(TRENTON) – The New Jersey Department of Agriculture (NJDA) and the New Jersey Composting Council (NJCC) are collaborating on two free events in July to inform composters and farmers about NJ ManureLink and the benefits of sharing resources and information at njmanurelink.rutgers.edu. The site is designed to help farmers, composters, and users connect with local manure or compost.

The first event is a composting webinar from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on July 10 that will teach composting basics, manure handling and stockpiling, nutrient management, and provide introduction to local technical and financial resources.

The second event is a composting field day from 5 to 8 p.m. on July 17 at Copper Creek Landscape Management and Nursery in Kingwood, Hunterdon County. The event will provide hands-on demonstrations of composting techniques, and discussion of recipes for horse stall waste, and how to incorporate compost into pasture, crop, and nursery operations. The NJDA, NJCC, USDA-Natural Resource Conservation Service, Rutgers Cooperative Extension, and other local resource providers will be assisting with demonstration stations and available to answer questions.

The field day demonstration stations will include sighting a composting or storage location, developing a compost recipe, taking measurements of important criteria including moisture content, temperature and bulk density, review curing time and how to know when your compost is finished, and an overview of nutrient management and soil and compost sampling.

Livestock farmers and composters, as well as producers across all agricultural sectors, including urban farming, are invited to attend the webinar and field day. While Webinar Registration is unlimited, Field Day Registration is limited to 45 attendees.

The NJ ManureLink website launched earlier this year and lists manure and compost availability by geographic location within New Jersey. It also allows users to sign up for notifications when the resource they are looking for becomes available. The project provides an opportunity for farms with limited land capacity a way to distribute their manure to composters and farmers who can use it to benefit their operations.

Funding for NJ ManureLink is made possible through a USDA-NRCS, Conservation Innovation
Grant.

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To learn more about the New Jersey Department of Agriculture, find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/NJDeptofAgriculture and www.facebook.com/JerseyFreshOfficial or Twitter @NJDA and @JerseyFreshNJDA.