The Eastern Agricultural Research and Extension Center (EVAREC) in Warsaw, VA hosted their Soybean Field Day on Thursday, September 12.
The day included 10 separate lectures from 12 soybean experts, exploring everything from ideal soybean planting dates in the Commonwealth to CRISPR/Cas-9 Gene editing.
Amongst the lectures, VBC’s President, Kyle Shreve, Eastern Virginia AREC’s Dr. Joseph Oakes, and the Hampton Roads Sanitation District (HRSD)’s Dr. Christ Burbage discussed the VBC’s biosolids test plots.
The PFAS National Collaborative Project, national research on PFAS led by Dr. Ian Pepper from the University of Arizona, is incorporating our VBC research plot in Warsaw among many across the nation. It is studying soil and soil health through the lens of PFAS.
VBC has partnered with DC Water, EVAREC, and HRSD. to enter these crop plots into the research study. These plots are significantly without a history of land application of biosolids.
The one acre plot has been divided into thirds, creating a control plot, and two others with applications of half agronomic rate of biosolids and two times the agronomic rate of biosolids. Using GIS to randomly select points in the field, HRSD sampled before and after and submitted to the study.
Data has been collected on PFAS and soil nutrients and quality. Sampling followed a strict protocol developed by Dr. Pepper and used nationally across all test plots.
VBC continues to be focused on research and obtaining the most cutting edge data and information regarding PFAS. VBC has partnered with Virginia Tech, Perdue University, and now the University of Arizona to support research, develop fact sheets, and stay on the cutting edge of information.