By Matthew Warnken           

Tuesday, 2 October 2007

Increasing global populations combined with severe drought are likely to combine in a global 'food shock' where countries are unable to feed themselves. Market reform is needed - not to pay farmers to walk away from land made unproductive after years of abuse and neglect, but ongoing payment to restore ecosystem services so we can continue to feed ourselves.

The link between the current farming crisis in Australia and cost cutting (or supply chain 'management') may not be immediately obvious. However, the strategy of cutting the costs of goods sold is unsustainable in the long term, a fact highlighted by the ecological realities of food production - or lack of food production in times of severe drought.

By Hugh Lovel

Global warming gets a lot of press and not many are aware that half our excess CO₂ dissolves into the oceans reacting with calcium to form limestone which settles into the deeps. This won't last. As the oceans lose their calcium and acidify they absorb less CO₂. Gradually more will stay in the atmosphere, and global warming may double and redouble.

This topic has engaged my interest and investigation for over twenty years and I have published five books on the subject.  I became interested in cancer because my relatives kept dying of it in spite of the doctors' best efforts to fix them. The broad-strokes of cancer and why we fail with it (when we shouldn't) can be summarised as follows:

By Jeffrey M. Smith (author 'Seed of Deception')

Monsanto was quite happy to recruit young Kirk Azevedo to sell their genetically engineered cotton. Kirk had grown up on a California farm and had worked in several jobs monitoring and testing pesticides and herbicides. Kirk was bright, ambitious, handsome, and idealistic -- the perfect candidate to project the company's "Save the World Through Genetic Engineering" image.

It was that image, in fact, that convinced Kirk to take the job in 1996. "When I was contacted by the headhunter from Monsanto, I began to study the company, namely the work of their CEO, Robert Shapiro."

Kirk was thoroughly impressed with Shapiro's promise of a golden future through genetically modified (GM) crops. "He described how we would reduce the in-process waste from manufacturing, turn our fields into factories, and produce anything from lifesaving drugs to insect-resistant plants. It was fascinating to me." Kirk thought, "Here we go. I can do something to help the world and make it a better place."

He left his job and accepted a position at Monsanto, rising quickly to become the facilitator for GM cotton sales in California and Arizona. He would often repeat Shapiro's vision to customers, researchers, even fellow employees.

After about three months, he visited Monsanto's St. Louis headquarters for the first time for new employee training. There too, he took the opportunity to let his colleagues know how enthusiastic he was about Monsanto's technology that was going to reduce waste, decrease poverty, and help the world.