VSJF Sustainable Agriculture Grants and Projects

Composting Association of Vermont

New Ag Opportunities Coming Out of the Compost Bin

“VSJF recognized the long-term value of what we’re doing here. Without VSJF’s early support we’d still be muddling around trying to get organized.”

Lucinda Newman, former Composting Association of Vermont Coordinator

Lucinda Newman, former coordinator of the Composting Association of Vermont, knows that making compost is about as close as you can get to literally spinning straw into gold. When she was hired with the help of a $15,000 VSJF grant in 2002, she already had a sense of the potential of the young compost industry to benefit the environment and the economy in Vermont. Now, she believes “the sky is the limit,” with compost.

Composting biomass waste of all types can reduce landfill volumes by 30%, keeps nutrient pollutants out of Vermont’s waterways, improves soil fertility, increases farm profits, and represents new entrepreneurial opportunity on the working landscape.

“This is a full cycle industry,” said former VSJF director Wayne Fawbush. “These are the kinds of opportunities we like to invest in, where there are triple bottom line benefits--to people, profits, and places.”

CAV’s role, says Newman, is primarily to increase Vermonters’ awareness of the value of composting. CAV supports the growing community of commercial composters by providing a newsletter and website where information can be exchanged. CAV also offers workshops for would-be on farm composters, and Newman travels around to schools with a worm compost educational program for children.

CAV is the voice and vision of the growing compost industry in Vermont. It has also organized the private side of a vital partnership with Vermont Agency of Natural Resources Compost Center. VSJF’s original grant leveraged an additional $25,000 in funding for CAV from other sources.  CAV is currently in the process of searching for a new executive director.

 

Photo credit: All images in the banner courtesy of the Intervale.

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