Understanding intensity of composting

Somehow people get it when you talk about no-till farming - or certainly minimum till. But in modern composting the more intense the faster you rotate and chop the compost — the better.

Inspired by visiting a historical farm along the Hudson River, NY - we saw compost piles as they used to be made - without machinery. The end product was fantastic (by numerous analyses in my lab).

So we set out to examine the impact of machinery intensity on end product quality. The machines had minimal impact - when looked at biologically and chemically - but physically intense processing made the compost look much better.