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DESIRE to settle in the "coun-try" has turned Attorney Ed-ward "Ned" J. Foley, J1'. into notjust a farmer, but a composteras well. In 1999, Foley and hiswife, Gail, rented 30 acres and arundown farmhouse in Upper

Providence Township in Montgomery Coun-ty, Pennsylvania, northwest of Philadel-

"..----....-phia."I grew up in a subdivision," says Fo-ey. "I have zero farming background. When

I got married, I wanted to live in the coun-try. Royersford was pretty much all workingfarms at the time. You could see five or sixworking farms from our place. I startedhelping neighbors bale hay. We becamefriends and I got bit by the farming bug andestablished Two Particular Acres. I appliedthe same approach to farming as I did to mylaw studies, reading everything I possiblycould. So I had the book stuff down, which,of course, doesn't mean anything unless youput it to practice."

Foley began growing timothy hay andgrains (no-till corn, soybeans and oats) forhis own three "rescue" horses and the in-creasing number of horse stables in the area.But, with commodity prices low and the costof fertilizer recently jumping to $360 a ton,Foley soon discovered what farmers haveknown for generations: Fanning is not a get-rich-quick proposition. In fact, it's a darnhard way to try to make any money. "My lawpractice pays for the pleasure of farming,"Foley says, only half joking.

EXPANDING THE FARMING OPERATION ..•SUSTAINABLY

To improve the economics, Foley ex-panded his farming operation to up to 100

~'.cres by renting nearby fields. But heJidn't stop there. Foley also diversified hisoperation, getting into composting. lieadded value to what his land produced, andfocused on direct marketing to eliminateany middlemen, who routinely pocket most

30 BrOCYCLE

Organics RecyclersAt Work

A "'lNNING SCENARIO

FARM COMPOSTINGIN THE SUBURBS

liOn-farm composting is agreat way for agriculture tosupport itself and for farmersto farm in a sustainable way,"says Ned Foley, whosewindrows generate a popularproduct for neighbors,arboretums and landscapedesigners.

"I compostbecause Iuiani tofarm," says NedFoley, whoprocesses horsemanure, yardtrimmings andother feedstocksto reducefertilizer billsand improve soilquality.

George De Vault

profits in agriculture."When we began fanning , the organic

matter content of our soils was less than twopercent, which creates stressful growingconditions," he says. "The soil we manufac-ture can have ten percent or greater organ-ic matter, which, in many cases, will allevi-ate mineral fertilizer needs. I don't want togo back to $5,000 fertilizer bills. My bill thisyear will be under $500. My pesticide usehas been cut by 80 percent."

His farm is now, in a word, sustainable, hebelieves. While he still uses some pesticides,Foley sees farm chemicals as only one tool inthe farmer's toolbox. "If I see a worm in anear of corn, I break that section off and eatthe rest. I'd rather be on the tractor runninga cultivator than a sprayer." For many farm-ers, though, such realizations come too late."We are the only one left now," Foley notessadly of area farms. All he can see from hisfarm today is "house farms" bristling with$500,000 homes.

Historically, the township has been high-ly agricultural with large family farms, re-ports the township's website. However,over the last decade, many of the last re-maining farms were sold to housing devel-opers who are constructing large, singlefamily, executive style homes. In 2000, themedian household income was $75,789 and,in 2002, the median price of a home was$215,000. In a nutshell, developers have

lVlAy 2004

bought up every acre they could get theirhands on. "We've been the holdout," Foleysays. "We get letters once a week urging usto sell. I don't even answer them."

~IiETTING INTO THE BUSINESS OF COMPOSTING

Foley's initiation to composting came withhandling manure from his own horses andarea stables to fertilize his fields of timothyhay - his main cash crop. Then, on rentedfarmland, he was faced with piles of woodchips that had partially composted on theirown. A landscaper had a long-term agree-ment with the landowner to dump chipsthere. The chips kept coming.

While delivering hay to nearby stables, hekept noticing growing stockpiles of manure.The problem stemmed from a lack of infras-tructure to properly store, remove and/ordispose of the manure in this densely popu-lated region. "I can create an organic solu-

tion," Foley recallsthinking. "I deliverhay to them, haul backmanure, and compostit with wood chips andother availableamendments. At thesame time, we startedgetting neighborsknocking on the door,asking, 'Hey, how can Iget some of this stuff?'The people who werebuying these homesand taking away landbase - taking awaythe places to spread

manure - were part of the solution. Thesepeople were willing to pay much more forcomposted mulch than a bushel of corn orsoybeans or anything else."

With no small amount of money from hisown pocket, the state's first on-farm com-posting permit and a $43,000 state grant for"compost infrastructure development," Fo-ley was finally in business. He leaves sixroll-off containers at area stables and otherlocations. When the dumpsters are full ofmanure or other compostable material, cus-tomers call for pickup.

The on-farm compost permit allows Foleyto use a composting operation as an integralpart of his farming operation (as long as itmeets the statutory definition of a "normalfarming operation," which Two ParticularAcres does). The permit allows for "the man-agement, collection, storage, transportation,use or disposal of manure, other agricultur-al waste and food processing waste, screen-ings and sludges on land where the materi-als will improve the condition ofthe soil, thegrowth of crops or in the restoration of theland for the same purposes." Explains Foley:"We are allowed to utilize up to five acres of

~le farm for compo sting purposes and we are.,ermitted to have up to 3,000 cubic yards ofmat.erial per acre on site at anyone time. To-tal retention time for material is one year.Obviously the permit is designed to keep ma-terial flowing rather than stockpiling."

BroCYCLE

"When we beganfarming, the organicmatter content ofour soils was lessthan two percent,which createsstressful growingconditions. "

The compost recipe consists of manure,straw or spoiled hay, green yard trimmings,wood chips, clay (for binding salts and build-ing humus) and overs or finished compost.The compost pad is a packed clay surface.Composting time is ten to 12 weeks and cur-ing is a minimum of 30 days. A Sandbergertractor-powered 10-foot compost turner isused to manage the windrows. All woodchips are reground with a Sundance Kid IIhorizontal grinder, then utilized as a bulk-ing agent and carbon source.

Foley rents a screen as needed, producingthree-eighth inch compost for application tohis hay fields and half-inch compost for soilincorporation and for sale to customers, in-

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eluding neighbors, arboretums and countryclubs, and high end landscape designers. Thescreened chips are sold as mulch and someare recycled back into compost production.

r-'\ "Currently, we utilize more than we sellout that will gradually change as we developour retail and wholesale business," says Fo-ley. "We have a small roll off truck that weutilize for pick up of feedstock and deliveryoffinished material. We also have a very lim-ited amount of pickups at the farm. With ourown trucking, we have greater control overinflow and outflow of material and we usual-ly schedule pulls and deliveries at the sametime to make the trucking cost-effective."

He adds that the ability to rent equipmentlike screens has been enormously helpful tohis start-up farm composting operation. "Weonly need a screen for several hours amonth, yet to own one is a huge capital in-vestment for us right now. We were fortu-nate to connect with Dials Marketing in RedHill, Pennsylvania, which has started abusiness renting Orbit screens to com-posters, farmers and recyclers. Compostingequipment for the on-farm to medium scalecompost business is starting to mature dueto the availability of smaller scale machin-ery that can be used on the farm and hauledwith a pick-up truck and because of enter-prises that do the rentals. This obviouslymakes the On-Farm Permit much more fea-sible since we don't have to make a huge cap-ital investment in a machine that is not used

~veryday."

ttOLITICAL PRESSURESTwo Particular Acres' operations seem like

a win all around - for the stables, areahomeowners and the Foleys. It makes so

A 10-foot, tractor-poweredturner is used to managewindrows over a ten to 12-week period.

Compost feedstocksinclude manure,straw or spoiledhay, yardtrimmings I woodchips along withovers or finishedcompost.

much sense that Foley wrote a letter to thetownship last winter, inviting it to drop offyard trimmings for composting, instead oftrucking them to a landfill. Then, 45 dayslater, the township sent Foley a letter. It wascertified, return receipt requested. The letterordered him to "cease and desist" his com-posting activities, forthwith. Despite his on-farm composting permit from the state, thetownship said that Foley's composting oper-

THE BUSINESS AT A GLANCE

Two Particular Acres (TPA) is a30-acre farm in Upper ProvidenceTownship, Montgomery County,

Pennsylvania (suburban Philadelphia).Owner-operator Edward J. Foley,Jr., P.C.

February3,2003 - TPA receivesfirston-farm composting permit in statefrom PennsylvaniaDepartment of Envi-ronmental Protection (DEP).Permit al-lows up to 3,000 cubic yards of materi-al per acre on site. Up to five acres maybe set aside for composting.

Permitted to accept manure, yardtrimmings, source-separated foodresiduals from food markets, grocerystores, food banks, food distributioncenters, school cafeterias and institu-tions, source-separated newspaper

r">. and corrugated paper (cardboard).Food waste is limited to 500 tons or1,000 cubic yards per acre.

June 12, 2003 - TPA receives$43,000 compost infrastructure devel-

32 BroCYCLE

opment grant from the state to buy sixroll-off containers and acompost turner.

Equipment - Owns Case IH 100-hpMFWDloader tractor with creeper gear,Sandberger tractor-powered 10-footcompost turner, Sundance Kid II hori-zontal grinder, Peterbuilt single axleroll-off container truck that is small(30,000-pound capacity) and easilymaneuverable, six roll-off collectioncontainers. Rents a screen (easilytowed behind pickup truck) for finishscreening of product.

Products - Compost, mulch, top-soil, and hay.

• Compost is high quality and, inmany cases, made to order utilizing amethod to insure high microbial countsand destruction of pathogens and weedseeds.Availableyear-round in both veg-etative- and manure-baseci versions.Screened or unscreened.

• Mulch is "chipper chips" and ma-nure, blended to precise proportions,

then composted in aerated windowsfor up to one year. Reground to a finetexture using a proprietary recipe. Usesno construction waste (pallets), nochemicals or dyes. Manure-free mulchalso available.

• Top soil consists of screened andblended composts and sand contain-ing up to about 10 percent organicmatter.

Customers - Homeowners, golfcourses, nurseries, landscapers, horsestables and even zoos.

Landscapers and homeowners dropoff yard trimmings (leaves,grass, brushand other woody material) and pay tip-ping fee. Their vehicles are reloadedwith compost, mulch or topsoil.

E-mail ej~@twoparticularacres.com.For details on Pennsylvania's on-farmcomposting permit program, contactPA Department of Environmental Pro-tection, Waste Minimization and Plan-ning Division, (717) 787-7382.

MAy 2004

ation violates his R-1 agricultural zoning."They have not backed off," Foley says. Nei-

ther has Foley. He is still making compost. Thefarmer-attorney argued his case before thetownship Zoning Hearing Board on February19, 2004. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court hasdefined composting as being well within the def-inition of the realm of agricultural enterprises."After all, we are doing it primarily to feed ourown farm," he says. "But the township attorneysaid if the Zoning Board approved my opera-tion, the supervisors would appeal. It's dis-tracting. It's frustrating. I should be spendingmy time on the business. 1 never thought theseguys would be the problem. All of the neighborsare in support of what we're doing."

What's the problem? The only thing Foleycan figure is that the township wants to buildsome walking trails next to his property onrecreational land "donated" to the township bya developer. "1 could move it, if they insist. So,far they're not. They just want me shut down,"he says. "I'm trying to be a good steward. 1 runa clean operation. I've become very good at whatI'm doing. 1 do not generate any odors."

ABmanure arrives at his farm, it is immedi-ately put into piles with a high carbon content,blended and capped with finished compost to sealin odors. Windrows are covered with Toptexfleece, primarily to protect piles from the ele-

ments. "This was a good idea," says Foley, "given the amouritof moisture this area has received in the past year or so." Theonly downside is the labor involved in putting on and takingoff the covers when the windrows need to be turned. An at-

r--..,tachment on the back of the turner is used to roll the coversoack and then recover the piles. Any leachate from compostingpads flows into Foley's hayfield. "We still are relatively smalland probably always will stay small," he explains. "1made lotsof mistakes. Still do. Ijust don't want the mistakes to be fatalones. That's why when 1 started, 1 started very small.

"Composting is not going to overtake what we do on thefarm. 1 compost because 1want to farm. 1 don't farm becauseI want to compost. I believe in this stuff and I want to makeit happen, to make lemonade out of lemons. On-farm com-posting is a great way for agriculture to support itself and forfarmers to farm i.n a sustainable way. Our permit is a greatway to preserve open space and cut back on inputs. If I canget a small tipping fee, reduce inputs and increase yields,there is nothing better. I don't understand why every farmerin the state doesn't have one."

Foley brings this message to whomever will listen. To-ward that end, he serves on the Organics Council of the Pro-fessional Recyclers of Pennsylvania and speaks at eventssuch as the annual conference of the Pennsylvania Associ-ation for Sustainable Agriculture (www.pasafarming.org).Foley will be one of the featured speakers at the 34th An-nual BioCycle National Conference in Philadelphia June21-23,2004.

While reluctant to provide sales figures at this time, Foleynotes that the compost operation is definitely an asset. "1cansay that with the price of commodities, composting is the dif-ference between being financially able to farm and not farm-ing at all. There is significant pressure to sell out to devel-opers which we do not want to do. Our township is notsupportive of our efforts to save this farm but we are still

"--"'lOpeful that they will come to realize that this is a way topreserve a farm without governmental assistance." •

George DeVault is a contributing editor to BioCycle. For more in-formation about Ned Foley's operation, go to unuui.turoparticu-laracres.com.

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