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Agricultural Benefit Statement
Spreading compost on farm land is almost certainly going to be beneficial, compost is rich in trace elements, and organic material, and provide an excellent nutrient balence.
| The difficulty lies in
proving agricultural benefit, the addition of compost to a soil
will change the balance of minerals within the soil, hopefully providing
a benefit. However, this is not a given fact, and quantitative soil nutrient balancing must be provided with any deployment application. Agricultural benefit will be proven when it can be shown that the nutrients in the compost help provide a better growing medium for crops than before it was applied. Nitrogen, Phosphate and Potassium (N,P,K) values must be established for the soils, and the compost (or other wastes) that are to be applied. The amount of waste that can be applied whilst still providing a benefit will rely on the following factors. |
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1 - What is the condition of the soil at present?
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In order to assess you soil you must have soil
samples taken and sent to an approved laboratory, for testing. Don't skimp on testing get a full analysis done on the soil samples, to include macro and micro nutrients, to prove benefit you will need to show that the soil is deficient in something. So the more variables you test for the greater chance your consultant will have in proving benfit. Soil sampling can be carried out using a hand auger, or scissor shovels, and good laboratory to use in NRM, or Mole Valley Farmers offer a Forage Services, Soil Analysis. |
2 - How much "off take" did the last crop provide.
| "Off take" is how much soil
nutrient the last crop "used up", crops differ in the amount of
nutrients they use up, if you wish to maximize you waste usage on
agricultural land, then proving benefit may be easier if you grow crops
that are heavy users of minerals and nutrients. When you have worked out the soils "need" and the last crops "offtake" you are ready to add up you finding to give your nutrient demand for your soil. |
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3 - How "rich" is your waste in nutrients.
If your compost is very rich in nutrients you will need less of it to meet the soils needs.