Outspoken liberal senator Bill Heffernan has suggested that Australia’s farmers move North to the tropical parts of Australia where there is more water.
In two recent blog posts at the GMO Pundit Website Roger Kalla asks: What would farmers grow in northern Australia?
In the first post he considers soybeans for biodiesel and animal feed: http://gmopundit.blogspot.com/2006/10/go-north-young-man-go-north-cropping.html .
And in the second cotton for biodiesel: http://gmopundit.blogspot.com/2006/10/another-biodiesel-crop-for-northern.html .
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD has worked in industry and government. She is currently researching a novel technique for long-range weather forecasting funded by the B. Macfie Family Foundation.
Jennifer, Senator Heffernan also joined that collective of Australian celebrity commentators in opposing the Snowy Hydro privatisation earlier this year.
Any conservative or classical liberal should get really concerned when politicians start talking up any kind of “worker relocation scheme.”
Heffernan is a nut, 100%
Did anyone see Bill Heffernan and Professor Peter Cullen discussing global warming, effects of drought on the farmers and the environment and one of the suggested solutions – the move of agriculture up North?
If not see the following link which gives you the video of the discussion.
http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2006/s1770170.htm
I thought that Bill Heffernan made some valid points on these issues being a farmer in drought stricken country NSW.
However my posts were not about Bill Heffernan but about what crops you can grow in the Northern Territory. There is plenty of water up North for growing irrigated crops during the dry period but the soils are generally not very fertile.Energy Corps Australia have been trying out Soybeans grown in the dry and is planting another trial of Soybeans in January 2007 to evaluate the yiled during the wet season.
Interestingly if such trials were succesful they could open up a new cropping area in North Australia with the production of oil seed crops for biodiesel being the major use of such a crop.
The proximity of the burgeoning biodiesel industry in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia are possible eport markets that have a demand for an alternative feed stock.
Roger – inspiring stuff, thanks for that:
“A Ministry northern development water and climate change”
Bringing together Science and knowledge
Bigger vision than Snowy.
Close to Asia, fresh food markets
Need a set of interlinked policies.
What else is new and breaks the current nexus. Davidson’s Northern Myth withstanding.