Partnerships for South Florida Farms and Animal Sanctuaries
We offer two programs for local farms:
- Create your own compost with regular access to nitrogen-rich food scraps, with optional consulting.
- Animal Feed: Delivered to your farm for a token fee.
Put Good Food to Its Highest and Best Use
At Fertile Earth, we’re building a decentralized solution to two challenges South Florida farmers know well: rising agricultural inputs and an enormous amount of valuable organic material being thrown away.
Our approach is simple: use food where it can do the most good.
Food scraps to soil
Most South Florida farms have access to plenty of mulch and other carbon-rich material. Add nitrogen-rich food scraps, and you have the essential ingredients for making compost right on the farm.
Through our GROW program, Fertile Earth can provide participating farms with regular truckloads of food scraps for on-farm composting. Instead of purchasing and hauling in all of your soil amendments, you can turn materials already available in our local food system into compost for your own soil.
For a minimal fee per truckload, participating farms receive a consistent source of organic material that can help build healthier soil, reduce fertilizer inputs, and keep valuable nutrients out of the landfill.
Food scraps to animals
Some recovered food has an even higher and better use: feeding animals.
Through our FEED program, animal farms, rescues, and sanctuaries can receive regular deliveries of suitable recovered food for their animals.
For a token delivery fee, Fertile Earth can reroute collection trucks to participating farms, providing large quantities of food for pennies on the pound.
We are particularly looking for regular recipients able to accept approximately 2,000–10,000 pounds per delivery.
One Local Loop
Whether food is used to FEED animals or GROW healthier soil, the goal is the same: keep nutrients circulating locally for as long as possible.
Food first. Animals when appropriate. Soil next. Landfill last.
USCC Certified
FLCC Member
FNGLA Member
The Real Cost of Building Soil
Bought-in soil amendments add up fast. Typical South Florida prices look something like this:
- Commercial compost: $20–$50 per cubic yard
- Organic fertilizers: $200–$440 per application for an average field
- Screened topsoil: $20–$40 per cubic yard
- Manure-based amendments: $30+ per cubic yard
For a small farm, monthly spending on soil amendments and fertilizers can easily run $300–$800 or more, depending on acreage and crops.
There’s another path: for a minimal fee per truckload, Fertile Earth delivers nitrogen-rich food scraps you can compost on site with the mulch you already have—building black gold for pennies on the dollar, while keeping nutrients out of the landfill.
You keep control of the process, make compost the way your farm needs it, and spend far less than hauling in finished amendments from off-site.
Frequently Asked Questions
You'll receive high-quality food scraps from our commercial partners—vegetable trimmings, fruit scraps, coffee grounds, and other food items. All material is pre-screened to ensure it's suitable for composting.
Not at all! We provide training as part of our onboarding process. We'll walk you through best practices for receiving, managing, and composting the material to create optimal soil amendments for your farm.
Currently we are hoping to establish a network of farms needing 2,000–10,000 pounds of food on a weekly basis, but we are always open to discuss alternatives.
Call us at (786) 232-3018, we would love to discuss your particular needs.
Our onboarding includes basic guidance on proper composting techniques, managing moisture and carbon-to-nitrogen ratios, troubleshooting common issues, and maximizing the nutritional value of your finished compost. We’re invested in your success as a partner.
We also offer consulting services and yearly workshops taught by nationally recognized experts in the field.