About one-quarter of all CCOF growers made compost. Commonly listed ingredients include manure, crop residues and vegetative matter. A number of farms used biodynamic or microbiological inoculents for their compost piles. Rock phosphate, gypsum and limestone were also used in compost. Approximately sixty off-farm suppliers provide compost to CCOF growers.
Most suppliers are livestock producers who make compost as a sideline.
Some are trucking companies or retailers who broker products composted by other operations. Manure was listed as a soil amendment by 195 farms. This included the use of raw, aged, sheet-composted or partially decomposed manure. Chicken manure was the primary category. A number of growers said that they were cutting down or eliminating the use of raw manure due to its salinity, weed seeds, variability, and difficulty in handling.