Green Thumb - 9
Green Thumb - 9
Transcript
00:00 A spineless creature that's easily scorned but familiar to anyone with a fishing rod
00:16 or garden. Did you know the earthworm is one of the planet's most helpful creatures? And
00:22 farmer Dexter Raghunanan has unearthed the role of these soil engineers in sustainable
00:27 agriculture. Worm castings is a natural product that exists in the environment through the earthworms.
00:36 It enriches the soil, it gives life to the soil. It's full of microorganisms, microbiology.
00:43 And so when earthworm castings is introduced it is an organic fertilizer that brings the soil to life
00:53 and the soil now feeds the plant. If you're wondering worm casting simply refers to worm poop
01:00 and lots of it can be found at Raghunanan's Bazaar Trace farm in Vancouver. Here vermicomposting is
01:07 in full swing. Well of course we started off doing this in a little bucket and then we grow to our
01:13 box and now we have grown to many boxes. Some of the troughs that we have are 40 feet and more.
01:22 Right so we are able to produce maybe about 10 yards or more a month. So why is worm casting
01:32 better than goat or even cow manure? You want to remember that the earthworm cast is a manure in
01:38 itself. What the earthworms do is that they break down the cow manure, goat manure, sheep manure
01:44 further to a different type of manure. They take care of whatever negative pathogens and
01:52 E. coli and all of that that would be in that manure. They clean it up and present a cleaner
01:57 product. But are worms are under threat? A lot of persons have been saying they can't find earthworms.
02:05 Long time when you go into plant and you dig up the soil you see some nice earthworms.
02:09 But I guess because of the amount of poisons being sprayed to kill different bugs and insects and so
02:18 forth. Well these things are insecticides. They don't say well we'll kill this bug but not this
02:26 bug. They kill everything. Raghunanan is now hoping to raise awareness of the importance of
02:31 earthworm farming here and regionally to improve agricultural productivity. Jassi Ramneo, CNC3 News.
02:39 [Music]