As a result, neighbors complained of odor to the local board of health, so Maarten van de Kamp, who lived in a nearby town, and I started a technical assistance project to improve the composting operation on the farm, an effort that took two years. Although Bob studied compost management (he worked full-time as an extension agent at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst) his operation was hampered by an inadequate composting pad and windrow turning equipment. “It also generated income from accepting leaves and food waste from surrounding towns. “Bob Martin recognized the value of composting leaves and agricultural manures to make a soil amendment for his farm fields and to sell to residents,” notes Martinson. Martinson, now retired, recalls the extensive time that he and Maarten van de Kamp of the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources spent providing technical assistance to the pioneering composting facility. Sumner Martinson was the primary compost staff person with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) when the state issued a composting permit to Martin’s Farm in 1987. Adam said that his Dad liked to visit the farm, “get behind the wheel of the front end loader, and see the improvements that were always being made.” Unfortunately, Bob Martin succumbed to COVID in August 2021, as did his wife. Then, in 2014 Bob Martin sold the business to Adam and his wife Alex and moved to Kentucky where he started another composting facility. In 2010, after a couple of years of missionary work in India and South Africa, Adam returned to the farm and started managing the composting operation.
I took his advice and moved to Wyoming, graduated from diesel mechanics school, and I also got an associate degree in business administration.”
So he encouraged me to find another career. Martin also experimented with using heat from compost piles for his shop and office.īob Martin (left), founder of Martin’s Farm, and Adam Martin, the second generation owner of the composting facility.Īlthough Bob Martin’s son Adam had worked at the composting facility part-time in high school, Adam recalls that “Dad was concerned about the quality of life I would have if I took over the composting facility since it is hard work. Once the quantities collected exceeded what could be used on the farm, he progressed in 1987 to composting those materials with the intent of producing compost for his hay and produce fields, and to generate revenue for the farm. In the early 1980s, Bob Martin started collecting food waste to feed his pigs, as well as a collection business for paper and cardboard to grind into bedding for his cows. Such is the case with Martin’s Farm in Greenfield, Massachusetts, located in an agricultural community in the Connecticut River valley of western Massachusetts. Robert SpencerĪs a veteran composting facility operator and BioCycle Contributing Editor for over 30 years, I find it hopeful for the organics recycling industry to have a new generation of company owners not only take over for their parents, but add new perspective and innovation to operations.
Top: About 80% of incoming food waste is from the commercial sector and 20% is from households.
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