LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Farmers Union is seeking a grant for a worm farm that would turn Lincoln school food scraps into useful compost.

The goals are to reduce waste that goes into the city landfill and create a soil product for community and school gardens. The group’s Jeremiah Picard says he’s applied for a grant of more than $169,000 from the Nebraska Environmental Trust to fund the project. A grant decision is expected in April.

Food scraps would be taken to the future worm farm and ground up by machinery and heated by air forced through it. The resulting material would be fed to red wiggler worms. The worms excrete undigested material, soil and bacteria, creating a prized natural fertilizer.