Worm Compost Bin

Backyard Entrepreneurs

A growing number of backyard entrepreneurs are prospering, thanks to a growing number of factors having to do with organic waste and its disposal. let's take a closer look.
Worm farming is quickly growing due in part to the growing popularity of organic foods, This year, retail sales of organic foods are expected to exceed $15 billion — with more than $32 billion projected by 2009. While the conventional food industry still dwarfs the organic sector with $550 billion in yearly sales, it is producing an unappetizing 2 to 3 percent annual growth rate, while the organic industry has savored several years of 17 to 20 percent growth.

With the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimating that 25 percent of Americans purchase organically grown foods at least once a week, organic farmers' demand for worm feces far outstrips supply. Charlotte based Vermicycle Organics, which harvests worm droppings in high-tech greenhouses, each year produces 7.5 million pounds of a fertilizer it markets as Nature's Ultimate Plant Food. The company expects sales of the fertilizer to grow by 500 percent this year. The industry predicts that demand for soil amendment products will grow to more than a billion tons a year.

In my home state of Florida, Orange Lake, Vermitechnology Unlimited has been doubling its output every year since 1991, even though prices can run twice as high as those of synthetic fertilizers. Vermitechnology Unlimited sells around 100 tons of worm droppings-also known as castings-to local organic growers and finds the demand is growing rapidly. " I believe five to 10 years, every commercial fertilizer company will be scurrying to sell worm castings.

Other backyard small scale worm composters are cashing in on "think globally, act locally" environmentalism by targeting their neighbors and local homeowners. By selling their homegrown soil amendments at local swap meets, farmers markets and even Ebay they are making as much as a dollar a pound. A 4 foot by 8 foot well maintained flow through worm bed can produce up to 32 pounds a day of worm castings. The worms eat seven days a week 24 hours a day. Which means a single 4 foot by 8 foot well maintained worm bed should produce 224 pounds of worm castings per week with a retail value of a dollar a pound. I personally have 3 flow through bins in my backyard, which I custom built. I have been consistently producing approximately 672 pounds of worm castings per week. Which I sell locally at a dollar a pound.

With many local and state governments trying to divert waste from rapidly filling up landfills, at an ever increasing cost both to the environment and the pocketbook some forward-thinking cities are promoting "back-yard vermicomposting".
Traditional compost piles can take weeks to produce a relatively low-quality humus; a pound of worms, on the other hand, needs only 48 hours to convert a pound of waste into nutrient-rich castings.

Now let's pause for a moment, and make something clear. You're not going to get financially wealthy from your worm bins! You can however make a decent return on your time and money if you learn how to worm farm properly.
You will not rid the world of nuclear waste or make the Arabian desert bloom unfortunately.

However today's breed of worm business owners try very hard to distance themselves from such pie-in-the-sky promises. "I try to avoid misleading others into thinking this is a get-rich-quick opportunity;" "There is great potential, but potential and reality are two different things." By getting the word out, I'm hoping to prevent worms from once again being used as bait to lure gullible humans from separating with their hard earned money.