From Farming to Potting Soils to Composting with Adam Schwartz of DirtCraft Organics

Hi everyone, here’s a quick update from The Composter. I need to cancel our final episode of Season 4—featuring my dad, Mike Merner (Poppy)—and put Season 5 on hold for now. My dad is facing some health challenges, and I need to prioritize spending time with him and my family. On a bright note, after two and a half years of permitting, we received final approval for our new compost facility in Sterling, Connecticut! We are so grateful for all the support as we begin building this new operation from the ground up. With a busy few months ahead, I won't be able to give the podcast the focus it needs right now. I hope to revisit Season 5 in January. In the meantime, you can catch me at the Kentucky Composting Conference in October or USCC Compost 2026 in Jacksonville, Florida in February, or email me at [email protected]. A huge thank-you to our Season 4 sponsors for supporting our community! This isn't goodbye, just a temporary pause. Connect with us and our Season 4 sponsors: • USCC Compost 2026: https://compostconference.com • Kentucky Composting Conference: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/kentucky-composting-conference • Agrilab Technologies: www.agrilabtech.com/podcast • Viably: https://thinkviably.com/ • Green Mountain Technology: Visit Compostingtechnology.com (mention The Composter for a free consultation) • Compost Capital Network: https://www.compostcapital.com/ • Compost Systems of Austria: https://www.compost-systems.com/en • Closed Loop Partners: https://closedloopcenter.com/ • BioCycle: https://www.biocycle.net

Just like a good compost this podcast episode needs time to fully mature. Things are evolving fast so I am going to take a little longer to make this final episode of season 4. Stay tuned!

Join me for Episode 11 of The Composter for a conversation on Financing the Future of Compost with Jorge Montezuma from the Compost Capital Network and Wanu Organics and Paula Luu, managing director of Biocycle. We cover practical steps to make your facility investment-ready and what lenders are really looking for. Let’s grow this industry together. Jorge Montezuma: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jlmontezuma/ Wanu Organics (👊) at https://wanuorganics.com/ compostbuilder.com (free planning tool for composters) Paula Luu (👊) https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholuu/ The latest in BioCycle news and sign up for newsletter at biocycle.net USCC Compost Operations Training Course: https://compostfoundation.org/cotc/ USCC bank loan kit: https://www.compostingcouncil.org/page/compost-business-bankloankit Compost Capital Network: https://www.compostcapital.com/ BPI webinar: https://bpiworld.org/webinars Consider giving to the Cary Oshins Training Scholarship: https://compostfoundation.org/ways-to-give/. Composting Consortium https://www.closedlooppartners.com/composting-consortium/ 10,000 Small Business School: https://10ksbapply.com/ Earth Care Farm on BioCycle: https://www.biocycle.net/high-quality-compost-farm/ Thank you to our Show sponsors: Agrilab Technologies at www.agrilabtech.com/podcast Viably at https://thinkviably.com/ Green Mountain Technology: visit Compostingtechnology.com and mention The Composter podcast for a free consultation Merch: https://www.earthcarefarm.com/store/c3/Clothing.html Contact: Host Jayne Merner can be reached at [email protected] or through instagram @composterpodcast

In Episode 10 of The Composter, I sit down with Cary Oshins — educator, consultant, longtime industry leader, and someone who has helped shape what composting looks like as a profession in the United States. For decades, composting has often been seen as something you just “figure out on the pile.” But as this industry grows it’s becoming clear that composting isn’t just a job. It’s a profession. Cary has spent over 30 years working in composting education, research, and industry development — from county government to Cornell University, to the U.S. Composting Council, Through the USCC he helped develop the week long intensive Composter Operations Training Course. Cary personally educated over 1000 operators through that course. In this conversation, we talk about what it really means to become a composting professional. I meant to stick to that topic but we do stray towards the end of our chat about the concerning legislation in CA that is impacting the bio plastic industry. We only touched the surface of this and we are going to need a whole episode about CA and this new compostable labeling law. By listening to this podcast you can earn continuing education credits through the USCC Compost Operations Training Course! Check out Composter Cary Oshins (👊) at www.linkedin.com/in/caryoshins Consider giving to the Cary Oshins Training Scholarship: https://compostfoundation.org/ways-to-give/. USCC Compost Operations Training Course: https://compostfoundation.org/cotc/ The Compost Research and Education Foundation: https://compostfoundation.org/ 131 School of Organics: https://www.the131school.com/ The Institute for Local Self Reliance: https://ilsr.org/energy/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23013247877 Northeast Recycling Council: https://www.nerc.org/ Composting Consortium's new EPR report: https://closedloopcenter.com/reports/designing-an-epr-framework-to-include-compostable-packaging-recovery Thank you to our Show sponsors: Compost Systems of Austria: https://www.compost-systems.com/en Agrilab Technologies: www.agrilabtech.com/podcast Compost Capital Network: https://www.compostcapital.com/

In Episode 9 of The Composter, I sit down with Scott Howarth from the Sinclair Group, one of the largest manufactures of produce labels. We talk about how fruit stickers came to be, how labeling is evolving, what the future could hold for compostable produce labeling. Last September, I found myself in a friendly conversation with the stranger sitting next to me. We were chatting away when I suddenly realized that this stranger, Scott, played a role in developing what many composters consider their greatest nemesis: the fruit sticker. 40 billion stickers a year are made by the Sinclair Group, where Scott does Research and Development. For decades, I’ve been having imaginary conversations with Scott (although I didn’t know that was his name. So many compost gripe sessions over the last 15 years have circled back to those tiny little stickers. Finding them in finished compost. Trying, and usually failing, to teach people to remove them. Knowing there’s no practical way to screen them out once they’re in the system. So this episode really felt like a rare opportunity to sit down, ask the questions, and get to the root of it all. The future is looking bright and Sinclair is at the forefront of the upcoming positive changes. There is legislation in New Zealand and Europe which will ban the plastic fruit stickers. And some companies, like the kiwi company, Zespri are already choosing compostable stickers for their fruit. We are on the cusp of true change. This conversation left me thinking about how much better the world might be if we all had more chances to sit down for real, thoughtful conversations with the people behind the systems — especially the ones that create frustration and pain points in our daily lives. There’s so much that can shift when we move from assumptions to understanding. Before we dive in, I also want to say thank you to this episode’s sponsors, Green Mountain Technology, Agrilab Technologies and Compost Capital Network, for supporting this show and the work of composters everywhere. This is a conversation for every composter who’s ever pulled a sticker out of a lovingly finished pile of compost. Check out Sinclair (👊) at https://www.sinclair-intl.com/ and here is a link to the YouTube clip Scott mentions: https://youtu.be/2zibNYAuHNc Thank you to our Show sponsors: Green Mountain Technology: visit Compostingtechnology.com and mention The Composter podcast for a free consultation AgriLab Technologies: www.agrilabtech.com/podcast Compost Capital Network: https://www.compostcapital.com/ Merch: https://www.earthcarefarm.com/store/c3/Clothing.html Contact: Host Jayne Merner can be reached at [email protected] or through instagram @composterpodcast