USCC’s Certified Compost Program Expands to Mexico
After more than 17 years of testing compost quality for US compost manufacturing facilities, the USCC’s Seal of Testing Assurance program is expanding to include its first participant from Mexico.
Novedades Agricolas, of Baja, Mexicali, California, in northwest Mexico, tested its pelletized amendment using the STA requirements and began as an official participant in November. Novadades is involved in irrigation, fertilizer distribution and design and installation of intensive farming solutions. The company sells compost in Baja California, Sonora, Sinaloal, Jalisco, Guanajuato and Michoacan.
They join a total of 263 STA participants, representing more than 350 compost manufacturing facilities and products from across the United States.
STA is a compost testing, labeling and information disclosure program designed to provide users of finished compost with information to provide the maximum benefit from compost. Sixteen state and federal agencies now require that the compost they specify and purchase be STA tested to ensure quality, and supply essential data on the finished compost. (Depending upon compost methods and feedstocks, their levels of nutrients, salts and other ingredients can vary.)
“STA is a program that makes sure composters that are committed comply with assurance that compost is safe and tested and analyzed regularly, and it helps the consumer to find compost close to them that is made the right way,” said Sergio Dabdouab, president of Novedades.
USCC’s STA program was created in 2000 and is the consensus of many of the leading compost research scientists in the United States. It is the only compost testing program available to compost producers or compost buyers.
About the USCC
The US Composting Council, a national organization dedicated to the development, expansion and promotion of the compost manufacturing industry, was established in 1990 to encourage, support and perform compost related research. USCC promotes best management practices, establishes standards, educates professionals and the public about the benefits of composting and compost utilization, and enhances compost product quality, and trains compost manufacturers and compost markets. USCC members include compost manufacturers, marketers, equipment manufacturers, product suppliers, academic institutions, public agencies, nonprofit groups and consulting/engineering firms.
