So what are the unfolding markets ?

FACT 1 A major Australian plastic injection moulding company Reln Pty Ltd designed and introduced an extremely popular domestic worm application system known as the " Worm Factory " in March of 1993 since then Reln has gone on to produce and sell tens of thousands of these very effective products, more recently they have introduced another version known as the " Can Of Worms "

Other manufactures have introduced alternatives to these two popular products a great new product is the Swag from Queensland, many other worm growers have contributed their own timber designs as well. Click here to view the Swag

Every time one of these units is sold any thing up to 2 kilos or more of worm from a worm grower is sold with it. At present compost worm is being sold retail at $60.00 to $80.00 per kilo so this market alone is generating millions of dollars Australia wide with no sign of let up.

Our company alone has sold directly and in directly thousands of these units, and supplied worm for many thousands more. You do the figures, you will see that this is a very substantial and on going market …. For example there are some 6 million dwellings in Australia not to mention factories, restaurants, clubs, schools, offices, hospitals, and other places where food scraps accumulate, simple arithmetic shows that $160 times 6 million is a staggering $960 million dollar market alone.

People ask me won’t the market get saturated with worms my long standing reply remains " Where are the worms going to come from " let us look at some more facts and you will see why.

FACT 2 In April 1995 the Carr government in N.S.W. introduced law to forcibly reduce the waste that for 200 years has traditionally gone to landfill, by a staggering 60% before the year 2000 …..  Now new government departments have been formed just to administer this new law and ensure it is fully implemented. Because ocean outfalls for organic waste disposal has been ruled out and incineration is not politically acceptable, the options narrow as any forward thinking person will see.

In fact so much so that probably the ONLY technology capable of helping to achieve these targets remains Vermiculture. Little wonder that in the state of N.S.W. the governments own Environmental Protection Authority is actively promoting Vermiculture with education programs and paid advertising

FACT 3 It is not so long ago I think that all Australians will recall we had some pretty unhealthy attitudes to our own immediate environment, and throwing our rubbish out the car window was one of those more disgusting acts that were considered near normal, it was not until Ian Keirnan shamed us permanently with the incredibly successful " Clean Up Australia " campaigns, we subsequently abandoned this self defeating habit.

Around the same time municipal councils were looking at the eyesore they had created with foul smelling, rat infested, uncovered landfill " tips " that for the most part were permanently on fire as well, soon fences were going up around tips, and managers were appointed to control disposal, then before long were collecting " tipping " fees, that in some municipalities have risen 100% per year, to as much as $90.00 a tonne for organic waste disposal. Clearly the councils do not want to subsidise landfill any longer, and with these new state laws and deadlines alternatives have to be found. The most effective residential disposal of organic waste has clearly become home composting, with the most efficient method for this being a home compost worm system. 

It is anticipated that further tipping and disposal fee increases for organic waste will continue to put the onus on the rate payer to manage organic waste at home via Vermiculture at home, there is a substantial benefit for the resident beyond saving on disposal fees and that is the resultant product from compost worm is a rich organic fertiliser known as Vermicast that can be used on any plant indoors or outdoors with exceptional results. Can you imagine we will revert back to open burning tips, or throw our hamburger wrappers out the car window again ? Market researchers call these defining moments in habit changes " milestones " and forward thinking business entrepreneurs monitor these trends and direct their product developments and marketing to tap the momentum and unfolding demand.

FACT 4 Another indicator we have closely watched has been the consumer led growing preference for organically grown food, people are no longer confident that the many chemicals used in agriculture and found as residuals on and in fruit and vegetables is safe to consume. " Organically grown " has become a marketing catch phrase with fruit and vegetables commanding a premium at specialty stores as consumers takes charge of what they are prepared to consume. The growth rate of organic produce has been 38% in Australia for the last ten years and in the USA is currently running at 23% a year.

At the June 1997 workshop of the Rural Research Industries and Development corporation, key spokesman Mr. R Peterson said " The pioneering spirit of the organic industry in seeking to assure the sustainability of Australia’s and provide the consumer with the cleanest possible food will achieve its greatest potential as industry pulls together"

"Australia does have a major market advantage with its reputation for producing clean green food; the Organic industry believes it will gain a major market share of the rapidly expanding Asian export markets."

Background to organic production in Australia.

Between 1990 and 1995 the value of organic agriculture production has grown from

$28 million in !990 to $80.5 million in 1995.This growth is a staggering 38 per cent a year gain, and over the last 3 years  the industry has been worth more than half a billion dollars.

The potential for growth exists also because at present the most recent figures for agriculture land utilising organic growing, was between 1-2% in a 1995 survey.

It is this type of analysis and thinking about the future, that allows for present planning in the Vermiculture industry to parallel even exceed these substantial yearly increases.

This consumer led preference has also made new opportunities for farmers to change from chemically grown food to more naturally grown organic agriculture, and Vermiculture is riding this crest as the obvious interface to convert organic waste traditionally seen as a problem, but now gaining a new image as a resource. Take sometime out to look on the shelves of a supermarket in your town today and you will see some big name Australian food processors like Uncle Tobys Oats now offer " organically " grown breakfast cereals, and these generally command a premium that an aware and growing number of consumers are prepared to pay. One of the major side benefits for the farmer producing the horticultural products via Vermiculture can be a significant reduction in cost as dependency on chemicals can lead to significant bank overdrafts for their purchase, and in some cases expensive hybrid plants that can work in a chemical environment. 

With an organic fertiliser produced via Vermicuture using local animal wastes such as dairy manure's that can be sourced freely, or as is now occurring where forward thinking Dairy farmers are themselves utilising vermiculture to eliminate their manure waste problem, and provide a value added component in the form of Vermicast, This can be used by themsleves or sold to local small crop farmers for organically grown produce.

Either way a sustainable cycle of natural agriculture is then in place, after all humankind has farmed for thousands of years without chemicals, and our fairly recent historical use of chemicals has had some horrendous downside with chemical in the food chain responsible for a myriad of human ailments.

Just for a moment think about how big this established fertiliser market is ….. it is worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year in Australia alone, all countries benefit in the same way by taking the lead developed here in Australia. For those in the Vermiculture business therefore they can honestly say and plan around the fact that they are part of this multimillion dollar business NOW. When seen from this perspective it then becomes apparent that the Vermiculture industry in Australia and the world, is not about selling worms but it is in substitution of the dubious agricultural chemicals with safe waste converted naturally made organic fertilisers.

Just look at the spectacular success of the Australian company that makes and sells Dynamic Lifter, a pelletised fowl manure fertiliser and virtually now a household recognised name for an organic product. The future is always visible when you closely examine the present.

Try your pocket calculator on this exercise alone and you will find another billion dollar industry on your doorstep, and a severe shortage of full time worm growers to capitalise on this opportunity.

FACT 5 One thing to fully understand, this industry is not about providing worms to go fishing , however successful large scale operations in the UK have established the viability of using fast growing compost worm raised on waste products to provide high grade protein feed for the chicken, pig and aquaculture industries, presently the market forces are working to drive up the value of worm for applications were the worm is the worker as in organic fertiliser production, however it is a nice fall back position to know a proven alternate use is ready in the wings. Present indications are this potential market is a long way from being materialised as the overall lack of worm stocked continues to hold back the marketing of bulk worm into the large scale Vermiconversion systems, and as a result is driving prices higher. Along the same lines of application have been successful trials in Eastern Europe where the worm is sacrificed to provide worm oil which has now been shown to be a high quality source of Omega 3, an oil with a high value and ready made markets in the cosmetic and alternate health markets.

FACT 6 A business can be set up to convert waste to a value added organic fertiliser, when this is combined with a waste disposal payment on the " front end " the " back end " sales dollars can show that gross sales equals nett profit, this in fact is the basis of many new ventures in the USA over the last few years like Canyon Conversions in La Joya near San Diego a city of only 150,000 people, where some 400 tonnes of municipal yard waste per days is received and converted via Vermiculture the principal reason that more large scale operations such as this have not been done in Australia to date, remains the lack of worm stock, for example the San Diego site utilises some 200 tonnes of worm alone, recent best estimates of worm stock actually for sale at any given time in Australia presently indicates a supply of only 20 tonnes available at any given time, in other words no more than 10 percent of what is needed for one medium site. Now recent trials conducted by the CSIRO and published in1998 have demonstrated beyond question that Vermicast can actually increase yield in grapes by a staggering 50% ! Most farmers will swap for a fertiliser that can produce a 5% improvement! Imagine now the opportunities that will flow for all time, from these startling and exciting new developments.

There are some 5000 land fill sites in Australia operated by municipal councils, a typical Australian council land fill shows a waste stream of organic material approaching one half tonne per person within that region, so a 100000 population land fill will produce around 1.35 kilos of organic waste per person per day, thus about 135 tonnes of organic waste per day. For Vermireduction of the waste then Vermiconversion to value added product this requires a worm tonnage of at least 100 tonnes of worm. As worm is commanding a current bulk price between $30.00 and $40.00 dollars per kilo ( for your consideration compare that to choice beef or lobster prices and you will see what has attracted forward thinking people to vermiculture ) this means the 100000 population land fill site is presently worth a staggering $3,000,000.00 ……. Now as there are 18 million Australians producing the same amount of organic waste for land fill when we divide 18,000,000.00 by 100000 we get 180. When multiplied by $3,000,000.00 for worm stock this equals a total potential of $540,000,000.00.just for this market segment alone. You can do your own figures for your country and the world, but the sums are turly staggering. Now while it is well known in marketing analysis that full potential’s are never achieved, it is also a golden rule of marketing analysis that the potential’s must however be present.

FACT 7 Presently some large scale sites have been established in Australia as at the time of writing this report, several pilot programs in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, and Newcastle are in place and operating successfully, yet none of these existed even 3 years ago. One Australian company Vermitech Pty Ltd has gone public and set up some huge sites where hundreds of tons of solid cast are produced daily.

This information has been put together to at least open the door for those who can see change, and want to participate in an industry that will bring about even greater change, as other factors impact on the way we dispose of and reuse organic waste, as has been indicated elsewhere here.

In fact I think it helps to see what has been previously termed " waste " as an " unused resource."

FACT 8 Other markets have opened in Australia recently such as the Vineyards where a joint program with C.S.I.R.O. Worm growers, Vineyards, and the Australian Worm Growers Association has shown promising results with increased yields easily measurable. Piggeries have found they can convert and reduce manure's thus lessening environmental pressure on the one hand and providing valuable fertiliser to grow suitable easy pig food crops such as pumpkin, this has also occurred on dairy farms, the poultry industry, and the exotic animals and bird farms. Abattoirs have gone beyond trials to full scale Vermiculture to reduce and convert animal and bird offal, even specialised hot house crops and flowers are now recycling clippings, spoilt vegetables, plant stalks, etc via compost worms. Offshore tourist islands such as Stradbroke island near Brisbane where are up to 2000 people stay at any given time, now run Vermiculture programs so organic waste does not have to be barged back to the mainland. Of course the converted material is used in the islands own beautification program.

FACT 9 The list of other applications is limited by only imagination, already food processor factories have found they can reduce the waste component of things such as fruit skins, seeds, stalks, contaminated product, and other parts discarded, that would normally have to be taken to the local tip where high tipping fees impact on the bottom line. Vermireduction as a process can reduce 1000kg to only 100kg, so even if the result did not produce a value added organic fertiliser, production managers and internal cost control accountants are examining " on site " Vermiculture for waste reduction as a viable tool for cost reduction.

FACT 10 A major secondary market for ALL compost worm growers has been to sell stock to other growers and worm marketing companies, for when the sellers stock is insufficient to fulfil their order., networking and the emergence of organisations like the Vital Earth Companies Associate Grower Co-Operative have evolved to facilitate this aspect, which in fact is a concept as old as organised farming, and consequently no less necessary in the Vermiculture industry.

FACT 11 Approximately 70% of all Australians spend time at another place other than their domestic residence every day of the week, whether it be a school, university, office, factory, club, restaurant, hotel, motel, hospital, entertainment centre, sports venue, farm, shop, etc and during those hours organic waste from meals in particular accumulate, thus multiplying the potential sites for Vermiculture systems to operate well in excess of the residential market.

FACT 12 Already many schools have environmental programs whereby organic waste disposal is being addressed with innovative ideas, vermiculture systems now play an increasing successful part of these programs, some forward thinking clubs and restaurants have also put in Compost worm driven digesters more will follow, more than likely legislators will require such measures on a compulsory basis. 

Our company alone has sold many systems like the above into schools in Australia

The future for this writer has not only materialised from our visions 11 years ago, but in fact has come about faster than we would have dared predict, will it continue ? My answer to that question is " What could take its place?"

It makes no difference how many times I have asked that question to myself or others in the last 11 years and NOTHING yet has even shown a glimmer of a challenge to Vermiculture, in any case let me pose another question:

" Can man improve on nature?"

I think not, as Charles Darwin remarked in his book " The formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms " ………..
" of Earthworms, It may be doubted whether there are many other animals which have played so important a part in the history of the world as have these "lowly organised creatures".

Now 200 years later the mighty worm is making a real comeback as a vitally important assistant to man, with the only known method of naturally enriching and manufacturing true organic soil.

Today the Vital Earth company has risen to the challenge to help bring progressive improvements to Vermiculture in Australia and world wide:

We have developed:

Modular transportable breeder pits.

Liquid cast recirculation technology.

Vermiculture training programs.

Easy Rota Worm separators.

V.E. Worm booster compost bacteria super inoculant.

The Vital Vermi-Converter.

If you would like to enter Vermiculture commercially and successfully there is no need to "reinvent the wheel" simply email or phone us and find out how we can get you started as we have other successful Vermiculturist around Australia, Asia and now via our new CD ROM the world.

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