Reports and Articles

Uranium Mining in Virginia is a State-Wide Issue! …And it affects our food system, directly

Many of you have probably already heard that there is a move on, impelled by a Canadian-owned uranium mining company, to lift the moratorium on uranium mining in Virginia (which was enacted in 1982). This would cause signficant radioactive pollution, compromise our farmers' ability to produce safe, clean food, and pose a risk of very serious contamination in the event of an accidental release of mining waste (tailings) into watercourses and the general environment.

The potential economic benefits to our region of developing this industry would probably be dwarfed by the loss of agricultural markets alone, because buyers and customers may no longer be able to assume that Virginia grown is indeed "better" - or safe at all, for that matter. It is in our economic interests as well as health and quality of life interests, to just say NO. Uranium ore deposits exist all along the major mountain ranges throughout the inland portions of the state, including a major one in Pittsylvania County that the Canadian compnay has its eye on.

A statewide citizens' organization, Uranium Free Virginia, has formed to organize and focalize oppostion to ending the uranium mining moratorium, and to push the state legislature to strengthen the moratorium into a permanent ban.

Now is the time to contact your State Senator and State Delegate and tell her/him to uphold the moratorium and make it a permanent ban. Tell them how uranium mining in the state would adversely impact you - both health / quality of life wise, and economically. If you are farming for part or all of your living, or growing food for your family, emphasize the negative impacts of uranium mining on your livelihood, your markets and customers, and the quality of food you are growing for home use.

If you would like to learn more, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Meantime, here are links you may find helpful:

This Oped by Olga Kolotushkina provides information on where things stood in early April 2011.

Here's a link to audio and transcript of a show on Free Speech Radio News by Brad Kutner, news man from WRIR, Richmond Independent Radio (listen at WRIR.ORG for a progressive talk news day from 8 a.m. 'til 5 p.m. weekdays).

Finally, here are some websites and blogs you might use to keep informed:

http://www.uraniumfreeva.org/get-involved/

http://www.uraniumfreevirginia.blogspot.com/

http://lifeincva.blogspot.com/

http://virginiaagainsturanium.blogspot.com/

Brown Marmorated Stink Bug – a Recent Challenge and Potential for Remedy

The Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB) is a relatively new problem, but is a serious, season long threat to anyone growing food crops. They love soft skinned, sugary things to eat: like your prize heirloom tomatoes, sweet peppers, fruits (even unripe), even flowers. They like a warm place to overwinter, hence the home invasions that brought them to the TV screen.

It behooves us to learn what we can about it, and to that end, there is a USDA Organic Task Force, including many Virginia farmers and gardeners. This is vital because if we do our work as the research into controlling the pest proceeds, the organic initiative toward control can outstrip the commercial poison based control, thereby endangering fewer beneficial organisms. These remedies could include biological agents (natural enemies) as well as OMRI approved sprays and cultural controls (e.g., the BMSB may be wily and hardy, but it cannot fit through the tiny pores of a floating row cover any more than cuke beetle or squash bug).

Combat Boots to Cowboy Boots - NY Times reports on a new program linking returning veterans from combat zones to the sustainable agriculture movement. Read the article here.

Radical Roots Farm Based on Permaculture Model VABF members David and Lee O’Neill hosted a farm tour in July 2010 at their farm in Keezletown, Virginia, as part of a two-day training workshop in organic horticulture for Extension, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and other agricultural professionals. The farm is a multi-faceted operation that integrates vegetables, fruit, poultry and flowers with education and multiple marketing outlets, as well as thriving family life. Read Mark Schonbeck's report - with pictures. (text only version here)

Virginia Tech Grows Organic The College is using six acres of USDA certified organic land at their Kentland Agriculture Research Farm near Blacksburg to conduct research and grow organic vegetables. Dr. Ron Morse has conducted conservation agriculture on this land for a number of years researching no-till systems, increasing soil fertility and biodiversity, and designing planting tools for small scale organic growers. Now the project is reaching out to include students in the research and production, to the benefit of many. Read the article.

U.S. Farmers may face limits on use of antibiotics The pork industry may be facing scrutiny from medical experts worried about the emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria (finally!) http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/15/us/15farm.html?_r=2

Plants take up drugs and antibacterials from biosolids used as fertilizers. http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/newscience/soy-plants-accumulate-drugs-antibacterials-from-biosolids

Organic agriculture promotes evenness and natural pest control - David W. Crowder, Tobin D. Northfield, Michael R. Strand & William E. Snyder. Nature, 466, 109-112 (1 July 2010) Abstract:

Human activity can degrade ecosystem function by reducing species number (richness) and by skewing the relative abundance of species (evenness). Conservation efforts often focus on restoring or maintaining species number, reflecting the well-known impacts of richness on many ecological processes. In contrast, the ecological effects of disrupted evenness have received far less attention, and developing strategies for restoring evenness remains a conceptual challenge. In farmlands, agricultural pest-management practices often lead to altered food web structure and communities dominated by a few common species, which together contribute to pest outbreaks. Here we show that organic farming methods mitigate this ecological damage by promoting evenness among natural enemies. In field enclosures, very even communities of predator and pathogen biological control agents, typical of organic farms, exerted the strongest pest control and yielded the largest plants. In contrast, pest densities were high and plant biomass was low when enemy evenness was disrupted, as is typical under conventional management. Our results were independent of the numerically dominant predator or pathogen species, and so resulted from evenness itself. Moreover, evenness effects among natural enemy groups were independent and complementary. Our results strengthen the argument that rejuvenation of ecosystem function requires restoration of species evenness, rather than just richness. Organic farming potentially offers a means of returning functional evenness to ecosystems.