A current problem for those of us who accept manures, yardwastes, and agricultural materials such as straw from off site, is contamination with xenobiotic substances.
A recent arrival on this front is Clopyralid, and its sister compound Picloram which have contaminated commercial composts and university composts in Washington State, Pennsylvania, New Zealand, and California. Clopyralid has been approved in Canada for use in food crops, and presence in foods in amounts as high as 7 parts per million. It is listed as acceptable for barley, oats, wheat, strawberries and various brassicas. And Dow is promoting it for turf use, as well. Those on this list following the classical organic/biodynamic concept of maintaining as much of a closed system on their farms as possible, won't feel this is much of a problem, but others who import organic matter will need to be more careful than ever. I'm thinking here of Roxbury farms and the leaves, of Allan, and of myself and some others in start up phases where imports may be needed. What can you tell us about research that is being done on this problem, what foodweb conditions in compost and soil would help remediate it, and what colleagues and other soil people you know are saying about it? I know Jean-Paul Courtens of Roxbury farms relied on Will Brinton's assurances that composting would generally clean up any contaminants likely to be brought in in yardwastes, leaves, and the like....now this seems to be in question, right? Best regards, Frank Teuton ----- Original Message ----- From: "Allan Balliett" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2002 11:18 PM Subject: Soil Foodweb Questions? > Hey, Friends! > > I'm very excited to announce that Dr. ELAINE INGHAM has agreed to > answer questions posed through BD Now! from now until the end of the > day Friday. Regardless of where you are at in working with the soil > foodweb techniques, now is the time to get maximum clarification from > the leading voice in biological soil testing, custom composting, and > compost teas for disease control and fertility. > > Do me a favor: let's not let Elaine think that we are all too smart > to learn more about Elaine's work. > > If you need some background, check out http://www.soilfoodweb.org > > Thanks > > -Allan > >
