Green Mountain Compost: Dan Goossen On Persistent Herbicides

Today’s episode comes from a walk-and-talk at Green Mountain Compost in Vermont with Dan Goossen. Dan was super generous with his time—he gave us a full tour of the site and shared insights from over 20 years in the composting world.

There’s a lot to take away from this conversation, The first half of the interview is about site process and new techniques Green Mountain has adopted for quality and efficincy. The second half is about Dan’s experience being the first compost operator in the country to publicly deal with persistent herbicide contamination. Back in 2012, before anyone really knew about these chemicals, Green Mountain Compost made national news when they discovered 10,000 cubic yards of compost had been affected.

It all started with one customer calling about a garden that wasn’t growing right... then came 500 more. You can imagine the heartbreak—putting your heart into making great compost, only to find out that an unknown herbicide in manure can ruin your whole batch.

Dan’s openness in sharing what happened has helped the whole industry move forward. It’s a powerful story. Dan also shares awesome tips and enhancements on their site: there’s a lot to learn here.

Check out Green Mountain Compost at https://cswd.net/waste-recycling-help/organics/green-mountain-compost/

Thank you to our Show sponsors:

AgriLab Technologies: www.agrilabtech.com/podcast

Compost Systems of Austria: https://www.compost-systems.com/en

Merch:

https://www.earthcarefarm.com/store/c3/Clothing.html

Contact:

Host Jayne Merner can be reached at [email protected] or through instagram @composterpodcast