Tobacco Communities Reinvestment Fund
Composting, Vermi-culture & Bio-mass
2011 Projects:
Vermi-composting on Latham Farms
Harold is converting an empty chicken house into a commercial vermin-composting facility. Worm castings for home gardeners as well as for application on vineyards and farms is growing in popularity, and locally produced vermin-compost is in scarce supply. Grant funds will allow Harold to construct a “worm gin” for year-round mass production of high quality worm castings.
02 Compost System (Converting horse manure)
Christy has been in the compost business for 20 years, first by utilizing the turkey litter and horse manure. With help from grant funds, she plans to build on odorless oxygen intensive compost system that will blow air through the compost, resulting in a finished product within 10 to 15 days instead of the usual 30 days.
Converting Cotton Gin Trash to Horticultural
Brent uses the by-product of cotton production at a local gin and converts it to compost for horticultural use. Grant funds will purchase necessary equipment to complete his set-up for the process, which includes retrofitting much of his old tobacco equipment and barns. His project serves farmers with abundant commodity waste, as well as be an asset for bedding plants in green houses.
Biomass Diversification System
Rossie Ward is a pecan producer who will be using his pecan waste from shelling to turn into garden mulch as a value added product. The grant will be used to purchase pelletizing equipment to produce mulch.