Factsheets and Free Reports

Andrew C. Kessler and Amy McCrae Kessler
BioCycle December 2010, Vol. 51, No. 12, p. 25
Part One of this three part article serries discusses how a stand-alone code for composting will provide robust statistical data of critical value to the finance community and other stakeholders.

COMPOSTING in the U.S. as a commercial activity employing people and  contributing to the economy has been around for decades. Today, there  are over 3,000 commercial composters in the U.S. and thousands more  businesses including service and equipment providers supporting the  processing infrastructure. Despite this size and depth, a number of  fundamental questions about the industry cannot be answered with a great  degree of authority or conviction. How big is the market for compost in  terms of total revenue and product volume? How many people does the  sector employ? How much does it contribute to local, state and national  economies?

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BioCycle April 2011, Vol. 52, No. 4, p. 17
Andrew C. Kessler, Amy McCrae Kessler and Cara Unterkofler
Part 2 addresses where the composting industry belongs within the North American Industry Classification System. This article examines the options, analyzes alternatives using a common set of criteria and makes a preliminary recommendation.

IN the U.S. today, increasing demand for quality compost and engineered soils from a growing spectrum of users cannot be met with the current processing capacity. Developing the infrastructure of the composting industry to meet these growing market needs will require significant financial investment along with the continued support of local, state and federal government.

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Andrew C. Kessler, Amy McCrae Kessler and Cara Unterkofler
BioCycle January 2012, Vol. 53, No. 1, p. 38
Part Three discusses what actions are necessary for the composting industry to gain a stand-alone North American Industry Classification System code. The final article in this series suggests a plan and timeline.

ONCE a thriving industry with 78 percent market share in retail textile products, the U.S. cotton industry declined dramatically in the mid 1960s after the introduction of synthetics, falling to just 34 percent market share in 1975. In what is one of the greatest examples of the power of industry-wide collective action, cotton growers called for industry cooperation and successfully lobbied Congress to pass an act creating a national cotton marketing and research program. The national program relied on a simple yet powerful funding vehicle — cotton producers and importers were assessed a fee, a small portion of every bale of cotton fiber sold in the U.S. This collective action enabled the industry to create Cotton Incorporated, an entity that went on to build an unprecedented marketing campaign (“The Fabric of Our Lives” and the Seal of Cotton) designed to recapture market share for cotton. Today, 8 out of 10 Americans can identify the cotton logo and cotton comprises two-thirds of the fiber market in the U.S.

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