One man's manure is another's treasure

It's a rare man that can see the business opportunity in horse manure.

Just ask Earl Berryman.When a friend of his got a contract with the Reno Livestock Events Center to haul away rodeo waste, a light went off in Berryman's head.

"I said that has value." Apparently, Berryman is the first to see the added value, so to speak, in horse dung.

According to Berryman, he recently received the first Washoe County permit issued for organic recycling.

"I've jumped through hoops since last November," he said.

"The county had never issued a permit before."

First, though, Berryman had to see if his idea - to produce soil amendments for lawns, golf courses and other landscaping from organic compost had legs.

"I got into this when I couldn't spell compost," he said.

So he went to classes held by the U.S.

Compost Council, took tests for solid waste management and received certification from USCC.

Then he looked for land.

He found 41 acres in Palomino Valley, north of Reno, zoned for agricultural use.

"I got one heck of a deal on the property," said Berryman.

(It is also two miles down the road from the Bureau of Land Management's wild horse facility, which Berryman hopes to work with to recycle its waste.) Somewhere along the way he acquired a partner, Lloyd LeBard, and an investor, though Berryman still does the bulk of the work.

"It's been basically a one-man operation," he said.

He also formed a company - Biogrow LLC - and bought a gigantic roto-tiller called a straddler to turn the compost.

In the meantime, word got around about what he was up to, said Berryman, and one neighbor to the property started complaining.

"She was worried I was going to contaminate the groundwater," said Berryman.

"It's a misconception."

He said the state environmental protection agency has visited the property and given the site a clean bill of health.

So late last year Berryman started up a pilot program to see if his idea would work.

He says the process takes between eight to 12 weeks, from delivery of the waste to finished compost.

His pilot test produced 5,000 yards of compost, and he hopes to produce about 45,000 yards by mid-summer.

That will be enough material to start selling it, said Berryman.

He thinks there is a huge potential market for his product since highways and other public works projects are starting to require landscaping without the use of chemical fertilizers.

"A national trend has begun," said Berryman.

The compost can also be used to significantly cut down on water use, claims Berryman.

"When you put sod on soil you have to water the heck out of it," he said.

"If there were a requirement to amend the soil, you would save water."

He's started marketing sample bags locally and says one prominent nursery already wants all that's he produced.

But he wants to take his time to continue testing and be sure he's producing the best possible compost he can.

"There's a lot more science to producing it than you'd think."