Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
such as the presence of compost can have a large effect on the
well-being of plants is not at all surprising. When humans eat
right and get their exercise, the aggregate cost of health care
is reduced. When plants eat right, the cost of their health care
is also reduced. Just as a human in optimal health is more
productive, a plant grown in soil amended with compost has
greater yields.
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According to the Washington State University Cooperative
Extension Service (along with dozens of other sources),
compost helps soil retain fertilizers better, and also reduces or
even eliminates the need for fertilizer altogether. Fertilizer,
like fungicides, costs money. WSU also states that the
beneficial microorganisms in compost can help protect crops
from pests, thereby reducing the need for pesticides. That's
even more money.
So right there, if you garden and your intention in gardening
is to save money over buying an equivalent product at the
grocery store, the case for using compost is open and
shut—done. If you aren't using compost, you are throwing
money away.
Another reason to use compost is human health. Depending
on which experts you ask, humans need anywhere from
twenty-two to fifty elements in their diet for optimal health. I
am not speaking of vitamins and other complex molecules,
but rather basic chemical elements that we need in order to
catalyze the synthesis of cellular enzymes or even as core
constituents of structures such as bones. Though a person can
survive and even thrive for a time with an ongoing deficiency
in some of these elements, over time deficiency takes its toll,
and some USDA researchers have come to believe that most
