With a desire to keep himself busy, local businessman, Daniel Doty, expanded his already busy schedule and added the adventure of starting up a local composting business, Green Acre Compost.
Daniel grew up in a farming family in the Fallon area, went to college at Feather River and New Mexico Highlands where he studied business as well as played baseball. After college, Daniel returned home and began his business adventures.
With farming "in his blood" and a desire to make farming more profitable, Daniel started researching current ways that could have a positive effect on farming. His research led him to a company in Illinois, owned by Mennonites, that was experiencing success with soil improvement by adding compost to soil. Daniel attended a 3-day conference in Illinois and returned with ideas of how to start his composting business here at home.
“Profitability in farming is so much lower and prices aren’t going up so you can either put money into fertilizing and grow more, or try to improve your soil. The compost is a soil-play to improve the soil, grow more, and reduce water consumption to make farming more profitable,” Daniel explained. His compost is composed of almond shells, various feed stalks (alfalfa, straw, Sudan grass) and gypsum (calcium phosphate). This blend creates a biodiversity that will add live microorganisms to the soil that feed the plants and unlock nutrients. Blends can be created that will best fit the needs of various soils.
The business runs seven days a week to keep up with the labor involved in this process. The mixture, once it is blended, needs daily pre-soaking and turning in rows as the composting process takes place. The tractor Doty uses travels at .2 miles per hour up and down long rows that at the end of approximately 8-10 weeks will become marketable compost ready to be used in backyard gardens or commercially producing fields.
Green Acre will deliver and spread their compost onto fields in the area. There is a 3-ton minimum with a cost of $120 per ton. Anyone wanting to add nutrients to their garden can contact Daniel at 775-771-4903 and arrange for a time to pick up a pickup load or a couple loads and watch their vegetable production increase. www.GreenAcreCompost.com
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