I have changed my mind about participating in the carbon credit program and I have resolved to give the money I received to St Jude’s Children’s Hospital.
Here is why.
[Read more…] about North Dakota Farmer Comments on Carbon Credits
Food & Farming
Australian Farmers Finally Benefit from GM Canola
MONSANTO Australia Ltd has released the final results from a survey of its 2008 Roundup Ready canola growers – that is those farmers who choose to grow genetically modified canola this last season.
Canola is an important crop in Australia, particularly as part of a wheat rotation. While North American farmers have been growing GM canola for some years, because of bans in Australia following a successful anti-GM campaign spearheaded by Greenpeace, 2008-2009 was the first season for GM canola in Australia.
The results taken from 92 of the 100 growers that delivered GM canola grain, indicate that Roundup Ready canola outperformed alternative herbicide tolerant canola varieties when it came to yield and overall benefits. 100 percent of growers surveyed said they will plant Roundup Ready canola again.
[Read more…] about Australian Farmers Finally Benefit from GM Canola
Myths about Australian Farming
IT is often stated that not only were the early European settlers in Australia hell-bent on making a little Europe/England, but also that the farming systems used since are still part of such an attempt and therefore should be abandoned…
[In fact] the settlers were quite prepared to use things native: local trees for timber and honey, their bark for tanning; kangaroos for meat, native fish for food; but above all, native grasses for what was for nearly a century to be their mainstay, the sheep industry. They greatly valued these grasses, and soon called them by local names—kangaroo and wallaby grasses…
Some make much of the kangaroo foot being softer than the sheep—ignoring the enormous damage done by the softest foot of all, the rabbit! It is grazing habit and pressure that matter…
I’m quoting from a new piece at Quadrant Online by David F. Smith, Melbourne University, entitled ‘Green Myths About Australian Farming’. You can read the complete text here:
https://www.quadrant.org.au/magazine/issue/2009/4/green-myths-about-australian-farming
Biotechnology and Food Production in Africa
In a world where almost a billion people went hungry last year—119 million more than in 2007—and with food demand set to double by midcentury, the taboo against GM foods is crumbling. Read more.
Shell To Speed Development of Next Generation Biofuels
ROYAL DUTCH SHELL has become the world’s largest distributor of biofuels. Shell is also a leader in the development of next generation biofuels, using non-food bio materials, alternative processes and high performance fuels. That’s according to a recent media release from the corportaion. It also states that:
[Read more…] about Shell To Speed Development of Next Generation Biofuels
De-Development and Australian Agriculture
NO Longer is it enough to talk about growing intelligently or using technology to meet long-term problems. Instead, scarcity politics seeks to slow and even reverse material progress through what President Obama’s science adviser, John Holdren, calls “de-development.”
That’s according to an article by Joel Kotkin recently published in Forbes which laments, in particular, restrictions on the capacity of those who manage water in the Central Valley of California. Like the Murray Darling Basin in Australia, the Central Valley has been experiencing drought, and this has been exacerbated by the politics of “de-development”.
[Read more…] about De-Development and Australian Agriculture
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.
