Build your own bioreactor | Guizhou SummitTrail Co.,Ltd

Published: January 31, 2023

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Former Saskatchewan farmer Franck Groeneweg will be heading out to his Montana grain fields this spring to apply a biological fertilizer made on his farm. Over the past three growing seasons, it appears this liquid compost extract helps to maintain crop yields while making it possible for him to significantly reduce chemical fertilizer rates.

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It sounds like an agronomic fairy tale, without the magic wand, but Groeneweg says there is science behind the whole process that essentially harnesses the power of soil biology to produce and improve the uptake of crop nutrients.

The facilities and equipment needed to produce a liquid compost extract aren't necessarily pretty and it's not a perfect set up, says Groeneweg — he is still on a learning curve — but in a time when more farmers are taking a hard look at regenerative agriculture practices, being able to reduce fertilizer costs has been a significant benefit.

Groeneweg moved about 1,100 kilometres south three years ago with his wife, Kari, and four children from their farm at Edgeley, Sask., northeast of Regina, to a grain farm at Three Forks, Mont., northwest of Bozeman. He says if he had applied full inputs during the dry growing conditions, the farm may not have survived.

"By using compost extract, I have been able to reduce my fertilizer bill to between 25 and 33 per cent of what it was," says Groeneweg.

"We’ve had three extremely dry growing seasons with wheat yields at about 25 bushels per acre. If I had applied a full chemical fertilizer recommendation up front that included 80 pounds of nitrogen and only harvested 25 bushels, I don't know if we’d still be farming."

The lower yields were due to dry growing conditions. Tissue testing showed the crops had sufficient nutrients, they just needed moisture.

Groeneweg doesn't have a grudge with chemicals other than inputs can be extremely expensive. "Crop prices increased but at the same time so did the cost of inputs," he says. "I don't blame the fertilizer and chemical companies — they are in business to be profitable. But then I have to look at what I can do on my farm to improve the economics of crop production."

After an extensive investigation over the past five years, Groeneweg's goal with the compost system, developed by a researcher in California, is to produce a compost extract that returns biology to the soil. That biology, which is heavy on fungi production but also includes soil bacteria and other organisms, can help plants develop a better root system and make better use of nutrients in the soil.

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It's all about reintroducing soil biology that will lead to improved soil texture, water-holding capacity, soil health and, ultimately, nutrient uptake by crops so grains, oilseeds and pulse crops are nutrient dense and, therefore, a healthier food source.

That seems like a tall order from a few ounces of liquid compost extract applied to the seed row, but each teaspoon has billions of microscopic organisms ready to go to work.

"If I had heard myself talking like this five years ago, I would have thought I was off my rocker," says Groeneweg. "But I have looked into it, I have talked to other farmers, I have attended workshops and conferences and done some research. And now after three years of trying it myself, I see there is something to it. I just have to stop beating up the soil and allow the biologicals to work."

Groeneweg says going back a few generations, crop production relied on natural systems — on biologicals — to produce crops. Tillage and chemicals came along and for a while it was a honeymoon of improved crop production. Then biologicals disappeared and farming became reliant on chemical inputs. In his view, regenerative agriculture is about returning crop production to those biological roots.

The Montana farm, Living Sky Grains, covers around 14,000 acres. Groeneweg seeds about 10,000 acres of annual crops, with 4,000 acres in fallow each year. It was primarily a winter wheat and fallow rotation on the farm for many years. Groeneweg introduced a more diverse crop rotation that now includes winter wheat, spring wheat, chickpeas, winter canola and some flax.

As he investigated regenerative agriculture techniques, Groeneweg decided he wanted to make compost to help improve soil biologicals and soil texture. It is generally too dry in his area to support cover crops, and there are no cattle on the farm, so manure wasn't a handy option. Plant biomass including crop residue can be composted, but it would require a large volume of raw material. And he found that conventional compost materials placed in a windrow and turned regularly favour bacteria production and less fungi production.

Groeneweg learned it is the fungal activity in the soil that really helps to improve soil aggregation, which leads to improved water infiltration. He was looking for a system that favoured fungi production but required less plant biomass.

His investigation led him to a compost system known as the Johnson-Su bioreactor. This is a system designed by California researcher David Johnson, a molecular biologist conducting research at the Institute for Sustainable Agricultural Research at New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, N.M. He is also an adjunct professor at the Center for Regenerative Agriculture and Resilient Systems at California State University, Chico, Calif.

Johnson has done considerable work with respect to the efficacy of fungal-dominated compost for carbon sequestration and improved soil health and crop yields. He devised the composting system in collaboration with his wife, Hui-Chun Su, hence the name Johnson-Su bioreactor.

What does a Johnson-Su bioreactor look like? "It sounds a bit more elaborate than it actually is," says Groeneweg. "We already had several of the components around the farm."

It is called a static composting system that favours fungal production. Heat, moisture, microbes and worms turn organic matter into compost without turning or aerating the material.

Alfalfa hay and grain straw bales already on the farm were used as the biomass for compost. The compost requires the proper balance between carbon and nitrogen. Groeneweg aims for a 30:1 carbon to nitrogen ratio. Straw bales have the carbon, alfalfa bales have the nitrogen. To get close to the target ratio, he used a telehandler to place two alfalfa and one straw bale in a Kuhn Side Slinger manure spreader that also came with the farm (see cover photo). The manure spreader chops and mixes the hay and straw without spreading it. Nearly 600 gallons of water are added to each load to bring the material to about 70 per cent moisture. Groeneweg says a TMR mixer would be ideal for this job, but the manure spreader worked fine (see photo 1 below).

Once the organic material mixes for about half an hour and reaches about 70 per cent moisture, it is transferred from the manure spreader into a series of 18 IBC totes (intermediate bulk containers) lined up in the yard (see photo 2 below).

The IBC totes are 1,000-gallon totes with a metal frame usually outfitted with a plastic liner used for holding a range of agricultural products.

Groeneweg removed the plastic liner from the totes, installed a fabric material to serve as a liner and then filled each tote with wetted, chopped hay and straw. As the totes are filled, he also stands six evenly spaced PVC tubes in each tote (see photo 2 above). This is an aerobic composting system, so the tubes that stand the full height of each tote serve as chimneys, helping to get as much air as possible into the composting material.

The filled totes then sit in the yard for 24-48 hours until the compost material begins to heat. At that point, the tubes are removed and the totes are moved into a 40-foot-long insulated shipping container. Groeneweg sourced the used container for about $15,000 (see photo 3 below).

Over the following three weeks, inside the closed container the compost material should heat to temperatures between 60 and 66 C (140-150 F), which are high enough to kill all harmful pathogens and won't affect beneficial organisms.

After those three weeks, the temperature inside the compost material should begin to drop to a fairly constant 27 C (80F). At that point, Groeneweg adds about 500 compost worms to each tote, and everything is left to sit for a year.

The container is closed so it holds its temperature, although the compost material must be kept at 70 per cent moisture. Compost moisture is monitored on a regular basis and is topped up with water from a hose as needed.

After about a year (even 10 or 11 months) of proper temperature, moisture and worm activity, the hay and straw compost is converted into a high-quality organic material that looks a lot like black soil.

Groeneweg says it would take a large volume of "dry" composted material to spread over his cropped acres, so he converts this high-quality compost into an extract that can be applied as a liquid in the seed row. That involves transferring the composted material into a 1,500-gallon tank, called an extractor, and water is added (see photo 4 above). An agitator at the bottom of the extractor thoroughly mixes the compost into a solution. From there, the solution can be loaded into a liquid fertilizer cart ready for seeding (see photo 5 below).

Groeneweg has outfitted each run of the air drill with a metering hose that places six to eight gallons per acre of the compost solution in the seed row (see photo 6 below).

Depending on the crop, he might also treat seeds with a biostimulant to help improve nutrient uptake.

The overall compost system Groeneweg developed takes about 21,000 pounds of chopped hay and straw for each batch. He puts about 1,000 pounds of organic material in each tote to start the process. After composting, that is reduced to 500-700 pounds of high-quality composted material. He estimates it will take 15,000 pounds of "product" to produce enough extract to treat 7,500 acres of crop (see photo 7 below).

Groeneweg says while there is a relatively small amount of compost extract applied, it contains sufficient biological material to contact crop roots, and it is a synergistic relationship. The soil biology provides nutrients to the plant to help with root development and in turn the roots release compounds that help the soil biology to multiply (see photo 8 below).

Using phosphorus as an example, Groeneweg says a soil test might show phosphate levels are below 15 parts per million, so the crop will need added phosphate. However, a soil analysis might also show there is about 1,400 pounds of phosphorus per acre in the top six inches of soil. Phosphorus is not plant available, but phosphate is.

"The soil biology will work to convert that phosphorus to a plant-available form," he says. "So, if phosphorus fertilizer is $1,000 per ton and there is 1,400 pounds per acre in the top six inches, never mind the four feet of soil below that, then there is a huge value of phosphorus that can be used by the crop if the biology is active in the soil."

He says if each year the crop removes 15 to 20 pounds of phosphorus, in theory there is sufficient nutrient in the top six inches to last nearly 300 years. But, he adds, with proper rotation, or crop diversity, and practices that support soil biology, nutrients are also added to the soil.

Groeneweg says since he has been applying the compost extract to the seed row, nitrogen application has been reduced by about 75 per cent. He does apply some — about 100 pounds of ammonium sulphate, 21 per cent nitrogen and 24 per cent sulphur, which supplies about 25 pounds of actual nitrogen per acre.

With these biologicals, is the crop getting sufficient nutrients?

"We do crop tissue analysis two or three times during the growing season and, so far, it is showing the crops are getting what they need," says Groeneweg. "The plants are happy."

He does note that he's been running this program during three relatively dry growing seasons.

"I’m not sure what to expect if we get rain and good growing conditions," says Groeneweg. "My understanding is that biologicals are like an on-demand system. If there is greater demand from the plant because growing conditions are favourable, the biologicals will produce more."

Groeneweg says while producing compost and the compost extract involves work, he's seeing results that tell him he is on the right path. He's still learning, and there are changes he can make to help streamline the process. And he is also watching what's available on the market.

"There are a number of companies producing commercial biological products," he says. "I believe some of them are pretty good, and others are a bit suspect. I like producing my own. I believe there may be some value in producing biologicals that are indigenous to my farm. But I’m also open to the idea one day there may be a commercial product that works just as well.

"I think the concept of reintroducing biologicals to the soil makes sense," he says. "It is a concept I expect would work everywhere, but it may not be right for every farmer."

He says it is interesting to observe that most farmers today wouldn't think of growing a pulse crop without applying nitrogen-fixing rhizobia to the seed — but mention biologicals or biostimulants for a range of crops and many are quite skeptical.

Groeneweg says producers looking for more information can search Johnson-Su bioreactor and its developer, David Johnson, on YouTube as well as presentations from other producers.

Field Editor

Lee Hart is a longtime agricultural writer, the editor of Cattleman's Corner and a former field editor at Grainews.

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