The Future Health of the Honeybee and Our Food System

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Sarah Parsons

Honeybees are what some may think of as whimsical, mythological creatures that turn flowers to fruit. According to the EPA and USDA, their Midas touch, helps to produce approximately one-third of the food and beverages we consume in the U.S. every year¹. In recent years, however, honeybees have seen a rapid decline. Farmers across the U.S., who for years have relied on honeybee hives to pollinate their crops, have reported large numbers of colony loss. For many years, the reason for honeybee decline was an enigma. In the mid-90’s when my dad kept bees, a mite, known as the Varroa mite, was the reason for most colony deaths. My dad, like many hobby beekeepers I imagine, gave up after losing hives for 3 consecutive years. Farmers, however, could not give up. Giving up meant a loss of both their crops and their livelihood, and as the years progressed the reasons for colony losses became more and more mysterious. In an effort to better identify the reasons behind honeybee colony losses in the U.S., researchers across the nation have been testing several different factors that may contribute to colony loss.

On May 2, 2013, a statement was released by the USDA and EPA announcing the findings of several years of research conducted by researchers across the U.S.

In summary the statement announced that, according to the 2012 National Stakeholder Conference on Honeybee Health, a network of federal researchers, managers, and researchers at Penn State University, the following factors are greatly impacting honeybee health in the U.S.:

The parasitic Varroa mite and a new virus species, causing Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), are largely contributing to honeybee colony deaths across the U.S. In addition, the Varroa mite is increasingly becoming resistant to chemicals, used to kill the mite.
Genetic diversity is lacking in many honeybee colonies in the U.S., resulting in decreased resistance against the Varroa mite and other diseases.
Poor nutrition among colonies, resulting from pesticide-treated crops and lack of diverse forage, is also decreasing disease resistance among colonies.
A lack of coordination between growers and beekeepers on best practices, with regard to pesticides and bees, is contributing to colony loss.
Pesticides present a challenge to bee health and more research needs to be done to explore pesticide exposure and effect on bee health.

As the findings suggest future policy needs to address pesticide use, methods of chemical pest control of the Varroa mite, increasing genetic diversity among colonies, and land use management. I think that two of the large factors here of greater concern are pesticide use and land use management. Both factors would require some very large systematic policy changes. To speak to the first of these, pesticide use: Limiting pesticide use on just one farm will not do the honeybee any favors. Honeybees know no property line boundaries, and they are known to fly up to 5 miles or more away from their hive in search of pollen². What happens then if the neighbor’s farm is applying pesticides? Or what if the landscapers in the subdivision next to the farm are applying pesticides? A systematic policy approach to pesticide use that impacts the timing of application and quantity used is therefore in order. Such an approach would have to function at levels of policy beyond the municipal and state levels. Land use management would also require systematic change. Providing bees diversity in their food sources is suggested to increase disease resistance. By decreasing forest fragmentation (i.e. increasing forest connectivity) around agricultural areas, as well as increasing the diversity of the crops planted on farms, diversity in food sources for bees can be achieved. Local governments can play a role in forest conservation in agricultural areas. Increasing the diversity of crops on farms, however, is a larger issue that would require a systematic change in the way that agriculture is currently done in the U.S. Increasing diversity in crop selection also means moving away from large acres of monoculture crops, a favored approach to agriculture in the U.S.. As farm size increases and the monoculture approach to agriculture increases, we need to be careful not to make ourselves more vulnerable to diseases and pests that not only affect our bees, but also our crops. By increasing biodiversity on farms both through crop selection and conservation of forestlands around farms, both our crops and our bees will be healthier. It seems to me as though honeybees are taking on the role as the ecological indicator species for our agroecosystems. The struggling of an ecological

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indicator species makes us aware that a balance has been disrupted in the ecosystem. We, therefore, cannot ignore the honeybees distress much longer. A change in the way we do agriculture and manage our agroecosystems is vital for the future success of our food system.

1. USDA and EPA Release New Report on Honey Bee Health. May 2, 2013. http://content.govdelivery.com/bulletins/gd/USDAOC-795a36

2. Ribbands, C.R. “Flight Range of the Honey Bee.” Journal of Animal Ecology. Vol.2 , No. 2, 1951. http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1541?uid=3739776&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21101991005473

Alternative Spring Break

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Sarah Parsons

A little over a month ago we hosted a wonderful group of Duke students for a “farm to fork” alternative spring break. The students, a group of about 14 wild, intelligent souls, joined us on a journey through the U.S. food chain. We took the students to farms, had guest lecturers talk to the group about the issues facing our current day food system, and discussed how we as students and consumers can make a difference in making our food system more just for all. We literally took the journey from farm to fork and beyond. In an effort to capture some of the wonderful moments we shared with these students along the farm to fork journey, we assembled a short photo essay.

Day 1: The Farm

On the first morning we shopped at the Durham Farmers’ Market, where we bought all our veggies for our meals. In keeping with the theme of supporting a sustainable, local food economy, all our veggies were bought from local farms.

Later, we ate lunch at the Duke Campus Farm and worked into the late afternoon hours planting, hauling mushroom logs, and clearing pathways.

wrk at the farm

On the night of Day 1 we had three guest lecturers come and speak, James Robinson with the Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI), a farmer advocate group, Brock Philips, a farmer with Coon Rock Farm, and Lee Miller, a former Duke Campus Farm intern and current agricultural policy researcher. The speakers addressed the many issues that smaller scale, local farms in the area face.

And of course… we ate a lot of good food for dinner. Every meal of the day was a feast, cooked by the students with local veggies.

Day 2: More Farms, Carrot Jam, and Goats

On the second day we started off the day making carrot jam from some of the carrots we bought at market. Knowing how to cook, preserve food, and make jam are all ways we can learn to better value the food we eat, as well as our food system.

And then… we went to a goat farm, learned about how farmers process value-added products, such as goat cheese, and get them to market. And of course, there were a few baby goats named in the process.

Day 3: The Beginning, the Middle, and the End of the Food Chain and Beyond

On the last day we volunteered with Durham’s Meals on Wheels program. This particular morning we focused our conversations around food access and food justice.

Later in the day we took at tour of Eastern Carolina Organics’ (ECO) facility. ECO is an aggregator and distributor of organic local foods. Aggregators and distributors are very important in an alternative food economy. They help farmers sell their products beyond the farmers’ market and into grocery stores, restaurants, etc.

At the end of the day we had a delicious feast and heard from Dr. Mary Eubanks from Duke’s Biology Department. Dr. Eubanks is a corn breeder, and has done amazing research on non-GMO corn hybrids.

At the end of the last day we all said adieu. It was hard saying goodbye to such a wonderful group of students, but they all promised us they would come visit us at the farm.

Since March we have seen a few of the students visit the farm and we have seen several others getting involved in Duke’s food scene on campus. We are genuinely hopeful that these bright young minds will go out in the world and do great things to change our food system into a system that is more just for all, both at Duke and beyond. Thank you to all the wonderful students of Duke Food Project’s ASB 2013. May your future journeys, wherever they take you, be filled with fun adventures and delicious food!

Seeds of Hope

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Sarah Parsons

Spring planting is a unique experience, one in which a grower can start fresh, rebrand, be new and idealistic. Three players are involved in spring planting, the seed, the grower, and nature. The seed and the grower spring planting experience are not much unlike one another. For the seed the experience of planting is like being the new kid at school. Seed and earth meet, and earth sizes up seed. The seed has everything to prove, and the earth has nothing to lose. To the earth, it’s just another seed after all. The grower, like the seed, also has everything to prove in this new season, as well as everything to lose. The grower tells herself, “This year will be different. This year my plants will thrive. This year will be better. This year I will be a new and improved grower.” Grower and seed together are fed by hope.

I have found hope to be the mantra of the grower. Without hope the soul, just like the plants in the field, can be worn down by the elements. We try so hard as humans to overcome nature, to control her, to be one step ahead… only to discover that we never really can. Through humble acceptance and hope, we can become better growers and people.

At the Duke Campus Farm, the elements took down our hoop house last month. A freakish windstorm took her down in one fell swoop. All our hoop house crops were ruined and our spirits profoundly dampened. I suppose this is what they call farming. However, although harsh and relentless, nature is also grace-full. She gives us a spring every year, and in the Southeast, she gives us four growing seasons. Nature gives us a second, a third, and a fourth chance.

And so today at Duke Campus Farm we are starting anew with our spring planting. Today we are planting beets and peas, lettuce and mustard greens. We are telling ourselves that this season will be different. This time we will be better growers and better people. We are rebranding and recreating. We are a new and improved version of ourselves, a version that has been made wiser by the elements. Today with our beets we sow seeds of hope.

Debunking Myths about the Farmer

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Sarah Parsons

On the farm there is a lot of quality time spent with your co-workers, especially at a farm with an intimate setting, such as the one at Duke’s Campus Farm. There is a lot of story exchanging and reminiscing. It is not rare to come out on the other end of a tomato patch (or lettuce patch- depending on the season), baskets full of tomatoes, and feeling as if you have just divulged to your co-worker many of your most profound life ponderings. It is one of the many beautiful realities of working on a farm. On one such day in August, Emily (farm manager) told me a humorous story about an event she had just attended the week before. At this event she was tabling for the farm, and about an hour into the event a pair of older women approached her to ask some questions. The first question: Where is the farmer for the Duke Campus Farm? Emily proceeded to tell the women that she was the farmer. The women politely laughed and then asked again: But really where and who is the farmer for Duke Campus Farm? Confused, Emily said to the women, “No, but really I am the farmer.” The women, apparently displeased with Emily’s responses, said some pleasantries and left. When Emily told me this story, she said, “What did these women expect? A middle-aged man?”

This story made me realize that yes, indeed most people think of farmers as middle-aged, uneducated white men with beer bellies that appear large enough to give birth to a case of PBR. (I do not write this narrative to discriminate against middle-aged white farmers. For one there are a lot of wonderful middle-aged white farmers in the world to which we owe a great amount of gratitude for growing our food. And secondly, a good beer belly is nothing to be ashamed of). My point here is that most people don’t think of Emily Sloss, liberal arts graduate and white woman from the Miami area, when they think of “farmer.”

I write to challenge the way we think of farmers and debunk the stereotypes. If we continue to give credence to farmer stereotypes, particularly negative ones, we will not be able to move forward with our food ethic as a nation. So let us start with debunking Myth #1.

Myth 1: Farmers are Middle-Aged

According to data from the national agricultural census to date 40% of America’s farmers are 55 years of age or older. I dug into this information further to find this table published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2002. As you can see in Table 1 the average age of farmers has increased from 51.7 years of age in 1974 to 55.3 years of age in 2002. Additionally, the percentage of farmers (older than 65) has continued to increase, and the percentage of younger farmers (under the age of 35) has decreased. Therefore, rather than having a majority of middle-aged farmers in the United States, in actuality we have a majority of aging farmers.

Although the average age of farmers is increasing overall, there is a small growing contingent of young beginning farmers entering the mix. In 1992, out of worry about the growing number of older farmers, Congress and the USDA created loan programs and Federal/State financing partnerships for beginning farmers and ranchers in the Agricultural Credit Improvement Act. The reason for supporting beginning farmers and ranchers was to support younger people entering into U.S. agriculture. Studies presented to Congress and the USDA showed that beginning farmers and ranchers tended to be younger than established farmers. By supporting beginning farmers, the U.S. would also be supporting younger farmers. After the 1992 Act Congress supported the Farm Security and Rural Infrastructure Act of 2002, which provided payments to beginning farmers participating in conservation. Later in 2008, Congress supported the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act, which increased support for beginning farmers and ranchers. The combination of all of these loan programs and grants has aided in bringing in younger, beginning farmers into the U.S. agricultural system over the past decade.

In conclusion, although our farmers are aging, there is hope that the influx of new younger farmers may ensure the security of food production in generations to come.

Myth #2: Farmers are White

In the United States, there has been historically a large contingent of African American farmers. I grew up in a renovated sharecropper house in Stockbridge, Georgia, where 2 miles down the road Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s grandparents, former farmers, are buried. According to a recently aired PBS story, 1 in every 7 farmers in 1920 was black. Unfortunately, that number has decreased in the last several decades, as a result of the unfolding of a series of controversial events. Therefore, to date there are not as many African American farmers, as their once used to be.

However, currently an increasing number of Latinos are getting involved in farming. In order to explain this statement in more detail, it is important to make the distinction between farm operator and farmworker. Farm operators are what most people think of as the “farmer.” Farm operators own the land and usually the farm business. Farmworkers, on the other hand, are the field workers, who are oftentimes working more closely with the land on a day-to-day basis. Are farmworkers any less farmer than their farm operators? I suppose that is a question worth asking yourself. However, they both are “growers.” Without one or the other our food system is non-existent. Now thinking in terms of farmworker, the demographics of farming changes. According to 1995 data from the U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration 69% of farmworkers in the U.S. were foreign-born. The majority of foreign-born farmworkers came from Mexico. Additionally, farmworkers unlike their respective farm operators were younger in 1995, with approximately two-thirds of the farmworker population under the age of 35. This 1995 data is dated, but it does give a sense of the more current demographic trends in U.S. agriculture. Many Latinos are also entering into farming as primary farm operators. Although I was unable to locate specific statistics addressing this trend, it is important to note that a contingent of Latino farm operators exists in the U.S. as well.

In conclusion, the traditional image of the white middle-aged farmer is not only false, but it is also actively changing as more and more different kinds of poeple are trying to make careers out of growing food.

Myth 3: Farmers are Uneducated

This latter of the myths was the one that encouraged me to write this blog. Having helped Emily on the farm now for 6 months, I have realized that farming takes a lot of smarts. To farm you have to know soil science, microbiology, ecology, chemistry, business, social science, the list goes on and on. Farming also requires knowing hard skills, such as carpentry, forestry, and engineering. The farmer is likely the most underrated person in our society. He or she has to know a little bit of everything! I suppose most farmers cannot quote to you from the literary classics, nor could they calculate the trajectory of a rocket, but they can tell you how to build a greenhouse, how to harness the sun’s light to your advantage, and how to know when your crops need more calcium in the soil. In order to see farming differently, in a new and brighter light, we have to question what types of knowledge we value. If I were to guess, I would say that our society favors the kind of knowledge produced by liberal arts institutions, rather than the kind passed down from generation-to-generation on the farm. There is no harm in valuing liberal arts education. I, for one, am a big proponent. However, we do not have to discard other types of knowledge as less valid. Should we continue to devalue farming knowledge we will be lacking sorely in farmers to grow food for our children and our grandchildren. Already we suffer from a lack of farmers willing to step up and take over the family farm. Until we value farming knowledge again, young people will continue to go to the city after college rather than back to the farm. It is up to us to see them for the intelligent, valued members of society that they are.

With that let us all give thanks to our farmers, white, black, Latino, male, female, old, and young.

How to make a low tunnel in pictures

Posted on November 10, 2012 by Sarah Parsons

Low tunnels are important in the late fall, winter, and early spring to protect plants from the harsh winter elements. According to UMass Amherst, low tunnels can be used to overwinter some of the hardier late fall crops, such as “those crops of the Brassica [e.g. broccoli, cabbage, etc], allium [e.g. onions, garlic], Chenopodia [e.g. spinach], and umbel [e.g. carrots, dill, fennel, etc] families.” In our climate here in North Carolina, USDA plant hardiness zone 7b, root crop vegetables, such as garlic and onions tend to survive well without the need for low tunnels. A heavy mulch on onions and garlic help them survive throughout the winter. Low tunnels in North Carolina, however, are especially important for some other root crops and leafy greens. Low tunnels are a particularly useful tool for farmers, because they help the farmer grow throughout the year. Hoop houses, which are larger in scale, serve this same purpose. (For more details on hoop houses check out this earlier post by Lee Miller on how to build a hoop house at a low cost). By extending the season with low tunnels or hoop houses, a farmer can generate more profit and have a steady supply of produce throughout the year. For us here at Duke Campus Farm, low tunnels and hoop houses are especially important, because we want to provide the dining halls on campus with produce throughout the school year while students are on campus.

The great news… low tunnels are very easy to make AND cheap! At the Duke Campus Farm we recently constructed low tunnels for our asian greens and our parsnips. The winter is coming soon, so we have to be prepared. Check out these easy steps on how to make a low tunnel, and – if you haven’t already- put up your low tunnels soon!

Materials

1/2” PVC cut into 5 feet pieces. We bought “Charlotte Pipe 1/2-in x 10ft 600PSI Schedule 40 PVC Pressure Pipe” from Lowes. You want to space each “hoop” of the low tunnel about 6 feet apart. Therefore, for our 100ft rows we needed about 17 pieces. Because we bought 10ft pipe, we only needed 9 pipes for a 100ft row. At Lowes this cost us a total of $16.11.

1/2-in x 2ft steel rebar pins. You will need 2 rebar pieces per “hoop.” For example, for our 17 “hoops” for our 100ft row, we needed 34 pieces. At Lowes each pin is $2.04. Therefore, for a 100 ft row and 17 pins it costs us a total of $69.36.

Spunbonded row cover. This is the material you will lay over the hoops to protect the plants from the winter elements. For our rows we needed 100 feet of row cover. You generally want the row cover to be a little longer and a little wider than the row is long and wide. This will allow you to drape the row cover over the hoops. Our row covers were about 105ft long and about 7.5ft wide. This may be a special order you have to make online, unless you have a specialty sustainable farm supply store in your area. At our local specialty sustainable farm supply store it cost us $65 for a 250ft roll. The row cover we ordered was called AgroFabric 34 (90″ width).

TOTAL COST FOR A 100ft LOW TUNNEL = $150.47

Directions

Place each rebar piece in the ground at about a 35-45 degree angle inward. For each hoop there are 2 rebar pieces that will face each other.

Space the rebar pieces 6 feet apart along the row.

Bend pvc pipe over slanted rebar pieces.

Cover with row cover and weigh down the row cover with weights on either side of low tunnel. Rocks work very well.

Now your plants are protected from the cold winter elements, and you can keep growing into the the winter months!

Charlotte’s Web Wanes

Posted on September 30, 2012 by Sarah Parsons

I remember the first time I had to prep the earth for a new season. I was 23, and I had big plans for my family’s spring garden. I had just bought seeds to plant all the summer favorites, squash, beans, cucumber, and tomatoes. We were ready to go big. My dad and I made plans to till under the soil in March. Tilling would involve turning under all the early spring crops we had planted, arugula, spinach, radishes, and the like. To some, tilling may not be a big deal. But when you put your heart and soul into planting the crops that are about to be tilled under, then tilling takes on a whole new meaning, particularly when you are tilling under your first garden. I prepped myself for the solemnity that would accompany the tilling. The next morning I woke up, drank my coffee, and walked outside, ready to till. When I got to the garden plot, however, dad was already outside with the rent-a-rototiller tilling under the whole garden.

“Dad!” I yelled over the rototiller. “Stop!”

“What?” Dad said. “What I do? Did I do something wrong?“

“I didn’t get to say goodbye” I exclaimed pitifully.

Dad, a man who had been through a war and a recession or two, and who was apparently confused and somewhat mildly amused by my distress over these dying plants, stopped the rototiller and let me have my moment with the plants.

I do not want you to think that the scene that then unfolded was something out of Greek tragedy, tears, a ripping of the shirt, and a pounding of the chest. No, it was maybe closer to the movie, When Harry Met Sally, when Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal have finally agreed to be friends after a few initial, annoying encounters and are saying “Goodbye, until next time” for maybe the fifth or sixth time in the movie. I experienced the type of goodbye with those plants, that a friend says to another friend when they know they probably will not see her again until next Christmas. There is sadness and grief, but there is also hope and an appreciation for having experienced that friend in your life for just that moment. So my time with the plants after that first till, was like that, saying goodbye to a friend until next time.

Now having grown gardens almost every season since 23, I have experienced this feeling many many times. It’s a familiar feeling. And now at Duke Campus Farm, it is time to experience that feeling again.

I knew it would be time to experience that feeling again, when the web of “La Reina de los Tomates” (The Queen of the Tomatoes) began to fall in disrepair. As you can see in this picture here, La Reina, was an Orb Weaver Spider. Some call her the Common Garden Spider. And we loved her! La Reina caught large numbers of stinkbugs, and a number of other harmful farm pests, in her web. She was a super star! But then the air started to turn cool, the tomato blight, which overcomes most all tomato plants at the season’s end, started to take over, and La Reina’s web started to fall. And then one day, La Reina was nowhere to be found. Her time had come, and the tomato crop’s time was to come soon thereafter.

The natural movie/book parallel to draw here is Charlotte’s Web. As little kids, we all loved Charlotte’s web. Sometimes I think cases of arachnophobia would be significantly higher in this country if it were not for our beloved Charlotte’s Web. We all rooted for Charlotte and Wilber, the great spider and pig team. As children, they helped us learn about friendship and selflessness. However, for many of us in my generation, we missed a couple of lessons in that movie, which I did not discover until recently. Unlike generations before us, my generation and the generations after me, were brought up in a world that was predominately urban. For the first time in history, more of the world’s population resided in urban areas rather than in rural areas. And with that transition came a transition in the way we perceived the world. Charlotte’s Web became a story more about human relations than nature-human relations. Where my generation saw a story about friendship and selflessness, the generations before us learned about the truths that are nature and the farm. The generations before us may have learned about friendship from Charlotte’s Web, but they also learned that spiders were beneficial creatures on the farm and in the garden. They learned that seasons change and with them come the death of one life for the rebirth of another. The generations before us more profoundly understood the reality that Wilbur faced, the reality that if Wilbur didn’t fatten up and look pretty for the fair he would have been dinner for the family the next day.

Now having farmed, and grown, I am seeing the story of Charlotte’s Web in a whole new light, and I am seeing it play out before me now as we watch La Reina’s web wane. I am reliving a world that generations before me lived. A world, wherein I have to say goodbye to this season and welcome the next… a world wherein I have to take down the tomatoes to make room for lettuce… a world wherein I have to be ready for the change that is to come, and I have to do so with grace and compassion for the new lives that change will bring.

So with that I say goodbye Charlotte’s web, goodbye La Reina, goodbye tomatoes… until next time. Blessings in your going and blessings for your return.

Speed Weeding and a Reflection on Weeds

Posted on September 19, 2012 by Sarah Parsons

As we get ready for our “speed weeding” mixer this Friday, the staff and volunteers at Duke Campus Farm have become rather reflective on the topic of weeds. Who would have thought weeds could be such a topic of conversation and debate? But oh they are! In order to shine a light on this topic of weeds, it may first be beneficial to define the term “weed.” What is a weed?

In his book Second Nature, Michael Pollan went on an in-depth search to try to find the true meaning behind weeds and explore why a weed is a weed[i]. As he discovered, a weed has many definitions, depending on your audience. Emerson, the purist and naturalist at heart, defined a weed as a human construct and a “defect of our perceptionⁱ.” This definition of a weed makes sense in a “think therefore I am”-kind-of-way. We say it is a weed, so it’s a weed. We, as humans, determine what is a weed and what is not. Pollan on his quest then went on to compare Emerson’s weed definition to botanical definitions. The two definitions he highlighted were: “A weed is any plant in the wrong place,” and “a weed is an especially aggressive plant that competes successfully against cultivated plants” – both subjective human constructs if you ask meⁱ.

What I have found in my limited botanical training is very similar to what Pollan discovered… Weeds, and the definition of them are subjective. My botany professor in college loved to point out what I thought to be “weeds” on the side of the road and exclaim, “oh how beautiful!” One man’s weed is a botanist’s beloved native wildflower. In more technical terms, weeds are generally the opportunistic plants that grow in disturbed soils. We see weeds, not only on farms and in gardens, but on roadsides and meadows, all places that have usually been disturbed by human hands. What Pollan discovers in Second Nature is similar to what I have discovered in my years as a botany student, a gardener, and a farmer… the evolution of weeds and their seeming omnipresence in the world are the result of humans. Humans have not only aided in the evolution of corn, but they have simultaneously aided in the evolution of the weed. Because wherever there is a corn plant in disturbed soil, there is also a weed. On gardens and farms everywhere we have created the ideal conditions for the weed, and it will never go away… unless…

Unless we genetically modify our corn (insert desired commodity crop vegetable here), so that it is resistant to herbicides we spray on our fields. That way… when we spray herbicides on the fields we only kill the weeds and not the corn! This logic has been shared by chemical companies since the 1990’s and it continues today. The problem with this logic, however, is that the evolution of weeds and plants happens rather quickly. Therefore, eventually resistant individuals of weed plants will thrive and reproduce to create resistant varieties of weeds, which this BBC story calls “superweeds![ii]”

Farmers across the U.S. are beginning to see resistant varieties of weeds growing in their fields and taking over. This phenomenon has decreased production and profit for many farmersⁱⁱ. However, instead of trying to find new methods to fight weeds, many agricultural companies are investing in research that focuses on the genetic modification of other corn varieties that are resistant to more potent herbicidesⁱⁱ. The reality, however, is that in a few years, weeds will develop yet more resistant varieties. As one Weed Scientist from the University of Nebraska said in this BBC report, “There is going to be a problem down the road if we become a one-chemistry agriculture. Nature always finds a way to win.” “We need to diversify our tools for weed controlⁱⁱ.” We cannot rely on one method of weed control. We need a comprehensive, integrative approach… For as long as there is farmland and soils disturbed by human hands, there will be weeds.

So now you can see how weeds can be a topic of both debate and reflection. And now you can also see why it is so important that we not only manage weeds at Duke Campus Farm, but that we manage them in a comprehensive way, i.e. speed weeding cover cropping, mulching, and the like. So come on out to Duke Campus Farm on Friday from 5-7pm, and help us in our battle against pigweed and ragweed. Be a part of the story that is the weed-human evolution story, and find “your match in the weed patch” while you’re at it!

[i] Pollan, Michael. Second Nature: A Gardener’s Education. Grove Press, New York:

1991.

[ii] McGrath, Matt and Franz Strasser. “Superweeds pose GM-resistant challenge for

farmers.” BBC News. Accessed September 19, 2012.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19594335.

These are a grower’s hands

Posted on September 5, 2012 by Sarah Parsons

I started growing as a career a month ago. I guess some call it farming. Personally, however, I prefer the word “growing.” Growing is something we can all aspire to. The first week I started to grow, my usual daily shower washed the dirt off my hands. You would have thought I still worked in an office. Earth was nowhere to be found on these hands. But by the second week the dirt began to make its way into the crevice between nail and finger. The shower was no competition for such dirt. I tried cleaning out the dirt with a nail file. But it was not long before I discovered the effort was not worth the outcome- especially when the growing made me so tired by each day’s end.

By the third week the dirt had entrenched itself in the cracked crevices of my fingers. I had never seen these crevices before, I thought. It was as if I was learning about myself all over again. Seeing a part of myself I never knew existed. The beauty of those intricate details that make up the human hand. The beauty of the body. It was as if the dirt was slowly making its way through my skin, into my soul. The dirt wanted to be a part of me – and it seemed to do so- so gracefully. Were we once closer friends, I thought? The dirt seemed to know me so well.

By the fourth week I gave up trying to scrub my hands clean. This was me, I thought, earth’s tattoos on my body. The earth had officially entered my bloodstream, was a part of me. By the last week I embraced these dirty hands as my own. I am proud of these hands. These hands grow food, they feel the earth, they grow with the earth, they bleed with the earth. These my friends… These are grower’s hands.

The Research Gap

Posted on August 16, 2012 by Sarah Parsons

Hello Readers,

Thank you for that introduction Emily. I am excited about all the many adventures to come at DCF! As Emily mentioned, I recently graduated from the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke, where I received my Master in Environmental Management. I am a lover of living creatures of all sizes and vibrant habitats of all kinds. I have been a lover of these things all my life, but in recent years my love and my life have been focused more specifically on sustainable farming and food systems. I am excited to devote my career to making food systems more just and healthy for all, and I am thrilled to begin that career here at DCF.

The Research Gap

I wanted to focus my blog post today on a particular phenomenon that is shaping college campuses across the country: the campus farm. Campus farms and gardens, such as the ones we have here at Duke, are popping up on college campuses across the nation everywhere. After doing a brief Internet search, I found this resource, a website created by the Rodale Institute, which is a guide to colleges with campus farms[i]. From this guide I found that approximately 50 colleges have campus farms. The number of campus farms to-date, however, is likely larger, seeing as that this guide excluded Duke University, among a few other campuses, which I know to have started farms in the past couple of years. So what does this mean? Why are colleges getting so excited about growing their own food? I suppose you would have to ask each individual college for the answer to this question. If I were to infer, however, I would say that such a phenomenon signals the start of a movement. College campuses have been the birthplaces and incubators of progressive movements throughout history. Think civil rights and women’s rights for instance. So when more and more college campuses across the nation start to grow their own food, it may be in one’s best interest to pay attention. If you a businessman or woman, this phenomenon screams business opportunity! Harness the energy of young people coming out of college and put them to work. Start local food restaurants, start organic and local food distributors, start farmers’ markets, start organic and local grocery stores. The list goes on and on. If you are politician, this phenomenon screams policy change! Get ahead of the curve and introduce bills that support local food systems that function via direct markets, i.e. farmers’ markets. Reallocate subsidies that support crops that aren’t commodity crops. But if you are the scholar, a man or woman of academia, what does this phenomenon scream to you? I have my thoughts.

If you are a scholar or affiliated with academia in any way, I urge you to pay attention to this movement as well. Thousands of students across the nation are eager to do research in non-conventional food systems. For the purposes of this blog post, I am broadly defining non-conventional food systems as those systems, which do not function via the conventional model, e.g., community-based food systems, organic food systems, etc. Currently, every state in the United States has at least one land-grant university, as set forth in the Morrill Acts of 1862. As defined by the Morrill Acts, land-grant universities were started “to teach agriculture, military tactics, and the mechanic arts, so that members of the working classes could obtain a liberal, practical education[ii].” Most land grant institutions today focus on the agricultural sciences, and a majority of the agricultural research coming from these universities is focused on improving conventional agricultural systems. Currently, there is a lack of research being done in the area of non-conventional agricultural systems. Based on information I gathered from this report published by the Organic Farming Research Foundation, of the 70 land grant institutions they surveyed only 6 of them were rated as having comprehensive organic agriculture programs, which demonstrated “an institutional commitment to conducting research meaningful to organic producers”[iii]. The Organic Farming Research Foundation used an 8 point scale to rate institutions and gauge institutional commitment to organic agriculture. Points were given based on whether or not an institution had the following: certified organic research acres, a student organic farm, organic academic programs, and organic Extension services. Nine land grant institutions had 7 out 8 points, and 16 had 6 out of 8 points. The remainder of the institutions had less than 6 points. Although organic agriculture does not encompass all types of non-conventional agricultural systems, it is a good indicator of system-think change, particularly in the world of academia and land-grant institutions. Conclusively, therefore, it seems as though the majority of land grant institutions have not demonstrated a substantial commitment to research in the non-conventional agricultural sector. If I were a professor at a land grant institution, or any other college institution for that matter, and looking for ideas for the next publication, I would see this research gap as an opportunity. Not only is this an opportunity, professors, but this is an opportunity fueled by the energy of a thousand burgeoning student researchers, interested in this very topic.

The research gap in the non-conventional agricultural sciences is an opportunity for both universities across the nation and the nation as a whole. We keep asking ourselves how we can create more jobs in the United States… Well this may be an answer to a piece of our puzzle: grow and improve our non-conventional food systems. With corn prices going up (a direct result of a faulty conventional agricultural system), we have nothing to lose, right? So students grab your professor, tell them you are interested in developing new methods, new technologies, new policies that improve non-conventional food systems, and professors listen. There is a world of agricultural sciences and food system studies awaiting discovery. And students, if your professor still doesn’t listen, just go start a campus farm.

Sidenote: Please approach us here at Duke Campus Farm should you have any research ideas. We would be happy to be a resource for you.

[i] Rodale Institute. “Directory of Student Farms.”

Accessed August 2012. http://newfarm.rodaleinstitute.org/features/0104/studentfarms/directory.shtml.

[ii] Washington State University Extension. “What is a Land-Grant College?” Accessed

August 2012. http://ext.wsu.edu/documents/landgrant.pdf.

[iii] Organic Farming Research Foundation. ”2012 Organic Land Grant Assessment.”

Accessed August 2012. http://ofrf.org/sites/ofrf.org/files/docs/pdf/2012-LandGrantAssessment-forscreen.pdf.

Outhouse Bliss

Posted on August 14, 2012 by Sarah Parsons

Could it be? Is it true? Yes, my friends it is true. The Duke Campus Farm is finally getting an outhouse! Be it known that on this eighth month of the year 2012 the Duke Campus Farm outhouse is officially under construction and soon to be a reality. No more peeing in the woods my friends. Although, I know some of you liked it. For some the wood pee was a liberating experience, a feeling of one with nature if you will. For others, however, it was not as liberating… maybe even a little terrifying. Well now you don’t have to worry. We got you covered, whatever your preference. So come out to the farm and witness this DCF milestone. It’s quite exciting.