Germany: Use of composts made of biowaste and treated compost in organic potato production

This project, which will be conducted in Lower Saxony in Germany over two years, wants to develop recommendations for the application of composts in organic potato production. Bio-waste compost should be established as a regular fertilizer in organic farming and limitations for the use of composts should be overcome. The project partners bring in their experience and their knowledge about composts and organic farming. Compost experiments will be conducted on four farms in three successive years. Different types of compost will be compared. The experiments should demonstrate the influence of the compost on the yield and on the quality of the potatoes. The project also has a public relations aspect to sensitize on the subject of compost quality. The main outcomes and recommendations of the project are a better understanding of the effects of compost on plants and soil. The results will be presented to interested farmers in annual workshops. A website (in German) related to the project can be found here: www.oeko-komp.de. More