The value of earthworms to the farmer cannot be overstated. At the same time, deep burrowers bring up minerals that are incorporated into surface soil. The deep burrowers create long tunnels that go down almost 6 feet in depth, allowing deep penetration of water and oxygen. An early expert on worms was Charles Darwin, who established that earthworms process and enrich soil endlessly, and without whom, farming as we know it, would not be possible. Deep burrowers include the common garden worm or Nightcrawler, (grey/pink color and about 15 cm long) and they eat soil mixed with decaying organic material. However, the farmer is interested in two main categories of earthworms, namely “deep burrowers” and “surface dwellers”. There are over 6,000 species of worms in the world, many of them not even named or studied. Bruce can be reached at Introduction to Vermiculture Bruce comes from an engineering background and offers regular trainings on his solar power technologies and vermicomposting systems among other things.

[Editor’s Note: Bruce is Project Manager of Solar Roots, and runs a small demonstration farm in Pyin Oo Lwin, Myanmar. This article is from ECHO Asia Note # 39.

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