade post the wars. So, that is the context in which industrially produced fertilizers won against animal based fertilizers.

The power of Fungi

Fungi do a phenomenal job of breaking down organic matter in compost and in soils. Fungi do not flourish in continuously ploughed soils.

A good design of land + crop layers and strategically using tillage often provide cheaper (in the long term) solutions for nutrition diversity and soil health.

Remember : there are no short cuts in soil building.

Healthy carbon rich soils should have a diversity of fungi growing and fruiting

When is fermentation useful?

I feel, there is too much emphasis on Jeevamrutham, Panchagavya and other animal waste based formulations in the natural – organic farming circles in India. Because we are un able to imagine agriculture without a tractor, there is tendency to over rely on bacteria from fermented mixes or bio fertilizers rather than fungi to break down organic matter.

Fermentation when used right can yield amazing results. Jeevamrutham, Panchagavya, Fish amino acid, bio-enzymes, amritha karaisal are all fermented mixes with varying proportions of inputs.

Fermented solutions encourage microbial diversity in soil. They add humus precursors, plant growth hormones, carbon sources. The anaerobic environment during fermentation kills a lot of soil borne pathogens, making it safer compared to aged manure.

They are not a replacement for agro-ecologically sound practices such as mulch, compost and minimum tillage. But they are a very good supplement. Use them as one tool in your wide repertoire of soil building, and not as the only one.

Conclusion

The bottom line is : What we need is higher carbon in the soil. Indian agricultural soils have become very poor in carbon. Without restoring carbon, bacterial growth is useless. The bacteria will have no food to eat if mulching, composting and minimum tillage are not practiced. We need to employ both fungi and bacteria if we need to get work done.

If you are engaging with folks in your village about agriculture or planning to get involved directly with farming, composting is the first thing that needs to be fixed.

This process is more scientific but it is also labour intensive. It produces benefits over a long period :