Fertilizing bush beans with locally made compost in a remote subarctic community

Abstract

Abstract High latitude communities are cultivating crops to adapt to global warming, and thereby reduce dependency on food importation. To minimize the dependency of imported soil nutrient amendments for crop production, the Indigenous subarctic community of Fort Albany First Nation generated compost using by‐products from the traditional activities of goose harvesting along with other organic waste within the community. The compost was evaluated in a single growing season pot experiment as an amendment for bush beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) by being mixed with the local Terric Haplosaprist edaphic soil that was P and K deficient. Twelve pots growing bush beans were amended with compost at rates ranging from 3 to 30% and with unamended controls. All eight plant metrics (height, aboveground, leaf and bean biomass, quantity of leaves and pods, and individual and summed leaf surface area) showed a significant positive relationship with increasing compost amendments (p ≤ .0025, r2 = .66–.86), suggesting soils with compost attain greater bean yields than unamended soil. A threshold of bean growth was not reached, implying that compost amendments >30% may provide even greater bean yield. However, the application of P and K with the 30% compost addition exceeds recommended rates, suggesting that nutrient availability was hindered. Notwithstanding logistical issues in scaling‐up to amend all gardens in the community, such as improving the compost quality and quantity, composting using Indigenous harvest by‐products and local organic wastes is a promising adaptive food security strategy.