Vermont Compost Company

Since 1992, Vermont Compost Company has grown from a small, local operation to a company supplying premium soils to thousands of successful growers all over the country. We carefully and intentionally source only the highest quality materials and amendments for all of our soil mixes.

All ingredients used in Vermont Compost Company products have been approved for certified organic production. Our composting process meets the National Organic Program (NOP) standard requirements and our products are approved by Vermont Organic Farmers (VOF), the certification branch of NOFA-VT

In addition to product consistency, growers can depend on Vermont Compost Company as an invaluable resource for a breadth of soil and plant knowledge and the technical expertise it takes to grow organically in an ever-changing environment. 

Our Process

The Compost 

Vermont Compost Company’s primary goal is to provide the highest quality composts and potting soils to growers, enabling them to realize their plant growing goals. The performance of any compost is determined by the content and structure of the materials being composted. Correct media behavior depends on good process conditions and practices. We use the broadest range of appropriate ingredients to support bio-diversity. Using a “multi-manurial” suite of excreta—cow, horse, donkey, mule, chicken, and worm manures—as well as community food residuals, bedding hay, spoiled silage, and hardwood bark, we move towards imitating the complexity of successful natural systems. We make our compost on native soil surfaces amended to optimize the compost process and intended to return to tillage in the enhanced form if and when the need for the compost making diminishes or ends. Our manure-based compost is the main ingredient for all of our products—from our seed starting mixes to our nutrient booster and perennial blends. High-performance composts demand excellent ingredients in correct proportions. We use the finest available to us.

The Beginning 

We start out by blending raw manures, bedding, bark, and oxidized silage. Mature compost is added as an inoculum to guide the process. This blend of farm and forest-sourced material is used as bulking to manage the carefully source-separated rescued food from community schools, stores, restaurants, and homes. The porous, carbon-rich bedding, bark, and manure help to mitigate the odors and absorb the nutrient-dense liquids associated with these food residuals.

The combined ration is placed in windrows inside simple high tunnels for our layer flock to forage upon. A complex sequence of metabolic processes are in motion; chickens tumble and agitate the mix searching for bugs, grubs, and bits of cooking food to feed on—all the while depositing their protein-rich excreta. Every five days or so, the pile is turned further down the hoop-house.