Subject: Effects of Compost - Response

From: Elisheva Kaufman <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 14 Mar 1996 20:16:23 -0800 (PST)

To: Patrick Maddens
World Sustainable Agriculture Association

>From  Elisheva Kaufman
Project Coordinator;
Ecological Soil Management Collaborative
<[email-masked]>

Patrick,
There is great interest in this area internationally as well. 
As coordinator of the Ecological Soil Management Collaborative,
a proposed project involving US, Palestinian and Israeli
collaboration for  sustainable agriculture, 
we will research disease suppression through compost,
and integrated soil fertility strategies appropriate for 
dryland conditions with developing country constraints.
under the leadership of Dr. Will Brinton, of Woods End, and 
Dr. Fred Magdoff of the University of Vermont (pending funding).

Our goal is to restore degraded soils and promote sustainable ag 
through 
ecological soil managment practices.  Traditional, small
farmers need low-tech, effective methods to generate their own on-farm 
compost high in disease suppressivecapacity and the 
soil biodiversity that promotes natural bio-controls. Thus the costly, 
high intensity management and heavy expensive machinery of the 
Lubke approach is not helpful. The small American farmer operates 
with similar constraints.

After much investigation, we found that Woods End could provide us 
with exemplary compost quality evaluation and standards, a compost 
management approach adapted to the economic limits and appropriate 
technology-needs of a developing country, and muncipal and on-farm 
implementation skills to train the local people for self-suficiency and 
sustainability.

We would be most interested in networking with other dryland region 
researchers, 
and indigenous peoples, on composting methods for disease suppression, 
and related soil life/biodiversity/fertility concerns. 

What other compost researchers are looking are the relationship between
compost managment intensity and disease suppression; in terms of 
compost temperature, the nature of the microbial and fungal growth and
recipes.  It would seem that the closer we recreate the natural humus forming
conditions of the forest floor, the low temperature and slow activity 
over time,
the greater the biodiversity potential.  Any thoughts on this?

Good Wishes in Your Work,

Elisheva Kaufman
<[email-masked]>

PS: I have faxed this conversation to Prof. Said Assaf, the director of 
the Palestinian National Agricultural Reseach Center, 
since he is not yet on-line, and emailed it to Dr. Michael Raviv, of 
the 
Israeli Ministry of Ag.  Following is Dr. Ravivs response:

Michael Raviv; 
Thanks for the interesting discussion on compost effects.
 Right now I'm cooperating with a plant pathologist from another
research center - in the Negev, on similar problems: they have severe problem
of Alternaria on potato. I prepared for her several composts with defined
properties and prepared extracts (what you call tea) from them. We 
conducted a
through chemical analysis (biological one will be done later on) and
now we can start linking between compost properties and effectiveness against
this disease. results of sterilized teas are good but not impressive,
suggesting a role also for microorganisms prevailing in the teas.