Granite Belt grows green waste future
A proactive and open-minded Granite Belt Growers Association (GBGA) has utilised a Future Fields ‘Grow Your Field’ seed funding grant to grow a green waste vision that benefits horticulture and the Southern Downs region more broadly.
Originally, the GBGA was to investigate a potential economic diversification and value adding project. However, further consultation with a range of growers across commodities including tomatoes, capsicums, strawberries, stone fruits, and leafy greens showed that seeking a regenerative avenue for their green waste would be a more productive exercise.
With byproducts like coco coir material, packing boxes, tree prunings, and discarded plants going to waste, while growers also reported high input costs for manure, fertiliser, compost, and mulch, Lara Wilde of Agrifood Catalyst, who was engaged to conduct the investigation, recommended a solution to tackle these issues together.
Her key recommendation was that GBGA engage Green Food Australia to manage the processing of green waste, in turn providing growers with an organic soil improvement product.
Green Food Australia employs a process to active the bio-power of Groudswell®, pioneered by VRN BioLogik. Green Food Australia processes green waste and other organic materials over a six-month period producing a topsoil ameliorate known has HumiSoil®.
Rich in humus, carbon, nutrient and moisture, HumiSoil®️ significantly improves soil organic carbon. Green Food Australia has successfully worked in a number of horticulture regions to date, reporting positive outcomes for farmers and their soils.
On a practical level, growers should see improved plant health, soil structure, and strong development of mycorrhizal fungi, while needing less irrigation and chemical application.
GBGA currently has a project plan awaiting approval with Southern Downs Council to secure a site for the region’s farms and potential community green waste to contribute to a collective Humisoil® pile.
Growers and the wider community alike are enthused by the project’s prospects. GBGA Industry Development Officer Narissa Corfe is optimistic about what this project can do for the region.
“Establishing a Humisoil pile will be of great benefit to the future of Granite Belt horticulture and the wider community,” Narissa said.
“Productively putting green waste back into farms and beyond means our growers will be more sustainable environmentally and financially.”
