Who this is for
Are you interested in joining our network of sister farms on our route to receive compost so you can create your own soil on-site? This short workshop is a practical way to get started, led by two of the region’s most experienced compost educators.
What we’ll cover
- Process fundamentals: composting biology and core principles — Dr. Monica Ozores-Hampton
- Oxygen, humidity, particle size, C:N ratio, and temperature
- How to build a recipe with local feedstocks
- Facility design and cost; types of available technologies; equipment choices
- How odor is generated; odor measurement; odor and dust transport off-site; odor control
- Public relations management
- Avoiding fires on your site
Your instructors
Dr. Monica Ozores-Hampton
PhD — Co-instructor
Monica Ozores-Hampton is well known in agriculture. Through her research and workshops on compost utilization with UF/IFAS and the US Composting Council, she has helped translate science into practice for growers and educators.
She is also known as the “Tomato Lady” for her leadership in developing science-based solutions for production issues faced by the vegetable industry in Florida, and for her educational support to county Extension faculty, commodity groups, regulatory agencies, and vegetable growers.
Her program at the Southwest Florida Research and Education Center in Immokalee promotes the adoption of nutrient best management practices by the vegetable industry.
Dr. Lanette Sobel
DPM — Co-instructor
Often called “Miami’s Compost Queen,” Dr. Sobel is a certified permaculturist and certified commercial composter. As founder and CEO of Fertile Earth Worm Farm, she has helped set the bar for compost operations across South Florida and has trailblazed private-sector food-waste composting with forward-thinking partners including the Miami Heat, Miami Marlins, Pura Vida, Baptist Health, Chipotle, and many others.
She is currently collaborating with the Miami-Dade Department of Solid Waste Management on research to support county composting guidelines and regulations, and she is involved in a year-long pilot program with Miami-Dade County Public Schools.
