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Nanotechnology

Anne at Agrarian Grrl’s Muse made some posts recently about nanotechnology.

It made me realize this blog is approaching it’s third year, and I’ve never done a post on this very important subject.

Nanoparticles are increasingly making their way into consumer products, like cosmetics and sunscreen.  Their use in this way is because they are quickly absorbed into the skin and so lotions become invisible soon after being applied.  As far as I’m aware they fall into a regulatory category of ‘Generally Presumed Safe’, which basically means their are no rules concerning their use, no safety testing and no requirement to label products containing them.  Like Anne pointed out, they are beginning to research their use as food additives.

Just like GM technology that’s now a worldwide reality, even though there has been no meaningful safety testing and consumers overwhelming reject it, it’s quickly looking like nanotechnology will become a reality in the same way.

I don’t really have the time to research this and do any in-depth posts on the topic right now.  If anyone is looking for somthing to write about while the winter garden is dormant, you might have a go yourself.  I’d like to hear more about the state of this technology in the world right now, and the best ways to avoid it.  I’ll try to spend some time on covering this topic later.

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Links

I’m in the process of updating my Blogroll and other links, and at the same time expanding them.

This is really fiddly and time consuming work, so I plan to work on it a little at a time over the coming days or weeks.

The intention is to move most of my links onto a separate page, to unclutter the front of the blog and make it more Google friendly.  You can see the links page I’m working on as a link off the front page of the blog.

In particular two categories of links I want to expand are Small Farming related sites, as well as Friends of Bifurcated Carrots.  The later category is one for people and websites that aren’t strictly about heirloom gardening, but related to this blog anyway.  Please send me your suggestions!  I can’t promise I’ll add every link you suggest, but I appreciate your help in identifying blogs and other sites related to this one.  The Internet is a big place…

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Biochar — Just More Hot Air?

Biochar seems to be the latest new craze in everything agriculture and biofuel related.  It seems a term we are all going to be hearing a lot more of soon.

The basic idea is green waste is converted, by means of a process called slow pyrolysis, into a high carbon byproduct that is beneficial to soil fertility.  By adding it to crop land not only is the need for fertilizer inputs reduced, but the carbon is trapped in the soil for potentially thousands of years.  The process of slow pyrolysis also produces energy that can be converted into electricity in a similar way as burning biomass.

National Geographic recently ran a program on Terra Preta soil discovered in the Amazon rainforest, apparently as a result of an ancient civilization that built up their soil with biochar.  Alan of Bishop’s Homegrown recently made a post on this, and expressed an interest in making his own biochar.

On the other end of things Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), the largest food processing company in the US, is preparing for a big push with this technology.  They see biochar working together with GM crops, used for food and biofuels, in a supposedly sustainable and environmentally friendly way.

Personally, I find it very exciting that someone like Alan is working on it on his own farm.  It would be great if it turned into a way to make local and small scale agriculture less dependent on chemical and other inputs, and increased productivity.  Likewise, I find it very suspicious that anything good can come from ADMs interest in the technology, and doubt very much they will implement it in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way in the end.

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Agrarian Grrl’s Muse

I came across this great new blog today.  I noticed it because Anne linked to this blog.

From the perspective of a small farm in Nova Scotia[updated], Canada Anne writes about things important to her and what she does including poems about the Svalbard seed vault, posts seed saving in general, dangers of nanotechnology and GMOs.  She has really nice pictures and videos to go along with her posts.

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Seeds to the US

The rules concerning sending seeds and other planting materials to the US are intentionally vague, and enforcement seems much more dependent on the political winds of the moment than anything else.  For some time now a ‘Small Lots of Seed’ permit was required, and perhaps technically still is.

At the same time it’s worth noting I’ve had several packages of seeds make it through recently without any special permits.  Kate from Hills and Plains Seed Savers blog also travelled to the US with a collection of seeds in her luggage, declared them, and was allowed to bring them in.

Someone interested in my Andean tubers recently called US customs to ask about the procedure for importing them, and was told there was no special procedure they could just be sent.  He was told the package should be clearly marked ‘Plant Materials Enclosed’.  I don’t know for sure this is true, as I haven’t actually tried to send them yet.

It does seem like we are in a period of lax enforcement.  If anyone has had problems getting plant materials into the US, this might be a good time to try again.  Hopefully this will last a while — but don’t count on it!

If anyone starts having problems again, please let us know.