Measuring Compost Quality. "STA +M" a unique opportunity for the US Composting Council

Preface

I have learned a lot over the course of the last year in regards to the status quo of the composting industry. My encounter with Ron Alexander at COMPOST2023 was a catalyst to look further into important aspects of composting such as the regulatory side of compost labeling.

Ron Alexander inspired me to attend the AAPFCO meeting in Baltimore in August 2023, which was an eye opening experience. I kept studying all his work and achievements in regards to establishing the STA label and development of compost markets.

I kept asking composters all year if they wanted to join the STA program and collected their objections.

I came back to COMPOST2024 and was happy to see that Dr. Laura Kavanaugh was going to hold a workshop and attend as an exhibitor. She was giving a presentation at that very AAPFCO meeting. Then I noticed Charles Duprey fundraising to update outdated research and kept wondering what those updates would entail.

On the way home from the conference my mind kept racing and connecting dots. I knew that there is a very special moment in time, right now, for a unique opportunity to catapult the composting industry to another level. My plane was delayed and I decided to open the laptop and begin my work on this strategy paper.

I am hopeful that this paper is perceived with open minds and that my peers at the USCC understand the magnitude of opportunity that lies within this proposal.

With the recent amount of funding for composting, climate change mitigation and the understanding of regenerative agriculture I believe that the time is now to make compost Category King.

Introduction

Identifying the problem from a category design perspective
Basic conclusion: With that approach, compost can never be Category King

Refining Composts Strength

Compost’s undisputable driver are microbe
Measuring microbial activity
Cutting Edge Technology to measure microbial activity is now available
Microbial activity is a positive climate change solution

Developing a second generation of compost analysis

Introducing STA +
Synthetic fertilizer companies are going to adapt towards biological inputs to keep their revenue

Limitations

Standardized testing method

Conclusion

Introduction

The Seal of Testing Assurance (STA) program is centered around the Compost Technical Data Sheet.

The Compost Technical Data Sheet is centered around minimum guaranteed values. (Source 1, source index at the bottom of this article.)

Minimum Guaranteed Values are centered around how the AAPFCO regulates fertilizer, also known as “plant food”. (Source 2)

Identifying the problem from a category design perspective

In competitive markets there are three options to compete:

Be the winner
Be the best
Be different

According to statistics, the winner of a category takes 76% of the category.

There are many examples out there and we call them “Category Kings” (Source 3)

Apple in Smartphones – With the iPhone, Apple essentially created the modern smartphone category, combining a phone, an internet communication device, and a music player into one.
Google in Search Engines – Google has become synonymous with internet search, dominating the market and becoming the primary gateway to online information.
Amazon in E-commerce – Amazon transformed online retail, creating the largest online marketplace and changing how people shop.
Netflix in Streaming Video – Netflix pivoted from DVD rentals to streaming, fundamentally altering how people consume movies and TV shows.
Facebook (now Meta) in Social Networking – Facebook became the definitive platform for online social connections, affecting how billions of people interact.
Tesla in Electric Vehicles – Tesla has led the charge in making electric vehicles mainstream, pushing the auto industry toward sustainable energy.
Spotify in Music Streaming – Spotify changed the music industry by popularizing music streaming, allowing unlimited access to a vast library of songs.
Salesforce in CRM Software – Salesforce pioneered the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model for customer relationship management (CRM), transforming how companies interact with their customers.
Airbnb in Short-term Lodging – Airbnb created a new category for short-term, peer-to-peer lodging rentals, disrupting the traditional hotel industry.
Uber in Ride Sharing – Uber revolutionized personal transportation, creating a new category of ride-sharing that has been replicated worldwide.

When people talk about plant food, the clear winner these days is “fertilizer” and most people, including professional growers, usually think of a bottle or a bag with synthetic fertilizers. Some will think of an organic fertilizer.

Very few though think about compost in this context, although compost can be registered as a fertilizer, too.

The STA label and its approach to marketing compost is to compete within that same category. Based on the above metrics, this means that compost competes for just about ¼ of the leftovers in that category.

Basic conclusion: With that approach, compost can never be Category King.

The plant food category has already been claimed by the fertilizer industry.

What’s left for the composting industry to become Category King is of course “to be different”.

To build a new category, where compost can take 76% and become the go-to solution, we have to shift away from testing and analyzing compost on a chemical level, to try and be comparable to synthetic fertilizers.

Refining Composts Strengths

Compost’s strengths are not in providing individual elements like N, P2O5, K , Mg or Ca directly.

That’s what the Compost Technical Data Sheet focuses on.

Synthetic fertilizers have proven themselves to be the go-to solution to provide the above elements in water soluble form.

The actual strength of compost does not lie in providing elements directly in a soluble form.

Its strength is within other aspects of plant production and how it affects soil:

Adding organic matter

Increases water retention capacity
Increases rate of moisture absorption
Increases surface area for microbes

Increases microbial life

- Ensures soil food web of microorganisms
- Makes nutrients available through metabolization
- Adds benefits of intact soil food web
  - Plant vigor
  - Healthier plants are less susceptible to disease
  - Produces plants with a wider and denser spectrum of nutrients
  - Nutrient dense plants provide more nutrients per ounce of serving to humans and animals
- Significantly decreases the need for synthetic inputs
  - Elements naturally present in the soil are mined by microbes in place
  - Eliminates the need to mine minerals elsewhere, synthesize, transport and apply them
- Shifting from synthetic inputs to microbial driven farming can reduce input cost significantly (Source 4)
Local supply chain
1. Compost can be made from local organic matter that ties into organics recycling
2. Creating soil fertility locally, reduces the energy and emissions associated with mining them elsewhere, the emissions associated with producing the fertilizer from raw materials and the transport around the globe.
Providing an on-demand release of nutrient over time
1. Decreases fertilizer and nutrient run off from water soluble synthetic inputs, that affects rivers, lakes and large bodies of water such as the Chesapeake Bay or the Gulf of Mexico
Increases the biodiversity
Holds a significant potential to sequester carbon

Compost’s undisputable driver are microbes

It is consensus that the decomposition of organic matter is provided by bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes and micro arthropods.

Their activity is what breaks down organic matter into a stable form called humus.

The stacked metabolization of microbes has two other important functions:

Breaking down nutrients from simple elements into a plant available form
Capturing carbon through the growth of microorganisms and their transformation into necromass. (Source 5)

When compared to grasses, trees or other biomass that can be grown to sequester carbon, the combined mass of microbes is often overlooked because an individual microbe is so insignificant. According to a study by (Source) microbes are the planet’s largest terrestrial stock of organic carbon and nitrogen.
Another significant factor is the speed of replication: bacteria can split every 20 minutes, Nematodes multiply by 50x – 500x within 2-4 weeks.
This carbon cycle holds an enormous potential to sequester carbon much quicker compared to grasses, trees or other plant biomass.

Dead microbial mass that is converted into humus sequesters carbon in a stable form.
The more microbial life can be cycled, the more carbon can be sequestered, this is a huge potential to put carbon back into the ground.

Measuring microbial activity

The Compost Technical Data Sheet does not include microbial levels of any kind.

To provide growers with standardized levels of microbial activity there are generally two ways of analyzing it:

Microscopic analysis
DNA sequencing

In the past 40 years, there is one scientist that stands out for their work on the microscopic analysis of soil microbes and adding them into the context of commercial plant production: Dr. Elaine Ingham.

Her role has been controversial and while there are many that trust her standardized methods, there are other opinions that claim lacking scientific validity.

Besides that, she has established a successful school for Soil Food Web Consultants and Lab Technicians. Their approach to compost is heavily influenced by microbial activity as the driver of soil fertility.

Cutting Edge Technology to measure microbial activity is now available

In the last 5 years, a new type of DNA sequencing has been developed and is now brought to the table as a precise analytic method by Dr. Laura Kavanaugh. (Source 6)

The cost for DNA sequencing has been brought down and is now equal to soil tests that measure guaranteed minimums of elements on a chemical level.

Microbial activity is a positive climate change solution

Compost can become Category King because it provides functions that synthetic fertilizers can not provide.

Their strength, the focus on delivering individual elements on a water soluble platform, is also their downside because of such a narrow focus.

Studies have shown that the use of synthetic fertilizers can in fact have an adverse effect on microbial life. The addition of synthetic fertilizers leads to a decrease in microbial activity and adds to the challenge of climate change.

The STA Certification and Compost Technical Data Sheet currently make no mention of microbial activity. This is a chance to develop an STA +M format that can complement the certification of compost.

Developing a second generation of compost analysis

The basic criticism of quantification and qualification of composts by visual inspection with the microscope is that it’s not exact enough.

This can now be overcome by using DNA sequencing and providing an analog method to the guaranteed minimum, that has set the standard for plant growth.

August 2023, the AAPFCO meeting moved forward on their definition of “Bio Stimulants” and the regulatory body is seeing more and more movement towards biological inputs. While the last 50 years were dominated by regulation that was geared towards synthetic fertilizers, there is now an opportunity to shape the future of farming from a biological perspective.

From an objective perspective, the composting industry as shaped by the USCC has been largely driven from the angle of waste management and organics recycling.

Compost makers that are approaching the production of compost from the angle of creating soil fertility have criticized the USCC for their one-sided approach. (Source 7)

Integrating the two perspectives is also a unique opportunity to unite the compost industry as a solution for organics recycling and to create soil fertility.

Introducing STA +M

Building on the 3C’s: Consistency, Clarity and Confidence the Compost Technical Data Sheet should be extended to include:

Fungal to bacterial ratio – identifying if a compost is fungal or bacterial dominated
Number of total identified microbes

Checking if a complete soil food web is present

Nematode DNA
Fungal DNA
Bacterial DNA
Micro Arthropod DNA
Protist DNA

Meaningful classification of microbes, for example:

Presences of nitrogen fixing bacteria
Presence of phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB)
Presence of potassium solubilizing bacteria (KSB)

This is just a first example of how an extended CTDS +M could look like. It’s not meant to be all encompassing, yet. It’s just a proposal to show a certain direction.

The US Composting Council should task the CREF to evaluate meaningful criteria for an extension and invite respective specialists into a task force.

Synthetic fertilizer companies are going to adapt towards biological inputs to keep their revenue

The market for synthetic fertilizers in the US is around $28 Billion.

Economic laws dictate that companies will not forgo this revenue when demand shifts.

The time is now for the compost industry to name and claim the category, to become Category King.

One specific threat comes from the angle of genetically engineered soil microbes.

While compost can naturally provide a broad spectrum of soil microbes, there are already signs that the established players in the agricultural inputs industry are setting out to offer microbial products that are genetically engineered and can thus be patented.

There is no question about it, that the agricultural market, farming, greenhouse growing etc. is going to shift towards biology in the next decade.

The question is only who is going to supply the microbes and how.

If the composting industry is letting this opportunity slip, then this category will again be dominated by corporations that will have an oligopoly in the supply of soil microbes.

We all know that the quality of plant food inputs is critical to every grower.

The established corporations are going to present their GE microbial products as cleaner, more precise and thus more trustworthy, if the compost industry isn’t going to adapt and advocate for the microbes.

Now is the time to shape the narrative by naming and claiming the category.

Compost needs to be able to provide growers with microbes and secure the trust of the plant producers.

The US Composting Council is in a unique position to shape the narrative.

Limitations

Standardized testing methods

It seems like there are currently no ASTM procedures for the DNA sequencing of soil microbes specifically. (Source 8)

The research that went into this paper suggests that there are some standards that are geared towards diseases and genetically engineered microbes. (Source 9 & 10)

However this is not surprising, given that those methods, specifically the use of the Oxford Nanopore sequencer is still in its infancy and have only been available for around 5 years.

It does underline the importance for USCC to take the charge on this and to make sure that there will be appropriate and accepted methods.

This raises the question of how to determine a standardized and generally accepted process for the sequencing of soil microbes. Especially because the current STA testing methods, called Test Method for the Examination of Composting and Compost, are modeled after American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM).

Currently there is also a push within USCC to task CREF to update those guidelines because TMECC is based on methods from 1996, 1990, 1988. (Source 11)

Because those methods are at least 28 years old, it is time to update them.

While it would add another level of complexity to the research, it seems like there is a unique opportunity in time, right now, to address both the TMECC for the STA and include STA +M within the research to put the methods on a platform that will be future proof for the next 30 years.

The ASTM does welcome new initiatives for developing standards. (Source 12)

Their outline on how to create new standards mentions: “ASTM International would like to be responsive to any standards need that is identified … With assistance from the ASTM Staff, the first step is to research whether there is an existing standard in the area identified through contact with trade associations, government agencies, or other standards developing organizations (SDOs).”

Since the USCC is the trade organization for the composting industry it falls within their responsibility to initiate a global standard that is supportive of sequencing DNA soil microbes from compost and compost products like compost extracts.

Conclusion

There is a unique opportunity to create a new category that is driven by compost as the ideal living and breeding environment for soil microbes.
Compost and microbiology have clear advantages over synthetic inputs in the context of organics recycling, soil fertility and mitigating climate change by sequestering carbon within the soil.
The USCC needs to take charge or others will, most likely with negative consequences for the composting industry.
The growth and market potential for this category is enormous.
CTDS and CTDS +M can coexist.