ABSTRACT
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Before the advent of modern industrialized agriculture, farmers relied almost entirely
on raw and composted animal manures and agricultural residues as soil fertility
amendments. Now, post-Green Revolution, scientists are shifting their focus away from
agricultural systems that rely on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, toward systems that
incorporate the use of composted organic materials. A growing understanding of the
complex ecological mechanisms producing the observed soil and plant growth benefits
of traditional soil amendment methods prompts this. Practitioners, researchers and
entrepreneurs in both developed and developing nations are experimenting with novel
composting technologies, using a wide variety of organic materials, and reporting positive
results (Bailey and Lazarovits, 2003; Arancon et al., 2003; Bhadoria and Prakash, 2003).
