Michael Martinez is the founder and executive director of LA Compost. He has chosen compost as a way to show his care for humanity and build a healthy community. His work has been incredibly impactful. LA Compost now has a diverse network of 41 community composting locations across LA county. I heard Michael speak at the US Compost Conference last Winter. He often brings people to happy tears as he speaks from the heart about his love of compost. Hope you enjoy this interview as much as I did.

Editorial note, we had some technical difficulties and are only able to publish the last half of our wonderful talk. Please take a moment to learn more about the amazing work Michael and LA Compost are doing!

Folks who make this show possible...

Optimize commercial compost production while maintaining high-quality with Komptech. Use our link here to learn more, get a consultation, and let them know we sent you.

Vermont Compost Company for premium living soils, composts, and potting mixes. Invest in your soil!

High Country News is an independent, non-profit, publication covering the land, wildlife, and communities of the Western US for over 50+ years. Check them out using our link here.

Xsense provides home safety and environmental monitoring products for your peace of mind.

Hey Composters and compost lovers, it’s Jayne Merner of Earth Care Farm! Episode one of season two of The Composter will air Monday, August 21st, and continue with a new episode every Monday for ten weeks. We have an awesome lineup, chatting with composters behind many compost facilities like LA Compost, Vermont Compost, Champlain Valley Compost, and more. And, I’ll be headed to Austria to tour compost facilities in late-August. Expect some news from me from the country that composts the most organic matter in all of Europe. I’m hoping to bring back some tips for all of us to adapt. It’s going to be a rich, fertile season two. If you love compost as much as me, join me!

Hey compost lovers, it's Jayne. I'm in Ontario, California, at the USCC Compost Conference '23. It's the largest gathering of composters in the world! Last night, Komptech Americas organized a meet-and-greet for listeners of this podcast. I didn't know what to expect, but it turned out to be the highlight of the week. We gathered on fancy white couches under an enormous Komptech windrow turner and I got to hear your stories. Stories of composters from all over the world and all different sized operations. It's not often compost nerds get to gather and geek out in the same space and time. Truly invigorating! I'm here at my first live interview, chatting with Todd Dunderdale and Brandon Lapsys of Komptech Americas. They have been coming to this conference for many years, Todd being at the very first one twenty years ago. These two have a great pulse on the industry and I wanted to hear about the changes they were seeing, especially when it comes to new equipment.

Many thanks to Komptech for sponsoring The Composter Podcast! For 25+ years, Komptech has worked with scientists, agriculturalists, and consumers to develop a four-step process that produces healthy, contaminant-free compost while optimizing efficiency. Learn more about shred, turn, screen, seperate here and get a complimentary consultation to see if it's right for your commercial operation.

Hey y'all, Farmer Jayne here. All those beautiful voices you hear were just some of the composters with me at the USCC Compost Conference with me last week in sunny California. I've had a week for that experience to percolate and have settled back into my farm compost site, Earth Care Farm, in Rhode Island where is -2F today. I always love being home, but whoa, that conference was so energizing! I learned a ton by visiting lots of different sized operations, the workshops were fantastic, the trade show floor was on point, but meeting my fellow compost lovers was by far the best part. I wanted to bring you a little of that compost conference experience to our listeners, so here is a little offering from some of the people I met and what they are up to.

Follow the folks featured in the show...

Charlie of Compost Bowling Green

Jamie of Compost Queen PBC

Bob Rynk of The Composting Handbook

Nicholas aka Da Compost King

Ryan & Adrienne of Happy Trash

Lisa of Juneau Composts

John & Stacey of New Earth Farm Composting

It's been a couple of months since the first season of The Composter wrapped up, but don't worry, season two is in the works. In fact, I'm hoping to see many of you at The US Compost Council Conference '23 next week, January 24th through the 27th, in Ontario, California. If you'll be there, let's meet up and talk compost. Listen for more details.

Check out the US Compost Council Conference registration if you haven't already.

I'll be at the Komptech trade show booth, sponsors of season one of the podcast.

See you there!

For the season finale of The Composter Podcast, we talk all things Earth Care Farm, which is my family's compost operation.

You'll get to hear from my dad, Mike Merner, also known as 'papi,' the founder and heart of Earth Care Farm. Quality compost is his life's work. He's an inspiration for many, including me.

For all the loader operators out there listening as you turn the piles, I've included a bonus discussion with our compost production manager, Justin Boss, about the machinery used here. It takes great skill and consistency to make really high quality compost—and you, operators, are the key to that.

You can find Jayne Merner Senecal and Earth Care Farm on Instagram

The Composter is brought to you by...

BioCycle is the leading resource on composting, organics recycling, biogas, end-product markets, policy and regulation, and community outreach and education. Sign up for the bi-monthly free newsletter here.

For 25+ years, Komptech has worked with scientists, agriculturalists, and consumers to develop a four-step process that produces healthy, contaminant-free compost while optimizing efficiency. Learn more about shred, turn, screen, seperate here and get a complimentary consultation to see if it's right for your commercial operation.

Dirt Hugger was founded in 2010 by Pierce Louis and Tyler Miller in The Dalles, Oregon, close to Hood River in the Columbia River Gorge. 

Pierce and his business partner, Tyler, started Dirt Hugger after leaving their careers in drone technology. Their background in tech and business has served them well in the compost industry.

Their facility in Washington takes in 50,000 tons of organics a year, and they use a unique aerated pile system.

Dirt Hugger is well known for its high quality compost. They were recently bought by Atlas Organics, and I was especially interested in this transition into working with a bigger umbrella company.

Pierce has tons of great insights, and he was generous in sharing them with us.

You can find Jayne Merner Senecal and Earth Care Farm on Instagram

Also mentioned in the show...

US Composting Council The US Composting Council advances compost manufacturing, compost utilization, and organics recycling to benefit our members, society, and the environment.

Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth

The Composter is brought to you by...

BioCycle is the leading resource on composting, organics recycling, biogas, end-product markets, policy and regulation, and community outreach and education. Sign up for the bi-monthly free newsletter here.

For 25+ years, Komptech has worked with scientists, agriculturalists, and consumers to develop a four-step process that produces healthy, contaminant-free compost while optimizing efficiency. Learn more about shred, turn, screen, seperate here and get a complimentary consultation to see if it's right for your commercial operation.

Composter and compost users have rightly been concerned with the high levels of phosphorus that can be found in composts, especially those with manure-based feed stocks. Phosphorus leaching is a serious water pollution issue. I had read an article in BioCycle written by Ron Alexander, of R. Alexander Associates, about how phosphorus in organic matter releases more slowly than inorganic, water-soluable phosphorus found in inorganic fertilizers and thought we should dig deeper into it. He has 35+ years experience in composting, has worked with over 200 composting and organics recycling facilities throughout the world, has received numerous awards such as the high Kellog award for outstanding service to the composting industry, and has been named by BioCycle as an organics recycling trailblazer.

You can find Jayne Merner Senecal and Earth Care Farm on Instagram

Also mentioned in the show...

The article in BioCycle: Phosphorus and Compost Use Dynamics

The Composter is brought to you by...

BioCycle is the leading resource on composting, organics recycling, biogas, end-product markets, policy and regulation, and community outreach and education. Sign up for the bi-monthly free newsletter here.

For 25+ years, Komptech has worked with scientists, agriculturalists, and consumers to develop a four-step process that produces healthy, contaminant-free compost while optimizing efficiency. Learn more about shred, turn, screen, seperate here and get a complimentary consultation to see if it's right for your commercial operation.

SOILutions has been making compost in New Mexico since '96 in a region that receives only 10" of annual rainfall, most of it all at once during the Summer monsoon season. Ben Dickerson and his team have lots of strategies and tips for composting in dry conditions without many natural resources closeby.

You can find Jayne Merner Senecal and Earth Care Farm on Instagram

Also mentioned in the show...

Composting on Earth Care Farm, a poem

Logan Labs for compost and soil testing

The Composter is brought to you by...

BioCycle is the leading resource on composting, organics recycling, biogas, end-product markets, policy and regulation, and community outreach and education. Sign up for the bi-monthly free newsletter here.

For 25+ years, Komptech has worked with scientists, agriculturalists, and consumers to develop a four-step process that produces healthy, contaminant-free compost while optimizing efficiency. Learn more about shred, turn, screen, seperate here and get a complimentary consultation to see if it's right for your commercial operation.

Dr. Robert Rynk was aprofessor at NYU where he taught courses on composting, waste management, renewable energy, and agricultural engineering, senior editor of BioCycle Magazine, and executive editor of the peer-reviewed journal Composting Science and Utilization. He is also one the compost industry giants! Bob wrote the book On Farm Composting over 30 years ago. It was the book we at Earth Care Farm used to set up our compost site many decades ago. We talk about so many things, especially about challenges composters are facing with feedstock contamination (i.e. persistant herbicides and PFAS). There's now a sequel to On Farm Composting called The Composting Handbook that Bob was the editor and lead author of and I cannot recommend all 900+ pages of it enough.

You can find Jayne Merner Senecal and Earth Care Farm on Instagram

Also mentioned in the show...

On Farm Composting (free ebook)

The Composting Handbook

Rhonda Sherman's The Worm Farmer's Handbook

Rhonda Sherman on The No-Till Market Garden Podcast

The Composter is brought to you by...

BioCycle is the leading resource on composting, organics recycling, biogas, end-product markets, policy and regulation, and community outreach and education. Sign up for the bi-monthly free newsletter here.

For 25+ years, Komptech has worked with scientists, agriculturalists, and consumers to develop a four-step process that produces healthy, contaminant-free compost while optimizing efficiency. Learn more about shred, turn, screen, seperate here and get a complimentary consultation to see if it's right for your commercial operation.