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Groundbreaking Memphis initiative brings sustainable design full circle with certification TREEDC introduces local communities to renewable energy options Fayette County eyes rail-trail connection
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BUSINESS
ENERGY
SCHOOLS
Synergy uses organic materials for solutions for food-borne pathogens. PAGE 30
Farmers ready to come to the table for local school nutrition programs. PAGE 37
On the cover: Radar image of the Mississippi Delta. Water quality trading programs might offer a market-based solution to combat poisoning of the Gulf of Mexico with farm and feed nutrients that leech into the river.
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Editor: Kim Coleman, 529-5243, goinggreen@commercialappeal.com Community Editor: Emily Adams Keplinger, keplinger@commercialappeal.com
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Micro Greens...
Green Snap...
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Bromeliads are among the plants for sale at the Memphis Botanic Gardens winter plant sale.
Events
Green Your Home Winter Plant Sale
Feb. 12 at Memphis Botanic Garden, 750 Cherry Road, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Botanic garden staff and master gardeners will be present to assist you in picking the best house plants for your home. Bring your own pot or buy a custom one. Free to the public. Call (901) 636-4100
Sustainability lecture
March 1 at Rhodes College, 2000 North Parkway, 7:30 p.m in Hardie Auditorium Rhodes College will host a lecture on The Future of Plants: Diversity, Conservation, and Sustainability by noted botanist Sir Peter Crane. This event is free and open to the public. Crane is an evolutionary biologist, with a focus on the diversity of plant life. He is the former director of the Field Museum of Natural History, The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and currently heads the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.
Going social
For daily updates related to green issues, follow Going Green on Twitter at twitter.com/gogreen memphis and check us out on Facebook by searching Going Green Memphis.
Church. Southeast: Located at the Hickory Hill Community Center at 3910 Ridgeway. ReCommunity: 3197 Farrisview Blvd., off American Way just west of Lamar intersection. The ReCommunity center will accept carboard. According to Robert Beck, who is in charge of business development for ReCommunity, recycling materials (aluminum cans, paper, plastic bottles and cardboard) can be placed in the designated carts located just outside the facilitys gate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
If you havent done so already, please like the Going Green Memphis Facebook page. There you can see more of the active dialogue taking place about the questions we print. And soon we will be archiving those comments onto our website so that they can be accessed when the original comments roll off the Facebook page.
Readers can e-mail questions relating to environmental issues to: Emily Adams Keplinger at keplinger@commercialappeal.com or Kim Coleman at colemank@commercialappeal.com.
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Officials broke ground on West Tennessees first solar-powered electric-car charging station at Shelby Farms Visitors Center.
attractive, Adams said.
Tom Charlier, charlier@commercialappeal.com
Achievements...
The team at Christian Brothers University will investigate, develop and implement technologies that improve energy efficiency in low-income communities of Memphis.
Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business Behavior for the second year running. Mitch Jackson, FedEx vice president, environmental affairs and sustainability, "develops the sustainability strategy and vision to ensure that FedEx minimizes its environmental footprint while still delivering outstanding customer service, " said Trust Across America, which compiles the list. Jackson spearheaded the implementation of hybrid electric vehicles for FedEx, which launched hybrid electric technology in the commercial vehicles marketplace. In conjunction with the FedEx Government Affairs department, he helped successfully push legislation for fuel economy standards/greenhouse gas requirements in commercial trucking. The organization's executive director, Barbara Kimmel, said, "The honorees are inspiring organizations to look more closely at their higher purpose ... to create greater value for, and trust from, all of their stakeholders."
The Commercial Appeal
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While it may be cheaper to buy a regular bulb this week, the costs rise over time when that one burns out and the next and the next. After a few years, one spends less on bulbs by choosing the higher-priced CFLs the first time.
You dont know that for sure. This talk quickly deteriorated into their old saw about how activities that may seem green on the surface may have hidden environmental costs that make them worse than the original behavior. Perhaps the treeplanting equipment produces more fumes and burns more fuel than the benefit the replanted trees provide. Perhaps the mature trees that are being
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(allegedly) removed are of less value environmentally than actively growing young trees that could be theoretically photosynthesizing faster to put on height and bulk. Who knows? Well, Deanna knows, said one of them. What do you say? Then they both gave me an attentive youre the resident expert look. Ive never been regarded as the resident expert of anything in my family. Whenever my brother and father get into these verbal jousting matches, I tend to blend into the wallpaper, knowing that I will be asked to engage in their conversation only as an asset to an existing side of the argument. Deanna sees my point, dont you, honey, or possibly (in years gone by) to fetch the appropriate volume of the encyclopedia to settle the dispute. Yet at that moment, a Ph.D. geneticist and a master in environmental engineering were looking to me for a well-reasoned answer to settle their impossible dispute. Id like to say the next words out of my mouth were graceful and brilliant, but they sounded more like, Huh? Wh-what? Once I recovered from the shock of being asked to make a genuine contribution to this conversation, I opted for the truth. I dont think I can settle this paper/forest/deforestation argument. I dont think anyone can. Besides, I dont consider myself a green expert; Im just against personal wastefulness. Here, here! Thats all you can really do after all, right? said one. Just do your best to not be wasteful, said the other. Truthfully, that answer should have been more specific. And so I will share a
better version of my answer here: Rather than making omnipotent, global-impact calculations, I choose to focus on long-term personal wastefulness. That phrase long-term makes all the difference. For example, if one chooses this months paycheck as the only resource worthy of thrift, our health and our community resources will suffer. Its almost always cheaper to choose the mass-produced option in the short term. This week, its cheaper to buy a roll of paper towels than a set of good cloths. But over the lifetime of a set of good cloths, one could have spent a lot of money on paper towels. This week, it seems cheaper to buy a regular bulb, but when that one burns out and the next and the next, after a few years, one could have spent much less on bulbs by choosing the higherpriced CFLs the first time. It also works for large purchases. If you need a new car, get a fuel-efficient one. However, if you dont need the new vehicle or appliance, theres not enough fuel efficiency in the world to make up for the cost of an unnecessary large purchase. It seems to work out that those behaviors that are fiscally wise in the long term are also environmentally wise. Wisdom doesnt battle itself. Wise decisions are just that. Time, effort, money, natural resources, are all fine measures, if you like, but one must take the long view for the decisions to work out in favor of conservancy.
Deanna Caswell is a local writer who blogs at littlehouseinthesuburbs.com. Caswell and her husband, Jeff, live in Collierville. She practices eco-friendly living, while raising their four children, along with pygmy goats and chickens.
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The flavor of honey varies based on where the nectar comes from. Honey also comes in liquid, comb and creamed forms.
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honey. Eventually all honey will crystallize, but this doesnt affect the quality. Simply place the jar in warm water and stir until the crystals dissolve. Since we cant get to know the honeybees, try getting to know your local beekeeper. Peace Bee Farm, Wolf River Honey, Hughes Apiaries and Windermere Farms are all regulars at our local farmers markets, and several sell to local groceries. Local honey comes in liquid, comb and creamed (also know as whipped) forms. Youll also find honeys that are infused and flavored. Im new to crme honey (which has been finely crystallized), but Im learning to love it because its spreadable and less messy on a biscuit. Bees can gather nectar from several miles away from the hive, and theres no telling what the neighbors have been spraying, so organic is hard to come by. There is no legal definition for raw honey, and honey labeling laws allow for ambiguous interpretations, so heres where knowing your beekeeper comes into play. Buy local, and you have a much better chance of getting good, natural unheated honey. The flavor of honey is a result of the nectar source, so expect some variation in local honey at different times of the year, and among producers. We need bees to pollinate our food crops and gardens. Our local beekeepers take care of the bees that are doing that. If you havent already, discover how different local honey tastes. Then make the commitment to buy local honey. It could be the No. 1 imperative in supporting our local food system.
Melissa Petersen is the editor of Edible Memphis, a magazine that celebrates the abundance of local food, season by season. It is available at various locations around town. Contact her at Melissa@ediblememphis.com.
/4 cup honey /4 cup unsalted butter 1 shallot, minced 1 sprig fresh thyme, leaves only Salt and pepper to taste
In a saucepan, combine all ingredients and bring to a boil. Cook for 2 minutes. Toss with cooked vegetables, such as cauliflower, carrots or squash.
Source: Recipe adapted from the National Honey Board, honey.com
In a bowl, thoroughly mix 1 teaspoon rosemary with flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut goat cheese into dry ingredients until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal; reserve. Whisk together honey, 1/3 cup cream and egg. Stir into reserved dry mixture until a soft dough forms; gather dough into a ball. Turn out onto a well-floured board; pat into a round about 3/4-inch. Cut into eight wedges. Arrange separately on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush tops with remaining 2 tablespoons cream. Bake at 425 degrees until golden brown, about 10 to 12 minutes.
Source: Recipe adapted from the National Honey Board, honey.com
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As the single largest user of land and water resources in America, agriculture has a significant impact on the environment. But it also provides one of the most cost-effective ways of addressing one of the nations most pressing environmental challenges: water quality. As a result, there is an enormous opportunity for farmers to play a major role in improving the environment while expanding their own sources of revenue.
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Water quality trading creates a private market that pays farmers to reduce the amount of nitrates and other pollutants that contaminate the watershed by runoff from some fertilizers. Its really an important ecological issue that needs to be addressed, said Jessica Fox, project manager of water quality research for the Electric Power Research Institute. Because there is a lot of agricultural activity in the Ohio
River basin, which stretches across 14 states, the program could have a big impact as more states become involved, according to Dr. Ann Sorensen, research director for the American Farmland Trust. The voluntary program benefits farmers while helping improve the environment. This could be a new revenue stream for agriculture. We see it as a win-win, Sorensen said. Farmers do not intend to harm the water, but naturally they are
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Robert Cohen
A cropduster sprays herbicide on a 270-acre rice field in Cross County, Ark. The amount of contaminants that reach the watershed has to do with the amount and application of fertilizer and how much the plants use. concerned with yields. The amount of contaminants that reach the watershed has to do with how much fertilizer is used, how it is applied and how much of it the plants use. The program is operated in conjunction with water treatment plants that offer farmers the opportunity to participate. Reducing the amount of pollutants that get into the water is better than sending oxygendepleted water through treatment plants or allowing it to run off into waterways. This is a much less expensive way to achieve higher quality, Sorenson said. Researchers are optimistic that the program will be a success, because of the economic incentive for farmers. They hope large farming operations will eventually want to participate. If it doesnt have a business driver, it will be difficult to get big companies behind the program, said Fox. The Ohio River contributes 30 percent of the water that flows into the Mississippi River, whose basin covers 38 states. The goal is to expand the program beyond Ohio,
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Kentucky and Indiana to other states, and Fox said there are plans to initiate conversations with officials in Tennessee at a later date. Although there are 85 other water quality trading programs in the U.S., they are all on a small scale and do not involve multiple states, she explained. The project in the Ohio River basin is the largest program of its kind in the world, Fox said, and it is different in several ways from smaller programs. We want to establish up front what the parameters are, she said. Not doing this has stymied multistate projects in the past. This water quality trading program is designed to be somewhat flexible. The thing thats unique is that we are committed to the science of nutrient reduction, Fox said. That aspect is especially important to her, because she has worked for 10 years as a molecular biologist specializing in conservation biology. This study is also adaptive, meaning the researchers can change things that are being done. The continual reassessment is an ecological concept the researchers believe will work. By 2013 they will have executed the pilot trades. They expect to have a fully functioning market for the water quality trading by 2015, Sorensen said. In the end, this water trading program is going to have a big ecological impact, Fox said.
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The roof of a vehicle is just visible sticking out of a 75-foot-wide flood of water that filled an underpass in Midtown. Scenes like this are common whenever the area experiences flash flooding.
Money may soon be flowing into Midtown, just like the water that has filled some streets, alleys and homes. Ask anyone who has had to dry out their basement after a hard rain, from not only rain water, but also raw sewage, and they will tell you the aid cannot come soon enough. Urban Waters Small Grants support community efforts to make water quality restoration relevant to
public health, social economics and livability goals. The EPA will award between $1.8 million and $3.8 million in grants. Wolf River Conservancy is the local applicant seeking money to take a look at Lick Creek for repairs and maintenance. The intent of this grant is to further the WRCs mission in preserving and protecting the Wolf River water shed, said Keith Cole, WRC executive director. And with this grant, we will better
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University Place has a lake that serves as a retention pond at the front of the property and maintains rainwater runoff so not to increase the load on the system. understand and would expect to improve, water quality for the Greater Memphis area. This grant is for research money that will be used in a broad approach, not for a specific project, like the detention basin that has been proposed for the Overton Square area. There will be only four to eight grants awarded in the Southeast region, depending on the amount of available funding, said WRC grant writer Cathy Marcinko. For our request, there are two components we are focusing on: an assessment of Lick Creek and a rain barrel program. The rain barrel project will be in partnership with the Tennessee Yards and Neighborhoods program. The rain barrel project will be an expansion of that outreach, by initiating the train-the-trainer component, said Chris Masin, senior engineer for Shelby County. A half-inch of rain falling on a house can generate up to 500 useable gallons of water, enough to fill 10 55-gallon rain barrels. Although blessed with an underground aquifer, Memphis sanitary sewer system was put in place in the early days of the citys development. The pipes were laid side-by-side with one carrying sewage and the other storm water.
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However, some of the older terra-cotta and cast-iron pipes have cracked with age and now, when we experience a heavy rain that promotes flash flooding, water from the pipes designed to carry sewage seeps out into the sanitary storm water pipes, said Mary Wilder, community volunteer for the Lick Creek Storm Water Coalition. The city has begun installing detention basins. The large basin in Uptown, part of Gayoso Bayou, is a familiar landmark. But chances are folks have driven right past other areas not realizing they are also designed to hold back storm water long enough to prevent major flooding. For example, the water feature at University Place at I-240 and Crump is a retention basin. The Christian Brothers University Signaigo Soccer Field, off Central in the southern part of campus, was designed with a flood control system under the field. Peabody Elementary on Young Avenue has a detention basin built on the campus that involved replacing an asphalt playground with grass to avert flood waters from the school buildings. The basin also provides storm water detention for the upper Lick Creek basin. The soccer field at Second Presbyterian Church, at Goodlett and Central Avenue is also a detention basin. If a storm water management system was in place to detain the water and release it slowly, then flooding can be prevented, said Wilder.
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The Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative supports voluntary implementation of conservation practices and systems that control nutrient runoff, improve wildlife habitat and maintain agricultural productivity.
Runoff aid
Deadline nears to apply for funds targeting farm nutrients
Compiled from the wires
A major federal cost-share program aimed at addressing water quality and wetland conservation in the Mississippi River Basin is accepting proposals for conservation projects. Proposals are due to the Natural Resources Conservation Service by March 19. Accepted projects would support conservation efforts already underway on agricultural operations in the basin looking to improve the overall health of the Mississippi River and help reduce hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico. This is an outstanding opportunity for conservationminded farmers to do even more to protect and improve one
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of Americas most valuable resources, White said. Working together, we can deliver more of the environmental and economic benefits of cleaner water to everyone who relies on the food, fiber and fuel produced by landowners in the Mississippi River Basin. The Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watershed Initiative is designed to help landowners and producers voluntarily employ conservation and management practices that prevent, control and trap nutrient runoff from farmland, said Al Garner, acting state conservationist with the NRCS, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Through this request for proposals, NRCS is providing up to $37 million in financial assistance through the Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative for projects in 54 priority watersheds in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wisconsin. These projects will complement actions to be carried out through the new Gulf of Mexico Initiative, an effort that focuses up to $50 million in conservation assistance over three years to farmers and ranchers in priority areas along seven major rivers that drain into the Gulf. Approved proposals will include conservation practices that prevent, control and trap nutrient runoff, improve wildlife habitat, restore wetlands, and keep agricultural operations productive. A Request for Proposals, which includes a list of eligible watersheds and application addresses can be downloaded at federalregister.gov/a/2011-33692.
Henry Bailey contributed to this report.
The Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative will help the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service and its partners expand their capacity to improve water quality throughout the region. The Cooperative Conservation Partnership Initiative will use a conservation-systems approach to manage nitrogen and phosphorous, which will minimize runoff and reduce downstream nutrient loading. The nations largest hypoxic zone, caused by nutrient loading, looms off the coast of Louisiana, south of the Mississippi River Delta, and this program is one way the Department of Agriculture and the NRCS are striving to fix the problem.
CONSERVATION RESERVE PROGRAM
The county office also is holding a continuous Conservation Reserve Program sign-up. This program allows owners and operators to register environmentally sensitive cropland along creeks, streams or rivers in certain practices. Eligible owners enter into contracts that range from 10 to 15 years. In return, they will receive annual rental payments, incentive payments, and cost-share payments for establishment of the practices. For more information on the programs, call the DeSoto FSA office at (662) 429-8687 Ext. 2. The office is at 3260 U.S. 51 in Hernando or See http://www.fsa.usda.gov/FSA/webapp? area=home&subject=copr&topic=crp
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LOCAL NEWS
WHAT A SITE...
Woodland Playground earns national sustainability certification
Ava Parks (right), 5, and other children from the community enjoy the slides at the Woodland Discovery Playground at Shelby Farms.
By Emily Adams Keplinger
keplinger@commercialappeal.com
The Woodland Discovery Playground at Shelby Farms Park has become one of the first pilot projects to be certified by the Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES) for its sustainable site
design, construction and maintenance. Woodland Discovery Playground opened April 2011. Designed by James Corner Field Operations, the playground reflects sustainable practices in all aspects of its design, such as the Nike Grind play surfacing made in Memphis from re-
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cycled sneakers. And, permeable materials allow stormwater to water an arbor of trees that connects the play areas. The playground also serves as an educational tool, with children seeking Green Facts in a scavenger hunt that promotes, among other things, sustainability. Since the minute it opened, the playground has become the most loved featured of the park, said Jen Andrews. There are only three projects in the world that are certified by the Sustainable SITES initiative, and our playground is one of them. This certification really puts Memphis on the map in a way that it hasnt been before it is something that is getting international attention. The other two sites receiving certification are the St. Charles, Missouri, campus of Novus International Inc. and the Green at College Park of
the University of Texas at Arlington. Woodland Discovery Playground was awarded a one-star rating by SITES, an interdisciplinary effort led by the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin and the United States Botanic Garden to create a voluntary, national rating system and guidelines for sustainable landscapes of all types, with or without buildings, continued Andrews. Shelby Farms Park Conservancy is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that manages and operates Shelby Farms Park and Shelby Farms Greenline. Each year, the Conservancy raises more than $2 million to keep the Park and Greenline clean, green and safe. For more information, visit shelbyfarmspark.org or call (901) 767-7275. Holden Gerth, 8, plays with the sand and water trough at the Woodland Discovery Playground at Shelby Farms which was recently named one of the first pilot projects to be certified by the Sustainable Sites Initiative for its sustainable design, construction and maintenance.
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Louis Smith (left) and Jeromey Miller check solar panels installed at Sharp Manufacturing. The panels can produce 59 kilowatts of power per hour in bright sun. A typical 3,000 square foot home uses about 2,000 killowatts per month.
A small organization formed by a handful of people in 2008 has grown into a statewide network of public and private businesses and 65 city and county majors trying to fast-track renewable energy in Tennessee. The Tennessee Renewable Energy and Economic Development Council (TREEDC) was founded almost four years ago by four rural mayors, a small engineering firm, Dr. Joe Johnson, president emeritus of the University of Tennessee, and Warren Nevad, a consultant for Municipal Technical Advisory Service.
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TREEDC is very unique because it brings together a variety of public, private and government agencies, Nevad said. TREEDC members now include Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee Tech University, the Jackson Energy Authority and a host of rural communities. Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division also recently joined the organization. Our business plan is very simple. First, its to network and get out on the ground floor and bring awareness of renewable energy by hosting free forums across the state, Nevad said. Speakers from FedEx, 49 Green, Memphis Bioworks Foundation and MLGW gave presentations at a November forum in Memphis. Becky Williamson, strategic marketing coordinator for MLGW, spoke about renewable power generation. A lot of times you hear about projects that are going on in Nashville or East Tennessee, but theres not been much coverage of local projects, she said. Among the local projects discussed was the Sharp project which has several solar generation sites at its facility, and was the first commercial solar project in the city. Memphis Botanic Garden has a solar installation, as does Carnes Elementary School. Williamson also outlined upcoming installations planned for the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library and the Agricenter. A presentation by Memphis Bioworks Foundation president Dr. Steve Bares touched on regional green strategies, energy efficiency and generation, and workforce training in green jobs. Theres a lot going on in the green area. Its a very fast-growing
opportunity, he said. The forums provide companies large and small, and government agencies, an opportunity to showcase their work in sustainability, and increase the awareness of those who attend about changes they can make on their own. TREEDC does not endorse any technology. Its role is to introduce to communities options for renewable energy so they can make decisions about which are best for them. Therere a lot of good things going and Im always interested in learning from my brethren across the state about things that can be applied here in Memphis, Bares said. TREEDC also has become involved in various projects in an advisory capacity. For instance, it helped officials in Crossville set up a small bio-diesel facility that converts cooking oil into fuel for the citys fleet of vehicles. It also helped that city locate electric charging stations for electric vehicles. TREEDC also is consulting with Covington, helping to assess the possibility of converting wastewater sludge into clean power to be used by the wastewater plant. Such a project would save the city a lot because it would eliminate the need to transport the sludge off plant property and pay a dumping fee, while providing power for the plant itself, Nevad explained. With continued support and growing membership by businesses and municipalities across Tennessee, the future looks bright for TREEDC. It keeps growing and growing. Thanks to the good folks in Memphis we are able to continue to flourish, Nevad said.
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a Rd.
Oakland Rd.
Details The Green Line would be 12 feet wide compared to the 10-foot width of the Shelby County trail and include a side path for horses. Construction, projected to cost from $40,000 to $45,000 per mile, could begin by this fall and last about six months. The effort in Fayette County coincides with work in Shelby County to extend the 6.5mile Shelby Farms Greenline eastward from its present terminus on the north side of Shelby Farms Park near Mullins Station. From there, it is nearly 13 miles to the Fayette line, plus eight to Oakland. Shelby County has received initial approval for a $3.3 million grant to extend the Greenline about 4.3 miles to the old Cordova depot. There also have been preliminary discussions about a further extension to the Fayette line, according to Tom Needham, Shelby County Public Works director. While local governments would contribute
some portion of the nearly $3.5 million cost of the project, officials also hope to get donations from private foundations and other sources.
Reaction
In addition to extending the Greenline eastward, several groups in Memphis have been making plans to provide bicycle connections westward to Broad Avenue and Overton Park and, eventually, to the Mississippi River and Arkansas via the Harahan Bridge. The idea of being able to get on the Green Line in Oakland and go all the way to the Mississippi River would be huge, Ferguson said. Fayette County Mayor Rhea Skip Taylor said the trail project would fill a void. We dont have any parks in Fayette County to speak of, he said.
Tom Charlier, charlier@commercialappeal.com
Chulahom
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Organic chemistry
Synergy Technologies use natural elements in food safety business
Dean Didato, with Synergy Technologies, tests a New York strip steak to detect and quantify bacteria after the product was treated with SYNTRx 3300.
EYE
Part 2 in a series looking at green startups in the MidSouth
THE GREEN
Suzanne Thompson
Special to Going Green
While the words chemical and organic might not seem to belong together, coupling them makes perfect sense at Synergy Technologies. Synergy Technologies Inc., which operates a technology and solutions facility inside the Memphis Business Incubator, uses organic materials such as citric acid to create chemicals that kill food-borne
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pathogens. Everything we market, sell and produce is organic, said Jason York, the companys executive vice president and co-founder. This means everything that goes into the chemicals is edible and digestible. Another substance used to produce Synergys products is peroxyacetic acid, which is basically a combination of peroxide and vinegar. It has been used as a disinfectant in households for many, many, many years, said Dean Didato. York founded the company with a partner, Randy Allen, in Towson, Md., in 2005. Both men were in the water treatment business and they began examining naturally occurring acids to use in food safety chemicals. This led to the creation of Synergy Technologies Inc. In 2008, the company moved to Shreveport, La., where the clerical and administration operations are located. Synergys goal from the beginning was to create chemicals to help with the food safety programs of
providers of proteins such as poultry and beef. We came across a technology that we dubbed Syntrex, York said. Syntrex is a safe acid, a buffered citric acid that we have found to be highly effective at reducing and eliminating pathogenic bacteria such as salmonella and E. coli. The chemical is applied at plants during the processing of the meat. Our goal is to provide chemistries that are going to ensure the safety of the food supply. Your family, my family, our customers families are going to be eating the products that are being produced in these plants, said Didato. Synergy has a staff of chemists and microbiologists, with a total of 20 employees. The primary focus of the company is poultry and red meat, but it is slowly branching out to fruits and other produce. Currently about 80 percent of its business is in the poultry industry, but at the Memphis office, which contains lab space, experimentation is under way to treat red meat. Synergy opened its Memphis
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facility in 2009, and is growing fast. During the last two years, the company has filed three new patents and in October 2011 it acquired a competitors company. Weve been very busy trying to expand our product offerings to our customer base and further enhance our ability to offer these food safety solutions, York said. Everything Synergy produces is used in and around food, so it is highly scrutinized and regulated by the USDA Food Safety Inspection Service. We have to work closely with them on everything we develop and market, Didato said. That means having to have the data to support the products and the systems that we are promoting are effective. Synergy also is involved in delivery systems to apply the chemicals it produces for protein suppliers. The chemicals must be applied either to the water source or directly to the food in precise concentrations, within specific parameters. We provide the pumping systems, the monitoring equipment, the instrumentation to facilitate that the chemicals are applied at the prescribed levels, York said. Customers who use that service are provided with systems that require very little water. Introducing our chemistries allows them to reduce water
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EDITORIAL
Memphis Bioworks plans to install a solar array to light their parking garage at Union and Dudley. The garage will lose only a couple of spaces, as the panels will be high enough for cars to park beneath them.
ideas in the spirit of Holiday Inns, FedEx and Fantastic Sam's. Only this generation of Memphis success stories will be built from biotechnologies. Memphis Bioworks, the 10-year-old foundation dedicated to developing these new projects, is showing that it can, in fact, help create a new Memphis. The foundation's bioscience incubator is full of entrepreneurs these days. The UT-Baptist Research Park already is putting people in new jobs, like the soonto-open Regional Biocontainment Lab. The 3,000 solar panels are a beacon of light for all of this. The Memphis Bioworks team, ably led by Steve Bares, Allan Daisley and others, is moving Memphis to a brighter future.
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ENERGY
SUN SEEKERS
Mike Bragg, with Evergreen Solar Services, welds tubes to support solar panels being installed on Monday at Agricenter International.
Agricenter International has begun installing a new kind of crop energy-producing solar panels to complement its fields of corn, cotton and soybeans. The first of 4,160 photovoltaic solar panels are to be mounted within view of thousands of motorists driving through Shelby Farms daily on Walnut Grove. Agricenter officials made the short drive out to the site to see the progress and mark the occasion.
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Cmon sun, make me sweat, Agricenter board chairman William Bill Gillon joked. The temperature was in the mid-50s. The solar field will be commissioned with a ceremony on April 11, Agricenter president John Charles Wilson said. Also watching were past president Joe McKinnon, who helped initiate the project, and Ken Plunk, chairman of Shelby Countys Agricenter Commission. All the 69-by-40-inch panels should be installed on rows of 4-foot-high tubes by the third week of February, said Brian Lechliter, project manager for the construction company, Lightwave Solar. The 5.5-acre solar array will produce enough electricity to power 400-500 homes at peak demand periods, he said. In some ways, the hillside solar array resembles a crop. The panels are arranged in straight rows, 16 feet apart. The metal grid is sturdily anchored. Seventeen-foot-long metal polls are buried 13-feet deep, so the panels sit four feet high. But the panels made in Memphis by Sharp Manufacturing actually are attached to beams called torque tubes. The tubes run atop the rows of poles. The powered torque tube will rotate slowly during the day so that the panels always face the sun. The movement aided by GPS to follow the sun should help the system produce 20-40 percent more power than if the panels were stationary. The tough solar panels are able to withstand golf-ball size hail and 100-
Lightwave Solar project manager Brian Lechliter discusses how new solar panels at the Agricenter will tilt to better catch sun rays during different times of day. mph winds, Lechliter said, adding, I havent had to replace one yet. To help endure strong winds, the panels turn flat whenever the wind reaches 50 mph. Nashville-based Silicon Ranch, founded by former governor Phil Bredesen, is financing, will own and will benefit from electricity sold from the solar array the first 10 years. After that, the Agricenter will have the option to buy the system if it chooses. But meanwhile the Agricenter will use the solar array as an educational tool for green energy. Agricenter will accommodate visitors who want to see the solar array, offer electronic displays in the Agricenter lobby showing the power produced, and provide web cam images of the solar field.
Tom Bailey Jr.: (901) 529-2388
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SCHOOLS
As director of the Memphis City Schools lunch program, Tony Geraci has sought out local farmers to source fresh fruit and vegetables.
Nutrition mission
Film tracks crusade to reform, improve school lunch program
By Jane Roberts / robertsj@commercialappeal.com
Three months into his job as head of the $72 million Memphis City Schools lunch program, Tony Geraci has scrapped packaged foods for scratch cooking, put chicken nuggets on the going-extinct list and set aside $10 million to do business with local growers. As he prepared to announce the first contracts for local sweet potatoes, collards, beans and root vegetables, Fuel Film: Memphis, which supports local filmmakers, was screening Cafeteria Man, an account of Geracis valiant
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two-year effort to turn around the Baltimore Public Schools lunch program, starting when he nixed syrupy canned peaches for real ones grown in Maryland. The film, released in May by Emmywinning filmmaker Richard Chisolm, features first lady Michelle Obama and author Michael Pollan on Geracis kidcentric approach to holistically revamping not only what lands on lunch trays, but also how and where the food is grown. You dont make films like this to make money. ... This one has just blossomed, Chisolm said. The film shows the horrible social forces Geraci took on in Baltimore to bring high-quality food to the school lunch program, Chisolm said. In the end, Geraci resigned as its head because he feels like his skills and talents have run their course in Baltimore, he said. The film made Geraci an instant folk hero with activist foodies intent on hardwiring green logic into the federal school lunch program that under President Ronald Reagan lauded ketchup as a vegetable. When Fuel Film:Memphis board member Shelby Elwood saw Cafeteria Man in the Hot Springs (Ark.) Documentary Film Festival in October,
she was impressed enough to stick around to meet Chisolm. When he told me the star of the show had just moved to Memphis, I couldnt believe it, Elwood said. When she returned home, Geraci had hit the ground with a splash, she said. Suddenly, hes all over the news. This is bigger than I realized. In November, a month after Geraci started his $124,712-a-year job, he had rolled out free suppers for 5,000 students enrolled in after-school programs. By Jan. 1, the number of MCS students getting government-subsidized breakfast in the classroom had more than doubled to 54,000. He considers nutritious food a tool like pencils and desks to help students learn. His best illustration may be seeing three children eat their first peach. When you see their faces light up and the full range of emotion ... , he says, his voice trailing off in memory. Chefs live for the moment they can
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introduce something new. In Memphis, Geraci was the catalyst for the first farm-toschool grower-buyer meeting on Jan. 26 sponsored by the Tennessee School Nutrition Program and MCS. Soon after, Geraci will announce about $10 million in local produce contracts for next years school lunches. Weve already had conversations with some local farmers. Right now, we are working out the details of volume requirements and projections of how often certain items will show up on the menu, Geraci said. Farmers are doing their conversions in acreage. People understand this is a real economic opportunity, he said. He saw the importance firsthand after riding his Harley through rural Tennessee and Arkansas one day this winter. If a farmer is only limited to two or three monocropping models, it is very difficult to expand. Were trying to offer diversity in their crop mix so they can make more money per acre growing fruits and vegetables for our our kids than they can selling GMO (genetically modified organism) corn, soy and cotton to Monsanto.
Jane Roberts: (901) 529-2512
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FOOD
Federal soil technician and DeSoto farmer Seth Steadham has become a believer in the benefits of planting cover crops on his acreage south of Hernando. Such winter crops keep the ground green in normally fallow periods and can put cash in farmers pockets through increased fall yields of crops.
By Henry Bailey
baileyhank@desotoappeal.com
Getting down and dirty in his 50 acres of deep-rooted winter tillage radishes, across two fields south and west of Hernando, is Seth Steadhams way of checking his investments. A good cover crop can mean a
10 percent increase in yield, he said as he dug up a healthy specimen, a forage radish about 8 inches long with a tap root he estimated at two feet deep. With cost of planting at maybe $10 an acre on the summertime corn acreage, and corn fetching a nice price of $6 a bushel so far, you can make maybe $60 more per
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acre, he said. You cant get that rate of return at the bank. Steadham, soil technician with the DeSoto office of the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service, hopes other farmers who arent necessarily in the acreage big leagues can hit a home run to boost the environment and profits through federal grants for cover crops and other innovations. Cover crops carry a lot of benefits, and even a gardener can be doing it, said Steadham, in his first year of cover planting. In addition to the financial benefits, they keep something green in the ground all the time to halt erosion and suppress weeds, aerate the soil and store nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus that should bump up his fall corn yield. Other cover crops include winter wheat and peas, mustard and turnip greens. And clover, added Steadham. Deer love it. Theyll wear it out. Due to concerns on impacts of synthetic fertilizers, including ground- and surface-water contamination, theres increasing interest in cover crops as a natural way to improve soil fertility by curbing weed populations and attracting beneficial insects. Also, cover crops planted on land that growers used to leave bare in fallow periods can reduce rainfall impact and minimize runoff, increase organicnutrient matter of soils and improve infiltration.
Steadham examines a tillage radish as part of his cover crop field. A good cover crop can mean a 10 percent increase in yield, he said.
Crop of projects
In addition to the impacts of cover crops, rotation, tillage and other practices , the Natural Resources Conservation Service is interested in these projects that support large-scale demonstrations: Optimal combinations of nutrient source, application rate, placement and timing that improve nutrient recovery. Procedures for refining the usefulness of the phosphorous index in reducing phosphorous losses. Suites of conservation practices that protect water quality. Renewable energy systems that reduce the use of fossil fuels and increase energy efficiency on farms. Conservation practices that increase the water-holding capacity of soils. Decision tools that help producers assess their operations and conservation needs in order to improve wildlife habitat. Assessments of the technology transfer potential of completed projects.
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Laura Frerichs with her husband, Andy, and son, Eli, has an organic farm at Hutchinson, Minn. She found her passion for farming about a year after she earned a degree in anthropology.
Jim Mone/Associated Press
By Dinesh Ramde
Associated Press
MILWAUKEE A Wisconsin factory worker worried about layoffs became a dairy farmer. An employee at a Minnesota nonprofit group found an escape from her cubicle by buying a vegetable farm. A nuclear engineer tired of office bureaucracy decided to get into cattle ranching in Texas. While fresh demographic information on U.S. farmers wont be available until after the next agricultural census is done next year, there are
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signs more people in their 20s and 30s are going into farming: Enrollment in university agriculture programs has increased, as has interest in farmertraining programs. Young people are turning up at farmers markets and are blogging, tweeting and promoting their agricultural endeavors through social media. The young entrepreneurs typically cite two reasons for going into farming: Many find the corporate world stifling and see no point in sticking it out when theres little job security; and demand for locally grown and organic foods has been strong enough that even in the downturn they feel confident they can sell their products. Laura Frerichs, 31, of Hutchinson, Minn., discovered her passion for farming about a year after she graduated from college with an anthropology degree. She planned to work in economic development in Latin America and thought she ought to get some experience working on a farm. She did stints on five farms, mostly vegetable farms, and fell in love with the work. Frerichs and her husband now have their own organic farm, and while she doesnt expect it to make them rich, shes confident theyll be able to earn a living. Theres just this growing consciousness around locally grown foods, around organic foods, she said. Where we are, in the Twin Cities, theres been great demand for that. Farming is inherently risky: Drought, flooding, wind and other weather extremes can all destroy a years work. And with farmland averaging $2,140 per acre across the U.S. but two to four times that much in the Midwest and California,
the start-up costs can be daunting. Still, agriculture fared better than many parts of the economy during the recession, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts record profits for farmers as a whole this year. People are looking at farm income, especially the increase in asset values, and seeing a really positive story about our economy, said USDA senior economist Mary Clare Ahearn, citing preliminary statistics. Young people are viewing agriculture as a great opportunity and saying they want to be a part of it. Thats welcome news to the government. More than 60 percent of farmers are over the age of 55, and without young farmers to replace them when they retire, the nations food supply would depend on fewer and fewer people. Wed be vulnerable to local economic disruptions, tariffs, attacks on the food supply, really, any disaster you can think of, said Poppy Davis, who coordinates the USDAs programs for beginning farmers and ranchers. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has called for 100,000 new farmers within the next few years, and Congress has responded with proposals that would provide young farmers with improved access to support and loan programs. One beginning farmer is Gabrielle Rojas, 34, from the central Wisconsin town of Hewitt. As a rebellious teen, all she wanted to do was leave her familys farm and find a career that didnt involve cows. But she changed her mind after spending years in dead-end jobs in a factory and restaurant. In those jobs Im just a number, just a time-clock number, Rojas said. But now Im doing what I love to do..
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Nicole McCormack is the owner of Fresh Healthy Vending Memphis. McCormacks vending machines, such as the one recently placed at the Bartlett Recreational Center, offer a healthful alterative to junk food usually found in machines.
Sensible snacking
In an age when even fast-food restaurants offer fruit and vegetable alternatives, the new owner of Fresh Healthy Vending Memphis says its time vending machines do too. Youre not going to eat this food and lose weight, but theyre healthier options, says Nicole McCormack, a full-time pharmaceutical sales rep from Bartlett. McCormacks machines offer a range of items aimed at health-conscious consumer, such as fruit and yogurt bars, protein bars, smoothies, energy drinks, and boxes of 100 percent organic grape and apple juice. Also among the selections, her childrens favorite: Applesauce on the Go, a squeezable pouch like a Capri Sun, no spoon needed. There are also organic potato chips for those who absolutely have to have them. In a city like Memphis, we sometimes make the top of the wrong lists, but I think the majority of the people here want to be healthy, McCormack says. Its a matter of show me how. McCormack said she has a lot of leeway in choosing her stock and in the coming months will begin test-marketing single servings of fresh fruits and vegetables like apples and carrots at the Church Health Center.
Jonathan Devin, Special to the Commercial Appeal
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Many fruit trees are easy to grow, some will produce edible fruit by the third year, and many have ornamental qualities, too. If you decide to plant, you will be participating in one of the latest gardening trends the urban orchard. November and December are ideal months for planting bare-root fruit trees, said Bill Colvard, a master gardener and organic fruit and vegetable gardener. With this years mild winter, many have planted as late as January. Our soil is still warm enough to work up and plant. The tops of the trees are dormant now, but the roots will continue to grow, Colvard said. Small bare-rooted trees not only are less expensive than
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container-grown trees available in the spring, but they also have a better chance of success. When you buy a large container plant, the roots have to work hard to support the large top, Colvard said. Larger trees will also require skillful pruning to open the centers to sunlight. Its easier to train a small tree as it grows, Colvard said. Its a wise to consult with your nursery on the pollination requirements for a fruit tree. Often, at least two trees are needed, typically one that is a different variety than one you select to grow. According to an article on home orchards published by Purdue University, pollen from a tree of the same kind may not be able to pollinate female flower parts due to incompatible timing. Some sages believe installing orchards in yards, on school grounds, in public landscape projects and in community gardens is the next major trend in the local, homegrown food movement. Weve come to a place where gardeners are ready for a longerterm commitment, and that may be fruit production, said Robyn du Pre, director of outreach and development at the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation. The commitment involves nurturing trees for three to five years before getting a significant harvest and also changing the way many people feel about fruit trees. Some governments would never plant fruit trees in public places, du Pre said. Were working toward a
shift in that thinking. David Wolfe, an expert in raw food nutrition who founded the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation in 2002, envisioned a world in which everyone could easily pluck fruit from trees and bushes growing in public spaces. Since ornamental versions of cherry, plum and pear trees are appreciated all over the world, it doesnt seem like a far-fetched idea. The mission of the nonprofit foundation is planting and helping others to plant 18 billion fruit trees across the world, or about three for every person alive. Its an audacious goal, du Pre admits. It pushes people to think broadly in working toward the betterment of the world. The foundations best-known project is Communities Take Root. This year, 20 organizations won the trees and technical and physical help needed to establish orchards in their communities. Shelby Farms Park Conservatory entered the contest with a proposal to add an orchard to its Leadership Garden, a community garden near the entrance to the Shelby Farms Greenline. Although the project was not chosen as a winner, the conservancy is still open to the idea of installing an orchard near the garden should funds become available in the future.
Questions or comments? E-mail Christine Arpe Gang at chrisagang@hotmail.com, or call Lifestyles editor Peggy Reisser Winburne at 529-2372.
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The more popular varieties like Fuyu are non-astringent. Fuyu can freeze on the tree and still be good to eat. Fuyu trees, which grow into a round shape, may reach 30 feet tall. The glossy green-brown leaves turn redorange or gold in the fall. Pomegranates are not typically hardy in our Zone 7 climate, but I learned several varieties will thrive here, especially if given a sunny spot and some protection from western winds. Wonderful, an old and fairly reliable variety, grows to about 15 feet tall. Dwarf and even miniature types are also available. The trees are fabulously ornamental with bright orange flowers in the spring and yellow foliage in the fall. At this time of year, fruit trees must be ordered. Nurseries include Edible Landscaping at ediblelandscaping.com; Isons Nursery at isons.com and Just Fruits and Exotics at justfruitsandexotics.com. Russells Farm Supply Co. in Collierville usually has containergrown fruit trees for sale in February. Some varieties of pomegranate are hardy in the MidSouths Zone 7 climate.