September 2006 E-zine I want to make certain that anyone doing a…

September 2006 E-zine

I want to make certain that anyone doing a program gets a site visit by either Joe Whaley
or me. It is amazing what problems can be avoided with just a few minutes of having one
of us come out and see what you are doing. Let us check out your compost, or where you
are getting compost from. What tea brewer is being used, conditions of brewing,
spraying, etc. Simple improvements usually can be made that will make a huge
difference. If Joe and I can't be brought out, please make certain that your advisor is
talking weekly with Joe Whaley or with me.

CONTENTS

1.    Meetings and Events
      a.     Holiday closures (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year)
      b.     Soil Foodweb Advisors teaching at NOFA Course in Organic Land Care
      c.     Chuck Sherzi teaching at Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University
      d.     Sustainable Studies Workshops Feb 5-10
2.    Notes from Elaine
      a.     Call for potential volunteers
      b.     More news on the water front
      c.     Making compost
      d.     The on-going E. coli "thing"
___________________________________________________________

1.     Up-coming Meetings and Events

1.a.   Holiday closures

Soil Foodweb Inc. and the offices in Oregon will close to observe legal holidays on
Thursday and Friday 23-24 November 2006 (Thanksgiving weekend), Monday 25
December 2006 (Christmas), and Monday 1 January 2007 (New Year).

1.b.   Soil Foodweb advisors teaching at NOFA Course in Organic Land Care

Certified Soil Foodweb Advisors Todd Harrington and Chuck Sherzi, Jr. will be teaching
at the 6th Annual NOFA Course in Organic Land Care:
http://www.organiclandcare.net/events/6thannual5day.php#course

Soil Foodweb concepts will be covered in the organic lawn section on January 9-10 in
Leominster, Massachusetts and January 31 and February 1 in New Haven, Connecticut.

1.c.   Chuck Sherzi teaching at Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University

Landscape Institute - Harvard University
Ground Rules: Soils and the Sustainable Environment - Sherzi, Jr., Chuck
This course will emphasize the importance of soil and of the ecological systems and
cycles that are vital to the health of the planted landscape and the urban forest. Soil
testing methods, analysis and interpretation of results, and corrective action strategies are
thoroughly discussed. It is essential to understand the soil chemistry and the biological
activity in the soil in order to develop a sustainable blueprint for any landscape. . . .

January 22-April 30, 5:30pm-8:30pm; for more information:

http://www.arboretum.harvard.edu/programs/ld/courses.php?sa=&sem=Spring%5E2007

[Chuck] will also be doing a compost workshop through the Arnold Arboretum adult
education program in April 2007. Details to follow.

1.d.   Sustainable Studies Workshops Feb 5-10

February 5-10: Core Workshops and Microscope Class in Corvallis, Oregon

For some reason we had wrong dates in previous announcements of these workshops.
February 5-10 have been confirmed as the correct dates. Registration forms are here:
http://soilfoodweb.com/04_news/calendar.htm


2.     Notes from Elaine!

2.a.   Call for potential volunteers

I have been spending time in Australia, South Africa and California working on
demonstration sites documenting HOW TO enable the Soil Foodweb approach.

Improving biology requires an understanding of what has been done to the land, what
"problems" you have. Do not let anyone delude you; chemical toxics are MASKING
problems! You most certainly have a problem if you are using chemical methods to
control those problems. We need to know what equipment you have. We may be able to
adapt some equipment without you having to buy anything new. We then want to figure
the easiest way to get the biology improved and established.

Demonstration sites give local people an understanding of EXACTLY how to make this
work, in their conditions, with their plants. SFI cannot pay to have these demonstration
sites started, maintained or used as educational sites. We work WITH you, of course, and
continue to work with the site as it becomes the regional SFI approach educational site.

We are looking for people who want to invest in this type of educational approach. We
are talking about a fair amount of money needed to invest in the training of people on-
site, the equipment to do composting, aerated compost tea machines, seminar rooms for
training, and advertising the training program to local growers.

If interested, please e-mail me, or Joe Whaley, and we'll start the discussion relative to
what is needed.
2.b.      More news on the water front.

Good news just received from Earth Fortification! An easy way to deal with water
problems has been found! Working with water chemistry people, Earth Fortification has
developed what looks like a way to easily deal with this problem.

Matt Slaughter, of Earth Fortification, asks that you send him a water quality chemistry
report along with a soil Foodweb report of the soil, so he can formulate, with help from
experts of course, the right set of foods to add into your tea to fix both water quality
problems as well as feed the organisms you need in your soil.

So, to summarize:

                         1.   Water chemistry analysis
                         2.   Soil Foodweb analysis
                         3.   Soil chemistry analysis
                         4.   what plants you want to grow

Matt will send the "package" of foods needed to make good tea and start getting the
biology in the tea activated to make super ACT. Of course, the first couple times you do
this, we need a soil Foodweb analysis two weeks later to make sure the biology got
established. Once your plants are growing in a healthy fashion, we no longer need to do
intensive assessment like this, but the first couple applications, it is needed.

2.c.      Making compost

Working with folks all over the world, I'm collecting more ways of doing compost.
Which means the book is going to be a bit longer before it comes out.

I want to include temperature data on different piles with different starting material builds
in the book. I'd appreciate the information on your starting material mix, size of pile.
Methods of turning, water addition, AND temperatures measured on a daily basis through
the life of the pile.

That's a lot of data. But if you have it, it would be useful to get that experience into the
book.

Some recent conclusions when making compost (which I'm sure many people know, but
many people don't, so I'm making sure the general information goes out).

       1. No more than 5% of the final set of starting materials should be "chunky".
             a. If more than 5% is chunky, you need to break that up before starting to
                compost
             b. If less than 5% chunky, be aware that the "high range" for turning is really
                more like 155 F, or 60 C. No chunks means hard for oxygen to get into
                the pile, so you have to turn more.
           c. If the chunks don't get decomposed during the composting cycle, you
               don't have the right kinds of really beneficial fungi in the pile
   2. If the temperature of the pile stops climbing to 160 F, or 65 C, you have to check
      the following:
           a. Moisture. When you remove a handful of material from anywhere in the
               pile, you should be able to just barely squeeze a drop of moisture out of it.
               Too wet and the compost will go anaerobic. Too dry and the microbes
               can't do their job of decomposing the material.
           b. Adding water is critical during the composting cycle (unless you are
               composting in the rainy season using cardboard, or wettable cover
               material). Add moisture to the pile AS IT IS BEING TURNED. If
               moisture is needed beyond that, consider covering the pile, or injecting
               moisture into the pile.
           c. Check the pile often when you are first working out a new recipe using
               unfamiliar starting materials
           d. Adequate high N. High N is not the same as green. High N containing
               materials DO NOT COUNT as green. You need BOTH! Any pile should
               be assessed for high N, green, and woody. If you have put something in
               the high N category, it cannot also be included in the green component.
           e. Toxic chemicals. Add additional SOLUBLE sugars (or green materials)
               AND microbial inocula to deal with pesticides if you think you have
               added materials that might have been treated with some herbicides or
               pesticides. Any green waste material coming from municipal sources
               should be assumed to be contaminated.
   3. Water quality is critical. Check EC, chloramines and pH. If these are too low or
      too high, you need to add materials to fix the problems. If you have problems,
      please work with Matt Slaughter (matt@earthfort.com) to get your water
      problems dealt with.
   4. Remember that fresh vegetable material contains an amazing amount of moisture.
      As it breaks down, soppy wet (potentially anaerobic) conditions can develop as
      the organisms decompose the vegetable material. Break up the vegetables to
      release internal moisture immediately, or plan on adding dry carbon (paper,
      cardboard, sawdust, wood chips) at the time the vegetable material breaks down.
      This may mean turning an extra time.

As I learn more, and remember additional points, I'll try to remember to add them here.


2.d. The on-going E. coli "thing"

This is a series of comments from SANET, which is a really interesting place to touch on
the politics of organics and sustainable agriculture.

I think this on-going discussion is useful to help all of you understand the insanity that is
going on. Please remember that the latest reply is first on the list, and you go back in
time as you go down.
And please note, the evidence I have seen suggests that it is the water source, not the way
the spinach was grown, where the virulent strain got into the food supply.

Elaine
-------------
Sept 29, 2006
Hi Jane,

To quote the editor of the British Food Journal "A common misconception is that science and
research are about facts" Griffith, A. Editors's note British Food Journal 2006,108,8

Avery has, I believe, little or no professional qualification in genetics and microbiology. At that
same time he is the tip of a mountain that openly state that new technologies need to be nurtured
and to do that the researcher's prime directive "experiments must be reported fully and truthfully"
can be ignored. Professor Griffith states the philosophy very clearly that experiments should be
reported to fill the needs for nurturing of new technologies such as biotechnology. Unfortunately
that is a new viewpoint that has begun to pervade research in genetics and biotechnology.

Sincerely, joe cummins
------------
Sept 28, 2006
Jane Grimsbo Jewett wrote:

Greetings, all;
Mr. Avery has misinterpreted the results of the University of Minnesota study. (I'm sure you are all
very surprised ;0)) (SEE AVERY"S COMMENTS APPENDED TO JANE'S COMMENT BELOW)

A PDF (718 kb) version of a PowerPoint presentation on these research results, and a link to the
abstract of the journal article, are available on the MISA website:
http://www.misa.umn.edu/Faculty_Papers.html

The citation for the article:

Avik Mukherjee, Dorinda Speh, Elizabeth Dyck, and Francisco Diez-Gonzalez. Preharvest
Evaluation of Coliforms, Escherichia coli, Salmonella, and Escherichia coli 0157:H7 in Organic
and Conventional Produce Grown by Minnesota Farmers. Journal of Food Protection: Vol. 67,
No. 5, pp. 894-900.

Actually, the U of Minnesota results provided some evidence that National Organic Program rules
for manure and compost handling and application do succeed in reducing pathogen levels on
vegetables. The researchers recruited organic and conventional vegetable growers in Minnesota
for this study. They allowed growers to self-identify as not certified organic but using organic
practices. They actually analyzed three groups: conventional growers, growers who self-identified
as organic but were not certified, and certified organic growers. They found no significant
differences in pathogen levels between conventional and certified organic growers. Among the
growers claiming organic practices, they found that those who used manure or compost aged
less than 12 months had vegetables with pathogen levels 19 times higher, on average, than
those who used a longer aging process.

Other noteworthy details:

* One non-certified farm was an outlier with an extremely high percentage (92%) of all vegetables
testing positive for E.coli. This outlier was included in the "organic" totals.
* Overall average coliform count was the same in the organic (certified + non-certified) and
conventional produce.

* There were 117 produce samples from certified organic farms, 359 produce samples from non-
certified farms, and 129 produce samples from conventional farms. Total produce samples for the
study: 117+359+129 = 605. E. coli was found on 8% of the total samples, or 48 samples out of
605.

* E. coli prevalence was reported as percentage of positive samples for a variety of types of
vegetables (table 3 of the full article); but sample sizes were very small, which tended to make
percentages look large when there were isolated cases of contamination. For example, zucchini:
one sample out of a total of four samples from certified organic farms tested positive for E. coli;
which is 25% prevalence.

* E. coli prevalence on lettuce was zero for certified organic farms (zero out of 10 samples),
16.7% for conventional farms (one out of six samples), and 30.8% for non-certified farms (12 out
of 39 samples). Prevalence for "total organic" was then reported as 22.4% (12 out of 49
samples).

* Similarly, E.coli prevalence on leafy greens was zero for certified organic farms (zero out of 19
samples), 25% for conventional farms (one out of four samples), and 13.8% for non-certified
farms (9 out of 65 samples). Prevalence for "total organic" was reported as 10.7% (9 out of 84
samples).

No E. coli 0157:H7 and no Shiga-toxin were found on any produce samples.

It is unfortunate that the authors did not make a clearer distinction between certified organic and
non-certified growers in the abstract of the article. That distinction is made more clearly in the full
article, but still not completely. The distinction is not made in the PowerPoint.

This was a good and useful study, but it has nuances that simply are not captured in the abstract.
Careful reading of the full article is necessary in order to be able to make accurate comments on
it.

Okay-- so if you want to read the full article, it's accessible online, but the access is a little bit
complicated. I apologize in advance for trouble anyone may have. Here's how I was able to find it:

1. Go to the U of MN library: www.lib.umn.edu.
2. Under the bar that says "Welcome," click on E-journals.
3. In the Title search box, type "journal food protection." Click the Search button.
4. Click on the found title, "Journal of food protection." This should open a new browser window.
5. Enter the Year: 2004, Volume: 67, Issue: 5, and Start Page: 894. Click "Go." This opens
another new browser window. Click "yes" to enable a secure connection.
6. This pulls up an IngentaConnect page with the abstract. Scroll down the page to find "Article
Access Options."
7. It should say that you have access to the full text article. Where it says "View Now:" click on the
box that says PDF. This will download the article.

Regards,
Jane Grimsbo Jewett


Here's what the World's Greatest (Paid) Authority on all things organic has to say about all this:

WEBCommentary Contributor
Author: Dennis T. Avery
Bio: Dennis T. Avery
Date: September 27, 2006

Tainted Spinach Raises Questions of Manure on Food Crops

Ten years after one of the country's top food safety experts (WHO WOULD THAT BE? HE'S
REFERENCING HIMSELF< OF COURSE - ERI) warned of danger from putting manure on food
crops, Americans are still being devastated by manure-born pathogens. It doesn't have to be.

Contaminated raw spinach has just killed at least one person, brought devastating kidney failure
to 23, hospitalized more than 75, and sickened more than 150 people across America. The
deadly spinach has been traced back to Natural Selections Foods, the largest grower of organic
lettuce and spinach in the United States.

Organic rules bar the use of manufactured fertilizer on their crops, so organics use composted
manure and other animal wastes on their fields. Animal manure is the ultimate source of the
virulent E. coli O157:H7, which contaminated the spinach.

In 1995, the Journal of the American Medical Association quoted Dr. Robert Tauxe, head of
foodborne illnesses for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, telling a medical conference that
"Organic means a food is grown in animal manure. . . . We got rid of human waste in our food and
water, and I think we're going to have better control in the future of manure in our food and
water."

The Organic Trade Association responded that organic food was safe because farmers compost
their manure. Dr. Tauxe responded that "Unfortunately, knowledge of the critical times and
temperatures needed to make composted animal manures microbiologically safe is incomplete."

Today, USDA organic rules allow manure to be applied after just 3 days of composting (NOT
TRUE - ERI)--right up to harvest time! Raw manure can be applied until 90 to120 days prior to
harvest, under most state-level rules for all farms (NOTE THAT IS ALL FARMS). But a recent
University of Minnesota study found that produce grown with manure aged 6 to 12 months was
still 19 times more likely to be contaminated with E. coli than foods grown with manure aged more
than a year. (READ COMMENTARY BELOW ABOUT THE CONDITIONS OF THAT STUDY ­ IT
WAS CLEARLY A TOTALLY BOGUS STUDY - ERI

Virtually no farmers age their manure for a year as too much of the vital nitrogen gasses off into
the air during that time. Instead, most conventional farmers put their manure only on feed crops
such as corn or on pasture. That may be why the Minnesota researchers found organic produce
three times more likely to be contaminated with E. coli (7% of samples) than conventional (2%).
(THAT WAS WITHIN THE STATISTICAL VARIANCE IN THAT STUDY AND NOTE THE
CONDITIONS OF THAT STUDY IN THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY)

Organic activists love to claim that the deadly O157:H7 strain of E. coli is caused by factory
farming. Not so. The USDA says it has found O157:H7 in every cattle herd it's tested for it. A
Swiss study last year found no significant differences in O157:H7 prevalence between organic
and conventional dairy farms. Claims that grain feeding of cattle causes O157:H7 to flourish are
also unsupported; various studies have found the opposite. (OOPS, HE MESSED UP ON
SCIENTIFIC FACT THERE!)

Washing the food can't fully protect consumers either. Rutgers University has shown that lettuce
(and likely spinach) can take up O157:H7 via its roots and harbor the pathogens inside the
leaves! (ONLY IF YOU GROW THE VEGETABLE IN SUCH BIZARRE CONDITIONS AS TO BE
COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS). In short, there is no practical way to ensure full safety in the food
crops fertilized with manure, composted or not.
Is it time to get the manure out of human food crops? (IF DENNIS COULD ONLY FIGURE OUT
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MANURE AND COMPOST! ERI)

States could require that manure either be used on non-food crops or composted for at least a
year. Annual questionnaires could identify the relatively few farms that compost with regular
government inspections made.

This will raise howls of protest from the organic movement, which also protested the current weak
manure rules. However, it's now clear that using manure on food crops involves a serious public
risk--especiallly with leafy produce like lettuce and spinach. The organic movement should want
to ensure its customers health as urgently as do public health officials.

Eating no longer needs to be a deadly game of Russian roulette.

Dennis T. Avery Director, Global Food Issues

Biography - Dennis T. Avery

Dennis T. Avery is a senior fellow for Hudson Institute in Washington, DC and the Director for
Global Food Issues. He was formerly a senior analyst for the Department of State. Readers may
write him at Post Office Box 202, Churchville, VA 24421.

Read other commentaries by
Dennis T. Avery.
Visit Dennis T. Avery's website at http://www.cgfi.org


Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2006 22:53:57 -0400
From: jcummins 
http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2006/NEW01465.html

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