Farming worms

BY ROSEMARIE SMITH

With millions of mouths to feed, Robbie Dick is a busy man.

Especially given they're greedy, voracious mouths, driven by appetites capable of daily absorbing their owners bodyweight.

Fortunately, those owners aren't fussy eaters, so everything from supermarket food waste to orchard and juice factory waste, truck washings to autumn leaf sweepings goes down a treat.

Lawn clippings too, but from only people who don't use herbicides, of course.

In season, that's 35 tonnes to feed out every 10 days.

No wonder Robbie lists a strong back and a good shovel as the main requirements for his line of work.

Okay, so the photos give the game away – Robbie's a worm farmer, and a passionate advocate for his calling.

Which is an excellent thing given the constancy of the work involved.

The Cromwell operation he runs with help of wife Rosanna and one part-time staff member is labour intensive, he admits, but mainly because it's still under-capitalised.

Being able to buy a side-feeder would make a huge difference, for example.

And that's not to say setting up the farm was cheap either, with the initial purchase of half a tonne of worms alone costing $67,000.

Then all the other costs of setting those worms up in comfort in 16 60m rows, nicely sheltered under black polythene covers with an alternate white side for summer.

Learning by trial and error involved some costly mistakes – like buying expensive thermal winter coverings when any old carpet would do, Robbie explains.

They'd do it a lot cheaper another time.

Initially he didn't realise the importance of water, and his worms got too hot.

So in went an irrigation system with hoses costing $3 a metre, before discovering the 28c version does just as well.

Similarly he invested in a temperature probe, but after not being able to find it half the time, learned to judge by touch.

He can also tel the acidity of incoming material by eye: if it's acidic, it polishes the steel on the truck and needs lime added, but by the worms finish with it, it's neutral.

Tiger worms don't have any natural enemies, and Robbie reports no major disasters in 11 years – a pretty good record in farming.

Unlike ordinary worms, they aren't palatable to birds because of the oily substance they extrude, (which allows them to consume even fruit stones and coconuts if kept damp enough).

The resident hens have developed a taste for them, but are mostly satisfied with first pickings at the fresh supermarket fare.

The warm invitation Robbie extended to The Southland Times to visit the farm is just part of his efforts at public education on the huge potential he sees for worms in both waste management (especially in Central Otago where the orchard and tourist industries produce so much waste) and in production of vermicast as a natural fertiliser.

The farm gate is open to schools, garden clubs as well as individuals, and one whole wall of the shed is taken up with an informative display providing historical, biological and horticultural worm-data.

The ancient Egyptians had worm farms, Charles Darwin made a special study of them, the scientific evidence is mounting on the amazing qualities of vermicast as a natural soil improver, Robbie says.

For one thing, it's an extremely good conditioner for light Central Otago soils, as being high in humus it holds water and nutrient.

The worm farm includes a demonstration garden, with a varied stock of flowers, veges and fruit grown with the benefit of vermicast, and instructions on how to use it.

"We don't want to claim anything we can't show," Robbie says, also noting: "You can sell anything to people once.

"That's why I get the biggest buzz selling to who people who come back saying they've had the best garden ever."

Getting back to the way nature deals with waste and builds up soils fits with New Zealand clean, green image, he argues. "It ticks all the boxes as far as I'm concerned."

- © Fairfax NZ News