What: Co-composting coffee processing and yard waste for small coffee farms

Who: William Chardon, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich

When: Thursday, February. 25, 2021, 5 p.m.

Where: Virtual (Zoom meeting)

Fruit farming and processing one’s own coffee can be satisfying, but what to do with all the waste?  In this presentation, William Chardon will discuss a co-composting system being developed on a local farm. It produces compost based on all organic farm waste, taking advantage of both the digestate of an on-site bio-gas reactor and the biochar produced from the farm wood surplus. The co-composting system has the potential to improve the local waste management create a valuable product for soil quality enhancement.

William Chardon is a master student at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, in Zürich. He is interested in biogeochemistry and pollutant dynamics in environmental media.  He has been in Kona these past 4 months working on his thesis project on Werner Thie’s and Beatrice Borne’s coffee and fruit farm.

Schedule and format:

5 p.m. start. With the virtual format, people are less likely to be stuck in traffic, so we’re starting on time.  The Zoom meeting room will be open at least 10 minutes beforehand.