A free compost workshop is scheduled for Nov. 4, 2010 in Building 30 on the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, IL. The workshop is hosted by University of Illinois Extension, Illinois State University and the Illinois Department of Agriculture, with support from the Illinois Natural Resource Conservation Service. The workshop runs from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Anyone interested in the composting process should attend, according to Randy Fonner, Extension specialist with the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering at the University of Illinois. “That includes backyard composters, livestock producers, landscape waste composters or horse stable operators. This workshop will address a variety of topics of interest to everyone,” he says.
Topics include Characteristics of Good Compost; Composting Do’s and Don’t’s; Uses for Compost; Composting in the Backyard; Compost Regulations and Permitting; and Compost Networking. The topic of compost networking will cover matching manure generators with compost producers, and provide online resources on the production and management of livestock manure as well as composting manure, food scraps and yard waste.
There will be a tour of the Illinois State Fairground composting facility to view the fairground’s compost monitoring process and examples of bin composting and windrow composting.
For more information, contact Fonner at refonner@illinois.edu or Mike Rahe at mrahe@agr.state.il.us.