Silo bags for composting in agriculture

Agriculture deals with a diversity of processes that are essential for all farming and harvesting activities. One of these tasks has to do with the proper management of organic waste that originates as a result of harvest and the selection of the food that will be commercialized later on, either for human or animal consumption. To perform a proper management of this organic waste, farmers use silo bags for composting in agriculture. For that precise reason, we will dive in depth into the subject to explain what it’s all about and its usefulness in the agricultural industry.

What is compost in agriculture?

Compost in agriculture is an organic amendment obtained from the controlled aerobic decomposition of organic matter such as crop residues, manure, or food waste. It plays a vital role in improving soil fertility, structure, and biological activity. Unlike raw organic waste, compost is stable, safe, and nutrient-rich, making it ideal for farming applications.

According to the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), composting helps return nutrients to the soil, reduce greenhouse gas emissions from landfills, and improve water retention capacity in agricultural soils.

What is composted manure in agriculture?

Composted manure refers to livestock manure (such as from cows, poultry, or pigs) that has undergone a controlled composting process, reducing pathogens and odors while stabilizing nutrients. In agriculture, composted manure is valued for its dual benefits: it improves soil structure and acts as a slow-release fertilizer, enhancing crop productivity in a more environmentally sustainable way.

A report by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service emphasizes that composted manure reduces the risk of nutrient runoff and enhances microbial diversity in the soil—both essential for sustainable agriculture.

Application and use of compost in agriculture

The application of compost in agriculture varies by crop, soil type, and region, but its main purpose is to improve soil health and crop yields. Compost can be broadcast on fields, applied in planting rows, or integrated into potting mixes in protected crops. It enhances water retention, reduces dependency on chemical fertilizers, and promotes biological activity in soils.

The use of compost in agriculture is especially relevant in arid and semi-arid regions where soil degradation and water scarcity limit productivity. The European Commission highlights composting as a key strategy for building resilience in farming systems, especially in the face of climate change and soil erosion.

Inconveniences related to waste and how to make composting using agricultural waste

However, there is always the concern that when organic substances are handled through the composting technique, this may lead to several problems such as undesirable odors, when the liquids spill away when they decompose and cannot be controlled, causing that leachate to spread in areas that should be kept clean or that the composting occupies a lot of space that would be useful for other tasks.

As a result, many farmers around the world have decided to rely on silo bags for composting and that is precisely why they try to keep up with the technological innovations, so that they can determine which ones have the best performance for this very specific utilisation.

Today, more farms have started to use some sort of closed composting system to improve the management of their organic crop residues, making less frequent the composting that was traditionally made outdoors without any control. You can learn more about the technology behind the manufacture of these new on-site packaging systems in this article about silage bags.

The special composition of these silo bags for composting helps prevent organic waste from being affected by environmental factors such as wind, temperature changes or rain, which in turn prevents unpleasant odors and contamination of nearby areas.

How to perform the composting process of agricultural waste with silo bags

In general, for a proper decomposition process of organic waste, a wide range of organic and plant residues should be included and mixed so that the composting silo bags are filled with a balanced combination of nitrogen and carbon to ensure a good pH for composting..

Ideally, measurements are made where the temperature is regulated and supplied with doses of oxygen and essential bacteria that come into play in the decomposition process.

Advantages of using silo bags for composting in agriculture

Using this type of controlled and closed environment composting systems, in addition to minimizing the characteristic odors of the fermentation process, helps prevent the production of liquids typical of disintegration, which can compromise the quality of composting. Also, it enables the composting process to become up to three times faster than the traditional one and avoids the need to use machinery or very complicated techniques for its handling and disposal.

Another advantage of using silo bags for composting in agriculture is that farmers manage to save a lot of space, since they can compact a lot of organic waste, which is previously reduced into small particles, into these packages that can be stored without the need to reserve large spaces of land on the farms. This, aside from preventing waste from being exposed, translates into capital savings and better management of time and labour, since people don’t have to be constantly working, watering or spinning it to keep it ventilated.

Considerations of using silo bags for composting in agriculture

The composting technique requires the consideration of many factors, however, one of the aspects that should never be overlooked, especially when you want to use silo bags for composting, is humidity. Experts in the agricultural industry recommend that the degree of humidity that must be present in the materials that begin the composting process should be between 30% and 80%, thus the importance of knowing that each residue that is included in the composting will have a specific initial degree of humidity and that the same will change as the decomposition develops.

Composting in its maturation phase will reach optimal levels that are usually between 40% and 60%. At this point, what is ideal is to avoid eliminating humidity completely, but for humidity to exist at adequate levels, since an excess of humidity results in the residues compacting, becoming rotten and spilling undesirable liquids that prevent the action of microorganisms, while if there is no humidity at all, the disintegration process becomes much slower and ends up compacting the residues anyway.

When it comes to using silo bags for composting, all the transformations that are taking place must be carefully verified in order to keep a rigorous control of temperature changes and guarantee that the oxygen supply in the packaging is constant so that the composting remains ventilated.

With decomposition, the amount of oxygen required will decrease according to the total volume of what is being composted. In this way, not only the quality of the composting is guaranteed but, the appropriate adjustments can be made if needed to correct any mistakes.

At the end of the composting process, it is recommended to prepare some sort of sifting of the resulting product so that the larger fragments are processed again. In the end, the product obtained will have the homogeneity required to be used mainly as a nutrient for farmlands or other agricultural purposes.

 

Other content of interest:

• Episode of our podcast on silage bags with animal nutrition expert, Maruzaan Booyse
• Our webinar on how can the silage process be part of a sustainable story
  12 reasons to use silo bags: part 1, part 2 and part 3