"Community Compost Network - About Us." Community Composting Network. 9 Oct. 2009

Benefits from community composting:

• Less waste going to landfill

• Training, Employment, and volunteering opportunities

• Topsoil structure preservation and improvement

"Farming, soil management, reduced input costs, lower chemical rates, balanced soil nutrition, bioremediation, compaction, runoff, contamination." Farm for Profit. 9 Oct. 2009 .

Poor soil management

• Compaction

• Not as much water penetration

• Not as much air space with results in low oxygen content

• Soil Erosion

• Water Runoff

• Limited Root growth

• Increased chance of contamination

"Chemical Farming, The American Way." The Regional Institute » The Regional Institute. 9 Oct. 2009, http://www.regional.org.au/au/roc/1982/roc198249.htm#TopOfPage

Chemical Agriculture started with the development of growth regulators which were a product of World War 2 technology

Economic pressures on producer continue to increase demanding volume in order to continue farming. These factors created a situation requiring the use of commercial fertilizers, herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides which are still present on the agricultural scene at an increasing intensity.

US farmers each year, through land preparation for crops, move the equivalent amount of soil needed to build a super highway from New York to California.

"Chemical Farming." Nutritional Supplements. 9 Oct. 2009 .
It is estimated that, world wide, the agricultural chemical industry is producing about 45,000 to 50,000 different pesticides. There are approximately 600 active ingredients in various combinations and concentrations in these pesticides.

"Effects of chemical agriculture." Organic farming and food in India. 9 Oct. 2009 .

• The constant use of artificial fertilizer, together with a lack of crop rotation, reduces the soil's fertility year by year.
• High yield levels are produced by applying large quantities of artificial fertilisers, instead of by maintaining the natural fertility of the soil.