Greater Buffalo's Premier Organics Recycling and Compost Professionals
Bringing Composting to Buffalo!
A Compost Love Story
Sick of trucking in low quality compost from rural areas, Farmer Pirates Compost was unofficially started in 2012 by a group of urban farmers who had the need for high quality compost to use on their farms. It seemed crazy to bring compost in from outside of the city when there was so much organic material leaving the city everyday that could instead be used to create a rich, nutrient dense, organic fertilizer so desperately needed.
With a bold idea and limited resources we created a Kickstarter campaign and with community support we started composting! From humble beginnings using repurposed buckets from Wegmans, an old pickup truck and simple flyers we spread the word and began our residential program with just 20 members. Over the past decade we have refined our services, increased our efficiency and expanded our service area. Now offering services in more than 10 towns across WNY and working in partnership with 3 local municipalities on pilot composting programs, we are more hopeful than ever about the future of composting in Buffalo!
How did we get our name you ask?
Farmer Pirates was born out of a farming cooperative by the same name, Farmer Pirates Cooperative in 2012. Although we have grown and evolved since the beginning and we are no longer cooperative members and farmers, we still hold to the same values which can be articulated by this quote from farmer, author and painter Lynn Miller, founder of the renowned Small Farmer's Journal.
“As farmers and homesteaders, we’re growing for ourselves, we’re creating for ourselves, we raise our own chickens for our own eggs, and we’ll do it outside of existing institutions. If that makes us pirates, then so be it.”
- Lynn R. Miller: Farmer Pirates and Dancing Cows
Compost Facts
So much of what gets wasted everyday is in fact NOT trash, but can be composted instead! Farmer Pirates makes it simple and affordable for your FAMILY or BUSINESS to divert your food waste from the landfill and start composting NOW!
31.9%
According to the American Journal of Agricultural Economics the average American family throws out about 260 lbs. or 31.9% of all food they buy each year. Even the most frugal families still waste approx. 8.7% of the food they buy.
4.1%
Of the approx. 54 million tons of food thrown out in the US only 2.6 million tons (4.1%) of it was actually composted. According to the EPA in 2018, food waste is the 4th largest contribution to municipal solid waste (read LANDFILLS)
#3
According to the EPA In the US landfills account for the 3rd largest amount of methane emissions, following petroleum and gas and poorly managed ruminant livestock. Methane is 25 times more potent than C02 at trapping heat in the atmosphere, and a major factor in climate change!
OUR COMPOST
aka "Black Gold"
Compost is a natural way to help increase organic matter in your soil, improve water retention, soil structure and increase the microbial population. In addition, our compost will provide extended fertility not found in synthetic fertilizers. If you’re a long time gardener or just breaking ground on a new plot, compost can help to bring life to new or well used soils.
Our compost is made from organic materials collected from households and businesses throughout Buffalo and its suburbs. This organic material is mostly food waste mixed with horse bedding (manure, straw, hay) and woodchips. When mixed properly they decompose into nutrient rich fertilizer to feed your sustainable farm or garden.