Grow Guide: Become a Manure Connoisseur

In this Grow Guide, we’re taking it back to the origins of agriculture and jumping headfirst into the original fertilizer — animal manure.

Back in the day, when human civilization first began cultivating plants for food, manure was the perfect animal byproduct that enhanced yields and overall health of the plants and soil. I’m not sure who the first person was to think “Hey, let’s use poo to feed the plants we will eventually eat!” but hey, if it works, it works.

While using manure was popular in agriculture during the turn of the century, since then its use has declined in commercial production due to three primary causes:

1. Mono-Cropping

Modern farms are mono-cropping (growing one species) rather than tending to a diverse farm. This led to farmers specializing in one crop, separating plant and livestock production so they no longer grew harmoniously together. This separation between plant and livestock leads us to reason number two

2. Manure is Heavy

Manure is expensive to transport when it doesn’t originate on the farm. The cost of transport outweighs the benefits of manure…