Let’s catch up now with our Conservation Ag Operator Fellow Michael Thompson out in Almena, Kan. In this video, Michael shows us how he’s using vermicompost to improve the root mass and resilience of his crops.  

“Got a compost extractor here. The last several years we’ve kind of done a little bit with vermicompost, which is worm poop basically. The vermicompost we’ve been treating seed with up until now. We have a planter set up with liquid now so we’re going to start extracting. We take the dry compost extract and put it in the basket here. You fill this tub up with water. It has an aeration fan on it. The aeration actually bubbles it and this basket has the mesh screen, so basically all the fines are kept in the basket, and it filters them out, so you don’t have them in the liquid system. You fire up the pump, take it off and put it into your planter or drill. 

“We’re looking at it to help with the root systems of the plant. From just treating the seed, we’ve seen increased rooting mass and that helps us in our dryland environment to get through the drier times. But also, it’s something that we’ve seen a lot of with plant health that our plants seem to have that darker green and seem to survive those drier times when we have flash droughts where we might have a month without rain. It helps with the plant to be a little bit healthier.”

Watch the full version of this episode of Conservation Ag Update.