NEWS BRIEFS

From poultry waste
to pay dirt

Cold Spring, Minn. — A Stearns County company is among the state’s first to turn a poultry plant’s castoffs into nutrient-rich garden fertilizer. The company, Mississippi Topsoils, grew from Gold’n Plump’s need for an alternative to spreading wastewater solids on cropland, says company co-founder Brad Matuska.

With AURI’s help, Matuska and Cold Spring businessman Math Miller established a container compost system next to the poultry plant. Partially dried wastewater is combined with sawdust, wood chips or leaves, and sealed in 20-ton bins. In about eight weeks, heat and natural bacteria transform the material into rich, black fertilizer loaded with nutrients and organic matter, Matuska says.

Matuska and Miller began producing the compost last fall. This year they will generate about 5,000 cubic yards, sold under the Mississippi Topsoil label to fruit and vegetable growers, nurseries and garden centers.

Composting food processing waste makes sense "not only economically, but socially and environmentally," says Matuska, a certified compost facility operator. Recent advances in compost technology have made commercial operations economically feasible. Properly managed, compost emits little odor and avoids problems with liquid waste, such as timing, storage and runoff.

Cooperative conference offered

A two-day conference on cooperatives will be held at the Kelly Inn of St. Cloud, Minn., starting at noon on April 26 and ending after noon on April 27. “Cooperatives: A Tool for Community Economic Development” will offer sessions on starting and structuring cooperatives and highlight successful co-ops.

The first day will cover cooperative services, such as housing, childcare and health care, and cooperative businesses, such as worker-owned businesses, value-added/new generation cooperatives and marketing cooperatives.

Second day sessions will offer a how-to on cooperative development and cover business structure options.

The registration fee is $75, which includes a reference manual on cooperative development and a list of Minnesota resources.

Sponsors include Cooperative Development Services, USDA’s Rural Development, the University of Minnesota Extension Service and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.

For more information, contact Todd Thompson of Cooperative Development Services at (651) 265-9630 or thompson@organic.org.