Example of Ground-based worm farm

This photo was taken at Central Wormworx in Cromwell where Robbie and Rosanna Dick farm worms for a living on one hectare.  They are given mostly vineyard and orchard waste from around Cromwell in Central Otago and feed it to their estimated 40 million Tiger worms.  Tiger worms are the special composting worms that you need to convert organic waste into vermicast, an organic compost ideal for growing plants, trees and vegetables.

The Dicks' worms are housed in a kilometre of worm beds - 17 rows about 1.5 metres wide and up to half a metre high.  These worms munch through their body weight of organic matter every day in the warm summer months, and each row gets two tonnes of food every fortnight.

You won't need such a large operation for your school, but it gives you an idea of what is possible and how successful this type of operation can be.