In Volyn, Green Farm, a company that processes organic waste into vermicompost fertilizer using California worms, has won a €10,000 grant to scale up its business.
The company already produces about 100 tons of vermicompost per year from 160 tons of garden waste, animal manure, and spoiled vegetables and fruits, Eco.Rayon reports.
It is noted that the farm was founded by Serhii Ryzhkov and Yuliia Yutovets in 2019 in the village of Zhydychyn. In May 2023, they applied for a grant from the European Institute of Food Innovation and Technology. The project to scale up production is planned to be implemented in 2024.
The farm owners emphasized that the entry into force of Law No. 2320-IX "On Waste Management" helped them win the grant, which makes it possible to implement the best European approaches. In addition, there is an opportunity to enter the EU markets, as Belarus and Lithuania are no longer the main importers of seedling substrates.
The article said that Californian earthworms can process organic matter throughout the year. For this, it is necessary to make warm beds so that the animals do not die from the cold and do not fall into hibernation.
It is noted that in four years entrepreneurs sold about 400 tons of environmentally friendly fertilizer.
Yutovets emphasized that biohumus will help to restore the fertility of the Ukrainian soil, in particular through deoxidation with mineral fertilizers. The raw materials for the production of biohumus are currently waste from nearby factories and cafes, namely pulp, beer cake, sawdust, coffee grounds, spoiled vegetables and fruits, horse manure and organic waste from Lutsk.
"Now, hundreds of trucks take fallen leaves and dry grass out of the city to the landfill. All this smolders there, goes into groundwater, pollutes reservoirs and soils. The processing of this organic waste is the main raw material for our company. We only need the interest of the city, we are ready to take on processing itself. We can make compost, biohumus from leaves, branches, grass mowed in the summer. Useful fertilizers will be returned for spring feeding of parks and squares," Ryzhkov said.
The entrepreneurs said that they plan to rent 17 hectares of land on a livestock farm in Rokyny to increase their capacity. They will need to set up drainage, install modern equipment for irrigation, compost grinding, worm separation from vermicompost, etc.
The article emphasized that prices for organic vermicompost remain consistently high. As a business, this is a promising production with regular demand and profit. It is valued as a guarantee of a healthy harvest, which also ripens faster.
As EcoPolitic reported earlier, in the summer of 2023 in Lutsk at the composting station they started growing greens and vegetables on compost.
