Worm Solutions: Albury’s Jason Nicholls on his company’s early success

Albury’s Jason Nicholls knows it sounds weird — he’s farming worm juice, after all — but the natural fertiliser is chalking up early wins.

Jason Nicholls loves watching the “worm dance”.

He won’t be found enjoying it on a dancefloor, however. His favourite moves happen on his huge concrete worm farm north of Albury.

It’s there Jason produces massive quantities of “worm juice”, a natural liquid fertiliser that boosts soil health, offering farmers and gardeners an affordable alternative to synthetic fertilisers.

Jason Nicholls in the concrete pit worm farm. Pictures: Zoe Phillips

The concrete structures where he houses millions of worms, which munch through green waste and food scraps to produce juice, are big enough to drive a tractor in.

“The worm farms are essentially big compost bins,” he said.

“The concrete pits are a big compost pile and hold the inputs — like beast carcasses or topsoil — and when the worms go through it and eat it, what comes out is known as castings, one of the world’s best natural fertilisers.”

Jason’s year-old company, Worm Solutions, delivers the juice in thousand-litre pods made from IBC containers with a plastic bladder inside. He said the price of his natural fertiliser was four times cheaper than an equivalent fertiliser at Bunnings.

Jason has even wriggled his juice in to being stocked by his local Mitre 10.

“People are sick of (synthetics). They’re going ‘bugger this’, because it’s not as healthy as an organic product.

“If you can produce something that’s environmentally friendly and can give the goods, Aussies want to support smaller businesses having a crack.”

He said despite the company’s early success, he still received some funny looks when he told people what he was doing for work, especially after making the shift from his previous role managing a bicycle business.

“People ask me ‘Really? You don’t have a second job?’.

“I say I’m a worm farmer and people don’t quite get it, can’t believe the progression I’ve made in 12 months.”