Q & A with Peter Schmidt from Compostwerks!

A Q&A with Peter Schmidt of Compostwerks! LLC, a company based in Westchester County, New York which provides products and knowledge to assist ecologically minded growers, transitioning green industry professionals, municipalities, colleges, institutions and composting operations.

Q: Please describe your business in 50 words or less. What is your business and who does it serve?

Peter Schmidt: Compostwerks is a wholesale supplier of many different organic land care supplies such as organic fertilizers, soluble amendments and natural pest controls. We also sell commercial compost tea brewers, sprayers and compost top dressing equipment. Compostwerks uses all of the materials it sells in their service division. 

 

Gregg Twehues and Peter Schmidt, co-owners of Compostwerks, LLC

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   Q:What is the state of the organic gardening industry? Where do you see the greatest growth and what’s driving it? 

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Schmidt: We have seen growth every year since formalizing in 2007. The area of largest growth for us currently is in private higher education. This is followed by municipal business. Landscape contractors, arborists make up the balance of our clients, followed by organic agriculture.

Q: What are some of the most common challenges professionals face in caring for the land organically and what approach do you take to solving them?

Schmidt: One area is being competitive in the market place. We can help in this area because we sell strictly wholesale. The other challenge for the professional is the market being inundated with new products and unrealistic claims of efficacy. We always suggest keeping it simple: Focus on building soil biology, organic matter and sound cultural practices. 

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            Q: What advice do you have for conventional land care professionals who are considering transitioning to organic?

Schmidt: First, stay abreast of new education opportunities such as becoming an Accredited Organic Land Care Professional (AOLCP)! Second, understate expected outcomes with your clients. Explain that restoring natural soil systems takes time and patience. Third, don’t overdo the ‘product approach’. Top dress with compost. TEST YOUR SOIL.

4.    Q: How do you consider your business to be part of the solution to environmental degradation and overuse of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides? How do you educate your clientele? 

Compostwerk’s biggest role is to help disseminate accurate information about organic land care and back it up with simple and easy to use organic inputs and equipment. We host periodic workshops, consult directly and have an extensive website with valuable information. Go to www.compostwerks.com for more information.

Thanks Peter, for sharing your business and your approach with us today!

 

A Q&A with Cameron Bonsey, Director of Marketing for Coast of Maine Organic Products, Inc,

Cameron Bonsey, Director of Marketing

Known for its world class, organically-approved compost blends, Coast of Maine Organic Products, Inc was founded in 1996 by Carlos & Jean Quijano. Their focus of distribution is to local independent retailers, providing great customer service and amazing product quality.

What is the state of the organic gardening industry? 

The organic gardening industry is doing extremely well because of education from organizations like NOFA, access to information and the desire for people to understand where products are sourced and how they are made. 

Where do you see the greatest growth and what’s driving it?  

We see the biggest growth with the home gardener because that is our focus. People want to grow their own food with organically approved products. They are truly beginning to understand the impact on their bodies and it is young families with children where we see tremendous growth. 

Jeff checking temperature of compost windrows

What are some of the most common challenges professionals face in caring for the land organically and what approach do you take to solving them?  

Educating the customer in regard to organic options, how they work and the long term impact to their landscape. We do a lot of educational videos to teach these practices and how our products impact soil biology and the ultimately the plants. They work very effectively 

The garden centers we work with will often hire young, inexperienced staff and our product training classes backed up with the video training really helps them to explain our products and benefits to the consumer. 

They also use the videos on all their social media platforms so the customer often comes to them knowing exactly what they want and need. 

Once we explain the benefits of the calcium and chitin that comes from the lobster shells we compost, they never forget it! 

What advice do you have for conventional land care professionals who are considering transitioning to organic?  

Get educated! Learn about soil biology and how the products you use impact that biology .I know that our product development staff relies on books like “True Living Organics” and “Teaming with Microbes” as well as many other sources. From there they do the testing in their own back yards and get to know exactly how and why our compost blends and fertilizers work. 

Lobster shells, a nice addition to compost materials

Your products are made with local ingredients  - from both land and sea – which would otherwise be thrown in the garbage. Do you consider your business to be part of the solution to food waste?  

We are pleased to be part of the food waste solution, but we are only a small part. We take lobster shells from processing plants that would otherwise go to a landfill. We have never charged a tipping fee and we also help to offset the transportation costs.  

Our success in focusing solely on composting and distribution to local retailers has allowed other companies to realize they can compost food waste and make a living selling the finish compost. That is where we have had the biggest impact. 

Carlos and Jean Quijano, the happy founders of C.O.M!

Are your products appropriate for any geographic location and application (turf vs. gardens vs. trees/shrubs/woodlands)? 

We have products for all of these applications that vary in the marine and land-based residuals which we use to benefit turf, gardens, trees and shrubs. This is where our videos become very useful! 

Right now we are broadening our turf care line with marine-based liquid fertilizers. We are in the process of testing those so any lawn care professionals who would like to help with the testing should give us a call!