Luke and Melissa Bowman are in the early stages of developing the enterprise, Break It Down Composting, on their 2400-hectare Barraba property, Springfield.

They have adopted a composting process known as CMC – controlled microbial composting – that was developed by Austrian farmers and scientists, Uta and

Sigfried Luebke.

This uses a range of raw materials that are mixed and composted during a six- to eight-week period, producing a humified compost product that looks like brown soil.

Mr Bowman said the project grew from a need to find a better way to build up the fertility of the light clay loam soils on their property.

“Traditionally for grasslands we used SF45 at 125 kilograms a hectare every two to three years, and a Starter or MAP fertiliser to grow oats,” he said.

“We were looking for a biological input to increase the biology in our soil.

“We researched many different organic farming methods and found composting was the most successful.”

To make the compost, the Bowmans combine wheat and barley straw, native grass hay, yard waste from the local landfill, feedlot and chicken manure, and soil.

Extract of story to appear in Stock & Land, October 30.