Virginia Farmstead Assessment System: Site Evaluation: Groundwater, Soils, &...
In Virginia, groundwater is an important source of private and public water supplies. In fact, in 60 of Virginia's 95 counties, the majority of households obtain water from private wells and springs...
View ArticleVirginia Farmstead Assessment System: Well and Spring Management
More than 40% of Virginia's population depends on wells or springs as a source of drinking water and this dependence is close to 100% in rural areas. Furthermore, approximately one-fourth of all...
View ArticleVirginia Farmstead Assessment System: Household Wastewater Treatment and...
Household wastewater contains some contaminants that degrade water quality for such uses as drinking, stock watering, food preparation and cleaning. Potential contaminants in household wastewater...
View ArticleVirginia Farmstead Assessment System: Livestock and Poultry Yard Management
Livestock and poultry yards, such as barnyards, holding areas and feedlots, and areas around production buildings are areas of concentrated animal wastes. They can be a source of nitrate and bacteria...
View ArticleVirginia Farmstead Assessment System: Livestock Manure Storage and Treatment...
Storage of livestock wastes involves accumulating manure and wastewater in an environmentally sound manner until they can be applied to land or otherwise utilized. Manure storage facilities allow...
View ArticleVirginia Farmstead Assessment System: Poultry Litter Management and Carcass...
Nearly all broiler, pullet, and breeder operations grow the birds on concrete, wooden, or earthen floors. A 2-to 6-inch layer of wood shavings, peanut hulls, or other bedding material is used as an...
View ArticleVirginia Farmstead Assessment System: Milking Center Wastewater Treatment
Wastewater from the dairy milking center includes wastes from the milking parlor (manure, feed solids, hoof dirt) and milk house (bulk tank rinse water and detergent used in cleaning). The amount of...
View ArticleVirginia Farmstead Assessment System: Silage Storage and Management
Silage can be made from corn, grain, or alfalfa, or from canning wastes, such as those resulting from sweet corn processing. The amount of leachate (silage juices) produced varies with the material...
View ArticleOn-Site Sewage Treatment Alternatives
The purpose of this publication is to describe on-site technologies for treating domestic sewage where conventional means (public sewer or septic tank with drainfield) are not available. These...
View ArticleSelection and Location of Poultry and Livestock Manure Storage
If you raise dairy cows, broilers, layers, turkeys, horses, beef cattle, sheep, goats, alpacas, or swine for income or a hobby, you will have to deal with the manure they produce. The amount of manure...
View ArticlePowell River Project - Passive Treatment of Acid-Mine Drainage
Acidic mine drainage (AMD; also called “acid rock drainage” or “acid drainage”) is an environmental pollutant that impairs water resources in mining regions throughout the world. Where such treatment...
View ArticleMitigation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Agriculture
In this publication, information is presented on how to increase farm productivity while potentially reducing greenhouse gas* (GHG) contributions from agricultural production. Some of the practices may...
View ArticleDecentralized Small Community Wastewater Collection Systems
Wastewater is a significant source of carbon, sediment, nutrients, pathogens, and other potential pollutants. Reducing the quantity of these contaminants before they are discharged to either...
View ArticleEffectiveness of Temporary Stream Crossing Closure Techniques Forest...
Protection of water quality is a critical component of forest harvesting operations. Virginia’s silvicultural water quality law (§10.1-1181.1 through 10.1-1181.7) prohibits excessive sedimentation of...
View ArticleHousehold Water Quality in Floyd County, Virginia
In March 2013, residents from Floyd County participated in a drinking water testing clinic sponsored by the local Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE) office and the Virginia Household Water Quality...
View ArticleVirginia Master Naturalist, American Naturalists
Jared Diamond (2005), in his book, “Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed,” defines landscape amnesia as one of the primary mechanisms for the decline and ultimate collapse of societies....
View ArticleNitrogen and Sulfur Leaching Potential in Virginia
Early summer often means locally heavy and sporadic rainfall as thunderstorms deliver intense rains, and 2015 appears to be no different with many areas in eastern Virginia receiving 3+ inches of rain...
View ArticleThe Nutrient Value of Straw
The mature and dried stem, leaves, and chaff remaining after barley and wheat are harvested is known as straw. Many farmers around Virginia harvest straw by baling in small bales, large round bales, or...
View ArticleIMPACT: Virginia Household Water Quality Program
One in five Virginians, or nearly 1.7 million people, rely on private water supplies such as wells, springs, and cisterns for their household water. In the U.S., municipal systems are regulated under...
View ArticleCommunicating Climate Change to Agricultural Audiences
The objectives of this publication are (1) to outline some climate-related challenges facing agriculture, (2) to address challenges in communicating climate change issues, and (3) to propose best...
View ArticleFactors When Considering an Agricultural Drainage System
Drainage of excess soil water is essential to sustainable agronomic production on many soils in the Mid-Atlantic region. Drainage can improve crop yields, reduce year-to-year yield variability, and...
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