Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

Food & Farming

Acknowledgement of the Need for Management of Australia’s Rangelands

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FANCY an article on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation website suggesting that, “the rangelands are overall, in remarkably good health”. Not only that, but the recent article suggested there is a role for landholder in the management of Australia’s rangelands. Capricorn coast

As Barry Traill explained:

“Ecologists worry that with disappearance of the rangelands’ custodians there will be an explosion in invasive animal and plant species.

“The outback is one of the few great natural places in the world but it needs people to manage it with fires, and to manage the feral animals.”

Leaving Mt Morris, Charleville: Cate Stuart

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“There is a crisis in Australian farming and grazing fraternity. Bank foreclosures are increasing at a rapid rate. Land valuations, lending criteria, misrepresentation from business advisors, increasing cost of production, low commodity prices, over regulation, animal rights activists all these, and many more reasons are causing a tidal wave to crash down on the rural and regional centres across the Nation…” Cate, Mt Morris, Charleville.

Update June 5, 2014
Some relevant history: Cate speaking to ABC radio May 20, 2014, about how carbon farming is a “good business strategy” at http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-20/mount-morris-cate-stuart/5465060 . But the banks, for good reason, thought otherwise. I don’t know how a grazier can lament the increasing cost of production, and then expect a subsidy for carbon farming. Clearly Cate was after a handout, she was, and apparently still is, hoping for a financial benefit at the altar of anthropogenic global warming.

Retraction of GM-Maize Rat Study Findings

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Dear ABCA Subscribers,

The journal Food and Chemical Toxicology today announced the retraction of the article Long term toxicity of a Roundup herbicide and a Roundup-tolerant genetically modified maize by Séralini et al first published online in September 2012.

Shortly after the article was originally published, the journal received many letters to the editor expressing concerns about the validity of the findings, the proper use of animals and even allegations of fraud.rat

The study alleged that biotech corn and herbicides caused tumours and organ damage, and led to premature death in laboratory rats.

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), in agreement with food safety regulators globally, rejected the conclusions of the study, finding “On the basis of the many scientific deficiencies identified in the study, FSANZ does not accept the conclusions made by the authors and has therefore found no justification to reconsider the safety of NK603 corn.”

The journal Food and Chemical Toxicology’s retraction today states:

“The Editor-in-Chief found no evidence of fraud or intentional misrepresentation of the data. However, there is a legitimate cause for concern regarding both the number of animals in each study group and the particular strain selected. The low number of animals had been identified as a cause for concern during the initial review process, but the peer-review decision ultimately weighed that the work still had merit despite this limitation. A more in-depth look at the raw data revealed that no definitive conclusions can be reached with this small sample size regarding the role of either NK603 or glyphosate in regards to overall mortality or tumor incidence. Given the known high incidence of tumors in the Sprague-Dawley rat, normal variability cannot be excluded as the cause of the higher mortality and incidence observed in the treated groups.”

The journal’s letter to Séralini requesting he withdraw his article can be downloaded here. The responses of a number of Australian and international scientists given when the study was first published can be found here.

ABCA will be disseminating this information in the coming weeks and months to ensure that Australians are informed of the erroneous nature of the conclusions drawn from this study. We would encourage subscribers to do the same.

Jessica Lee
Chair, Public Affairs Working Group
Agricultural Biotechnology Council of Australia

Northern Australian Agriculture Will Need GM Cotton

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As part of his election campaigning, the Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was recently in Darwin and Kununurra revealing plans for an expansion of the Ord River scheme including into the Northern Territory. But there was no mention of a major obstacle to making such a plan viable, in particular the removal of absurd anti-cotton and anti-GM legislation. cotton

While GM cotton is the one crop that can make large irrigation schemes in northern Australia viable, the Northern Territory banned the growing of cotton in 2003 and the Western Australian Government declared the whole state a GM-free zone in 2004. These two pieces of legislation make the cultivation of cotton an uncertain proposition in northern Australia. [Read more…] about Northern Australian Agriculture Will Need GM Cotton

Scientific Community Condemns Destruction of Golden Rice

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On 8th August 2013, vandals destroyed a Philippine government field trial of Golden Rice (GR).Golden Rice

A petition organised by Dr Channapatna S. Prakash, a professor of plant molecular genetics, explains that…

“As the world’s population continues its increase, sustainable food production is becoming increasingly challenging. More food must be produced in the next 50 years than has been produced since the invention of agriculture. GM crops are a critical resource in accelerating increases in crop productivity in general, as well as in enhancing their nutritional value to treat malnutrition and nutrient deficiencies. In that context, Golden Rice is a critical resource in fighting the devastating consequences of widespread vitamin A deficiency in developing nations.

“Research on Golden Rice at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is part of their humanitarian work to reduce vitamin A deficiency, a serious condition of malnutrition mostly affecting women and children by causing sickness and leading, in many cases, to blindness and premature death of millions each year. According to IRRI, vitamin A deficiency affects more than 15% of children aged 6 months to 5 years and subclinical vitamin A deficiency affects 10% of pregnant women in the Philippines. Golden Rice, when it becomes freely available to farmers as planned, can substantially contribute to the alleviation of this important aspect of malnutrition…

Read more, and sign the petition, here http://tinyurl.com/lbm7jm2

Coalition’s Soil Carbon Plan Unviable

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THERE will soon be a federal election in Australia. One of the issues that should be discussed and debated is ‘climate change’ and how the Australian Labor party, led by Kevin Rudd, versus the Conservative Coalition, led by Tony Abbott, plan to address this important issue.

Central to the Coalition’s policy is a Direction Action Plan [1] and central to this plan is the idea that farmers can and should be paid to sequest carbon in their soil. Liverpool Plains February 2007

This is how the plan is explained in the policy document:

“Soil Carbons – Once in a Century Replenishment of our Soils

The single largest opportunity for CO2 emissions reduction in Australia is through bio-sequestration in general, and in particular, the replenishment of our soil carbons. It is also the lowest cost CO2 emissions reduction available in Australia on a large scale.

Significantly improving soil carbons also helps soil quality, farm productivity and water efficiency, and should be a national goal regardless of the CO2 abatement benefits.

[Read more…] about Coalition’s Soil Carbon Plan Unviable