Select Harvests is working with SARDI to turn almond waste into beneficial compost.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 Everything starts from here.
00:24 This is almond fruit.
00:26 70% of that one is unedible portion, which
00:30 is called almond hull and shell.
00:32 And that's only 30% is edible part.
00:34 So the rest we have to manage, which is generally
00:38 about 100,000 to 120,000 tons, depending on the year.
00:41 I am Guna Pulgunawadana.
00:47 I'm the senior technical officer of Select Harvest Limited.
00:50 Select Harvest is the largest integrated almond company
00:55 in the world.
00:56 Select Harvest has a goal of becoming net zero or carbon
01:01 neutral in 2050.
01:04 So we've got to start working on various ways
01:07 to offset our carbon emission.
01:09 I think ongoing research in this area
01:14 is very important for Australian agriculture
01:16 as we approach 2050 and net zero.
01:19 We're here at the ACE Research Orchard in Loxton.
01:22 And I manage an almond soil amendment trial.
01:26 In this trial, we're getting information
01:27 on the benefits of organic amendment
01:29 to give almond growers the confidence
01:31 to use recycled almond waste on their properties.
01:33 Select Harvest has looked into what
01:40 are the cost effective ways of using this almond waste.
01:44 One of the method is compost production.
01:48 So this is shredded almond hull.
01:50 And this is actually the main organic component
01:53 we're using in the compost.
01:55 This shredded almond hull, which has
01:57 quite a significant level of potassium
02:00 and various other nutrients as well,
02:03 currently we are substituting 30% of chemical fertilizers
02:09 with the nutrients coming from this compost.
02:12 And this compost is 100% comprising
02:16 plant horticultural waste.
02:18 So more than 50% is almond waste.
02:22 And the rest is coming from olive waste, lime, gypsum,
02:26 rock phosphate.
02:28 All these things are adding into the compost blend
02:32 and making a very high nutrient rich compost.
02:37 The challenges that this trial is addressing
02:40 is looking at the nutrient efficiency of applied compost
02:44 and the possibility if nutrient production efficiency can
02:47 be improved by some of the nutrients coming
02:49 from the compost, that may lessen
02:51 the requirement for external synthetic fertilizers.
02:53 A key takeaway from a trial like this
02:58 would be that while we're yet to see significant yield
03:02 responses to organic amendment, we've
03:04 found improvements in soil parameters.
03:06 We're seeing increased soil fertility, carbon levels,
03:10 cation exchange capacity, the ability to hold nutrients,
03:12 and so on, and increases in biological activity as well.
03:16 So these systemic improvements in the soils
03:20 have the potential to increase production efficiency
03:22 and perhaps minimize the requirement
03:25 for external fertilizer sources.
03:27 This compost, it has a number of carbon benefits.
03:30 One thing is this compost applies subsoil.
03:34 That means it is away from the normal atmosphere.
03:37 So in other words, that application method
03:39 is actually reducing any subsequent carbon dioxide
03:42 emission.
03:43 This is some of the work that even
03:45 we did with Sadi.
03:47 We found that it actually enhanced subsoil root
03:51 development.
03:52 So all these things are increasing, enhancing
03:56 carbon sequestration in the soil.
04:00 So this is the final compost material
04:03 with a high nutrient level and totally contaminant free.
04:10 [MUSIC PLAYING]
04:14 [MUSIC PLAYING]
04:17 [MUSIC PLAYING]
04:21 (classical music)
04:23 [music]