Humanure; The potential for composted sewage in Organic Agricultural systems

This morning I am pondering the potential use of human manure in organic cropping systems. The loss of all the basic essential soil elements and organic carbon could be significantly reduced through the application of composted human sewage. In most of the world the industrial waste water is now separated from the residential. Could this heavy metal and chemical-free composted sewage be used on organic fields?

In Global Development of Organic Agriculture: Challenges and Prospects the authors hint at the potential for the use of composted human wastes claiming the tremendous benefits to the soil. This topic is also hinted at in the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) Growing Organic Web Pages. Reclaiming these lost of nutrients in the urban sewage treatment systems could easily be enough to renew the fertility of the world's agricultural soils.

Most people do not agree.  The Environmental Working Group (EWG) strongly recommends that sewage sludge NOT be allowed in organic systems claiming the content of dangerous chemicals, detergents etc. In Eco Living Solutions the authors are strongly against the use of human wastes in agricultural systems claiming high chemical and heavy metal content. In many places around the world, including Nova Scotia, farmers, activists and political parties are fighting against the use of sewage sludge on farmland.

The primary problem with this discussion is that much of the data is from 1988 or older. Urban sewage treatment systems have changed significantly in much of the world since then. Opening up this debate could help re-design the way sewage is treated and recycled. The benefits to farm systems, food production and the poisoned and over-nutrified aquatic eco-systems could be significant.
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The News Today

My qualification as Master of Sail Steam or Motor Vessels is not proving that useful to me in my work with farmers and foresters so I have decided to go back to school and pursue a Masters degree. The program is in Sustainable International Agriculture in Witzenhausen, Germany as part of the Trans Atlantic Partnership between the Universities of Kassel and Göttingen, the Organic Research Center in the UK and the College of the Atlantic in the US.

Recent news has offered more inspiration for this masters program. Listening 'The Changing World' on PRI, Ayisha Yahya looks at life in the Namib desert. The Namib is world's oldest desert, the most stable arid area in the world, and it is going through some big changes. Namibia faces serious challenges in crop and animal production, coastal flooding and the consequential impacts on human and ecological health. Water scarcity, already a serious challenge, is likely to get worse in the near future.

Also in the BBC news today are reports on the farming and forestry practices in the Amazon. Many farmers in the Amazon are using recently deforested land for a meager cattle production of 1 head per 2.5 hectares cattle production, far below the global average. This system of production is a hard life for the animals, the farmers and most of all for the native forests.

This is an important time to pursue a sustainable way to to cooperate with the rest of the world - these studies should offer good connections and qualifications toward that ideal.

Read more about the Witzenhausen: Word Press Blog for the College of the Atlantic sustainableag.wordpress.com

Cory's Dr Green Blog Posts:
Small is Beautiful
Give Organic a Chance
Beekeeping
No Work Farming
Growing Organic



Visit Farmers for the Future

IFOAM's Growing Organic Web Pages (www.ifoam.org/organic) Information and Resources for Developing Sustainable Agriculture

Growing Organic www.ifoam.org/growingorganic


I have been working for the past eight months on this exciting project for the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements Head Office in Bonn, Germany. This has been an incredibly educational and grounding experience. The work is now essentially complete and I am now working on promoting it. Please help me get the word out, have a look and see if the work applies to you and where you feel it might best be promoted.

The web pages I built are a source of information for developing organic sectors of all kinds, even growing organic food and composting in the backyard. They represent the cumulative knowledge and experience of IFOAM, the umbrella organization for Organic Agriculture, and are a community resource designed to represent and serve global Organic movements. I like to think of them as a kind of Organic Wikipedia.



These web pages provide comprehensive information for everyone from grassroots organizers engaged in advocacy to trainers and smallholders (Training Platform www.ifoam.org/training). They are also full of recommendations and options for the successful growth through networking, strategic relations, and partnerships.

Searching these pages you can learn more about the history of Organic Agriculture, lessons learned through case studies and research from all around the world, and specifics on how to produce and promote Organic Agriculture. Here you will also find information on the whole process of developing organic sectors, from policy making to market development (www.ifoam.org/markets).

These pages address common criticisms/ misconceptions, and offer arguments in favor of Organic Agriculture through the publications and works of IFOAM and Global Organic Movements.

I hope you like it.

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