Dec 22, 2021 — The Regenerative Effects of Fungal Dominant Compost: Pilot Study has been released. The report, prepared by Emma Roy, Scott Hortop and Hailee Turry, is part of our ONfungi citizen science project and research series. The work, done over the summer of 2021, continues to advance and expand the understanding of the utility of Fungal Dominant Compost (FDC).
Download the 2021 report here. The report is a PDF of 1.34m in size.
Our ONfungi compost is made primarily from fallen leaves high in cellulose and covered in fungal spores. After a lengthy two year composting period the leaves have been slowly digested; offering a higher fungi to bacteria ratio than traditional composting.
What we are exploring is how the nutrition created by the compost support and feed fungi rather than the plant. Further, we are keenly interested in how the use of this biological soil enhancement might support carbon sequestration. We also hope to study the mechanisms whereby fungal development of soil biology and the increase in biomass is better understood.
This composting method is based on the work by Dr. David Johnson, Adjunct Professor for the College of Agriculture at Chico State and Faculty Affiliate for the Center for Regenerative Agriculture. Our efforts come in support of his work.
Among the volunteers we would like to thank Scott Hortop, the creator of our FDC, Kelvin Hodges, for his leadership in creating the program, and Mark MacKenzie, for the generous use of his farm fields and his work supporting Emma Roy’s project. We are also grateful to Sustainable Eastern Ontario for their internship program and Fundrzr for their help with our fundraising efforts.
Many volunteers are working to support this project. We look forward to 2022.
