September 2019 - 10

From its flagship product, Dairy Doo, Morgan Composting has developed a full line of
more than 15 retail products.
By Stephen Kloosterman
Associate Editor
A growing compost business in
Michigan sees its role as helping
farmers grow more high-value fruit and
vegetable crops.
Morgan Composting's headquarters
sits on top of a hill in remote Sears,
Michigan, where the family once
milked cows. What began in 1996 as a
family-run dairy with extra cow manure
has become a composting company
with a booming business serving
everyone from backyard gardeners
to large specialty crop growers. The
company not only manufactures and
mixes compost, but also does product
development and marketing. The family
also still grows 600 acres of corn and 10
acres of mixed vegetables.
The company has 38 full-time
employees. Now in their 80s, Dale and
Reenie Morgan remain involved with
the business, looking over the company
books. Brad, the second generation, is
company president. Brad's son Justin
Morgan is vice president, while his
other sons Jeremie (materials) and Jacob
(mechanical) are heavily involved in
specific parts of the company.
The business has grown to five
composting sites in Michigan in addition
to its Sears location. From its flagship
Brad Morgan shows some of the potting soil produced by his family company,
Morgan Composting. Photos: Stephen Kloosterman
product, Dairy Doo, it has developed a
full line of more than 15 retail products.
" Not all compost is the same, " said Brad
Morgan. " Everything that you're doing
basically has a recipe. "
Cooking up compost
Every recipe has ingredients. Some
of the raw materials that the company
composts include regional cow manure,
chicken manure from southwest
Michigan and yard waste from the city of
Kalamazoo.
The company buys other substances
from farther afield: rail car tanks of fish
product, meat and bone meal, feather
meal, kelp, Leonardite ore, greensand and
many other materials..
" We carry a wide variety of hard-tofind
organic products, " Justin Morgan
said while giving a tour of a warehouse.
" Each individual ingredient carries its
own power, so to speak. "
The company also manufactures its
Monday, December 9, 2019
The day before the Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable & Farm Market EXPO
own humic acid - valued for helping
plant roots absorb nutrients - and worm
castings from European crawlers and
smaller " red wigglers. "
Pre-mixed products, and custom mixes
ordered by large growers, are laid out in
rows for further decomposition.
" Once it's right, we turn it every three
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days, and the temperature is constantly
monitored, " Brad said. As beneficial
bacteria break down organic material,
the thermophilic compost's temperature
soars to 140˚ F, killing off weed seeds
and pathogens.
Specialty crops' interest
The business continues to grow as
there is increased interest in soil health
in general, and composting in particular,
among specialty crop growers.
The composting program at
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Washington state's Stemilt Growers was
featured at Tilth Alliance Conference
last fall. The growers, whose operations
focus mainly on apples and cherries, use
the process to convert culls and waste
apple and cherries into compost with
manure, according to a blog post by the
Washington State University College
of Agricultural, Human, and Natural
Resource Sciences.
Research trials by Michigan State
University's (MSU) Marisol Quintanilla
10 | VegetableGrowersNews.com
found that some composted manures
such as the Layer Ash Blend from Morgan
Composting reduce the numbers of
unwanted nematodes that can hurt fruit
trees and are thought to cause orchard
replant issues.
At the same time, composting is
subject to additional scrutiny from a
food safety perspective. The Food Safety
Modernization Act's Produce Safety
Rule includes detailed guidelines for
how manure, food residue and other
composting materials should be stored
and properly applied.
" In general, if compost is applied in a
manner that minimizes the potential for
contact with the harvestable portion of
the crop, it would be considered a lower
risk than a broadcast application over the
top of a crop, " according to Phil Tocco of
MSU Extension. " Aim to minimize direct
contact of compost with the crop as much
as practical. "
A win-win
Morgan Composting has also seen an
increased interest in compost.
" I figure we're touching 200,000 acres in
Michigan right now, " Brad Morgan said.
Customers range from home gardens to
serious growers with 15,000 acres.
Specialty crop growers, including
vegetable growers, use it to strengthen
soils drained by demanding crops.
" Farmers need to improve their soils to
put back what their crops take out of the
soil, " Justin Morgan said.
The benefits of compost are a healthy
diversity of microbes. Justin Morgan said
tests by Ohio State University's Bug in a
Jug program have found between 12,00052,000
microorganisms in one gram of
its soil.
" There's been a big push on soil health, "
Brad Morgan said. Organic growing
has surged in reaction to consumer
perceptions of traditional chemical
sprays and fertilizers. Strong composts,
biocontrols and biostimulants are part of
the organic growers' toolbox.
Justin Morgan said he's optimistic
about the future. Livestock farmers need
to dispose of manures. Fruit and vegetable
growers need healthy soil. Composting
can help them both.
" It's a win-win for everybody, " he said.
" Farmers can do more cash crops. " VGN
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September 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of September 2019
