Banning Organic Farming?

I just received this, but admit I heard whispers of it previously. Intentionally, or perhaps not, Monsanto, Cargill, Tyson, ADM are pushing to BAN organic farming via their recent  food safety Bill submission. What the proposed legislation wants to accomplish:

* Legally binds state agriculture depts to enforcing federal guidelines effectively taking away the states power to do anything other than being food police for the federal dept.

* Effectively criminalizes organic farming but doesn't actually use the word organic.

* Effects anyone growing food even if they are not selling it but consuming it.

* Effects anyone producing meat of any kind including wild game.

* Legislation is so broad based that every aspect of growing or producing food can be made illegal. There are no specifics which is bizarre considering how long the legislation is.

* Section 103 is almost entirely about the administrative aspect of the legislation. It will allow the appointing of officials from the factory farming corporations and lobbyists and classify them as experts and allow them to determine and interpret the legislation. Who do you think they are going to side with?

* Section 206 defines what will be considered a food production facility and what will be enforced up all food production facilities. The wording is so broad based that a backyard gardener could be fined and more.

* Section 207 requires that the state's agriculture dept act as the food police and enforce the federal requirements. This takes away the states power and is in violation of the 10th amendment.  

Co-incidentally, and certainly conveniently, the debate on food safety is hotting up.....

The paradox for me is the rise in waves of mass food contaminations always link back to failures in factory/industrial farming/processing models - yet these agribusinesses seem to be suggesting that it is the factory/industrial farming/processing models that will provide the solution...much like their arguments for pesticides, herbicides, GM....the problems and the solutions roll out in a never-ending stream.

All Research Leads to Climate Change

The conclusion is that during the 2005 drought the Amazon rainforests emitted 5 billion tonnes of CO2 (which makes our national emissions of half a billion tonnes seem rather insignificant). But what I find more interesting is their need to link it all back to climate change....especially when other research shows that deforestation, degradation through logging, and fragmentation are accelerating the drying out of forests in the Southern Amazon. Really, do all roads have to lead to climate change?

And its climate change that is accused of causing the death of trees throughout Britain. I found the comments at the bottom of the article particularly interesting. I guess it depends on whether you see pests and disease as a cause or symptom - I would suggest that the problems are more symptoms of a man-made toxic environment via air, water and ground than climate change per se.

For example, this 200 year old ranch's emerging livestock problems has been linked to a toxic environment, but could just as easily have been linked to climate change. Its all in the way the problem is approach and studied. Ubiquitous toxicity is perhaps harder to pin down than obvious point-source pollution, but simply pinning things to the intangible concept of climate change is rather disingenuous. 

Truths and Myths About Carbon Dioxide

This is a personal statement to the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee by William Happer - who has spent his professional life studying the interactions of visible and infrared radiation with gases - one of the main physical phenomena behind the greenhouse effect. He explains that at least 90% of greenhouse warming is due to water vapour and clouds, and all the models assume the water feedback is positive, while satellite observations suggest that the feedback is zero or negative. Wow, what a brilliant piece of writing with so many excellent points.

$20 Million to Soil Carbon

I was reluctant to post this funding news up because I was torn by the good news this seems to herald, but horribly concerned by the likely research that it would support. Interestingly I was not the only one and a submission has been organised by the Carbon Coalition and signed off by a number of concerned citizens equally as worried. I have added my name to the list and I would encourage all those that feel the same way to let This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it know so the list of names can be presented to the agricultural minister.

Photosynthesis Link with Mycorrhizae

Although rather technical the conclusion is wonderfully straight forward - there is a direct link from tree photosynthesis through roots and their mycorrhizal fungi to soil solution chemistry. The finding of a substantial photosynthate driven production of dissolved organic carbon (soluble carbon) challenges the paradigm that dissolved organic carbon is mainly the result of decomposition of organic matter. I wonder if the carbon myth busters are tuned in?

Aerobic Soils Are a Methane Sink

Aerobic, well-drained soils are usually a sink for methane, due to the high rate of methane diffusion into such soils and its subsequent oxidation by methanotrophic microorganisms. Large emissions of CH4 are common where anaerobic conditions are favoured. Globally, soils are a net sink for CH4, and are estimated to have consumed 30 Mt CH4 yr-1 during 2000-2004, equivalent to 5% of the annual load of CH4 to the atmosphere...source - NSW DPI (pages 16 - 17 in the full version). Note, healthy alive soils are aerobic soils.

Don Burke, Stuart Hill and Keyline

This is a recent interview of Prof Stuart Hill by Don Burke (fast forward 1 hour in to find the interview) - as stated: ' If you heard that someone in Australia had found a way to capture more carbon in soil than we release from ALL fossil fuel burning (and so enable us to exceed our Kyoto commitment) - AND in the process make our landscapes fire-proof, drought-proof and flood-proof - AND make our soils phenomenally fertile and productive, while conserving our precious biodiversity - I suspect you would be interested and even more proud to be an Australian.'

There is a campaign starting to stop development on PA Yeoman's original property - many people consider that it should hold heritage value. Perhaps through this process PA Yeoman may eventually get the accolades in his own country that he deserved all along.

Agriculture in Post-Kyoto Agreement?

International Federation of Agricultural Producers are pushing for the inclusion of agriculture as a stand-alone component of the expected post-Kyoto agreement on climate change at the upcoming UN multilateral negotiations to be held in December 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark, which will set the framework for how the world deals with climate change. Until now, agriculture has not had a place at the table in the negotiations on climate change.

Low Phosphorus Farming Systems

The Crop and Pasture Science Journal (Vol 60 No. 2), just published, is a special issue on low phosphorus farming systems. I will provide links to many of the abstracts and attach snippets that caught my interest.

New Directions for Phosphorus Management in Australian Soils and Farming Systems - Australian studies have identified organic farms that have been managed profitably for many years despite the absence of soluble P inputs, pointing to the possibility of useful approaches to P management that are not yet fully understood. Recent prominence has also been given to farmers seeking an alternative low-input approach to mixed farming, one example being ‘pasture cropping'. Promising areas of research are offering significant benefits to farmers who need to cease or reduce further inputs of soluble P fertiliser.

Organic No-Till Farming

Researchers at the nonprofit Rodale Institute are now developing a hybrid "organic no-till" farming system that they say could sponge up more carbon than any other way of growing food. The paradigm shift represented by organic no-till is that it strives to eliminate the use of both herbicides and tillage. While this form of farming is nothing new to biological farmers in Australia - imagine when the Rodale Institute gets his head around pasture cropping....

Tell The Truth on Free Range

Most pigs marketed as free-range or "bred" free-range will have spent only three weeks of their lives outdoors - not exactly what consumers are expecting when they buy the product. The Free Range Pork Farmers Association has appealed to the peak pig industry body, Australian Pork Limited, and their requests have not only been denied but a descriptor once posted on the APL website defining the term free-range has now been removed.

What's In a Label?

Marketing departments like to invent terms that sound good but mean anything - non-enforceable claims don't result in lawsuits. Like free range, the definition of say grass fed can be stretched to include animals fed grain, and can be raised on grass in confinement, as long as they have access to pasture - although "access" can be, and often is, nothing more than a facility with a door to a small outdoor area.

What is Sustainable Food?

A great debate on what should be considered sustainable - Nearly everyone agrees that we need new methods that produce more higher-quality calories using fewer resources, such as water or energy, and accruing fewer "externals," such as pollution or unfair labor practices. Where the consensus fails is over what should replace the bad old industrial system. For example, familiar models don't work well on the scale required to feed billions of people. Or they focus too narrowly on one issue (salad greens that are organic but picked by exploited workers). Or they work only in limited circumstances. (A $4 heirloom tomato is hardly going to save the world.)

GM Hyperbole

My goodness, what an unsubstantiated claim to put into the public arena - The ideal plant to help farmers battle climate change is not likely to be brought into Australia for years. Guess what plant that is? GM lucerne!!

Carbon Footprinting

During a recent carbon footprinting exercise on potato crisps by Carbon Trust, they found that "the contribution from potato distribution was about one per cent of the total footprint, whereas making the fertiliser that the farmer used equalled 15 per cent of the footprint." 

Meanwhile Cadbury's calculated that milk in their milk chocolate product contributes just over 60% of their carbon emissions, largely hailing from methane emitting dairy cows. I doubt they took into account the carbon sequestered by the pasture (assuming they were on well managed pasture).

Supermarket Bully Tactics

When there is a duopoly as with our supermarkets - the suppliers tend to become the fall-guy, and there is no obvious recourse. What a horrible system to be working within! In an effort to extract an extra $500 million from suppliers, the Coles supermarket chain is threatening to remove some products if suppliers refuse to pay higher rebates. In the past, higher trading terms brought benefits to suppliers such as promotional activity, better shelf position or swifter settlement of invoices, but none of these appear to be on offer in this round of negotiations.

Meanwhile in the UK the rules that govern agreements between retailer and suppliers could be strengthened under a new proposal by the UK's Competition Commission to protect manufacturers and others from restrictive practices and to ensure that suppliers do not have unfair or unexpected costs imposed on them by retailers.

New Consumer Campaign Tool

Interactive technologies such as email and social networking systems allow consumers to tell manufacturers and marketers exactly what they think of new products or new developments of existing products almost instantly. Recently a packaging launch was reversed due to a few protests via Twitter, and other examples are emerging, but it does raise the issue of disproportionate voting...

Why Health is the Key

This report was written in response to the UK Labour Government's Policy Commission on the Future of Farming and Food. It concludes that health is the central consideration of the nation's farming and food system. The key purpose of food and farming is - or should be - to advance the health and well-being of the population!!  Why Health is the Key 10/03/2009,17:46 740.73 Kb

Ecological Literacy

The separation of nature and humanity, inconceivable to a hunter gatherer, resulted in a division of knowledge. Nature became an Other. Ecological or environmental literacy refers to the skills, experience, and concepts with which we understand Nature and attempt to solve ecological problems. There have been three distinct waves/generations of literacy - the third has evolved from private stewardship and pristine nature, in some kind of imagined state unaltered by human activities, is no longer a central assumption or referent;  and complexity is addressed through a functioning feedback loop.

A War on Biofilms

Bacteria have the ability to form "biofilms" - large aggregations of microbes embedded in a slimy matrix - and has been one of the weapons the organisms use to defeat the immune system, antibiotic drugs and other threats. It is also the scourge of compost tea producers! Biofilm colonies disperse naturally in response to environmental factors or to spread and form new colonies. New research has discovered a chemical signal, in the form of a fatty acid, that tells bacteria it is time to break up.

Station Hand for Biodynamic Beef Farm

a Station Hand is required for a Biodynamic Beef property near Walcha contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it 0428 695184

Mature Couple for NT Cattle Station

Family operation, high quality Brahman herd run with low stress stock-handling techniques and under Holistic Management principles. Numul Numul is a 500 square kilometre property 120 km from Mataranka (110 km of bitumen road) and the Thermal Springs and parallel to the mighty Roper River. To commence at first round muster, early April 2009 or as soon thereafter as possible. Phone: Clair or Moira  08-89754460

FutureFood Qld

FutureFood Qld was launched at the Rural Press Club luncheon in Brisbane recently. It is a state-wide organisation setup through Landcare to "strike the balance" between mining and agriculture and protect Queensland's future food production capacity. Their website includes directions on how to access the Department of Mines and Energy Interactive Resources Tenure Mapping site. This mapping tool allows users to pinpoint an area in Queensland and display geological data with mining and tenure information applicable to that location.

Fresh Ideas for Work and Family Program

This national initiative was launched on 1 March 2009 and provides grants of $5000 to $15000 to successful small businesses to implement practices that help employees balance their work and family obligations and improve employee retention and productivity. Applications for grants are now being invited from eligible small businesses. The current funding round will close on 24 April 2009.

Innovation in Agriculture Awards

The Australian National Farmers Federation is calling for nominations for its inaugural
Innovation in Agriculture Awards. The Awards seek to encourage and recognise
excellence across four categories: sustainability, value adding, new technology, community development. Nominations close Friday 3 April 2009.

Bionutrient Winter Program

Bionutrient Solutions have released their 2009 winter program which includes a few new products - Cereal RS, Legume RS and Hybrid 3-14 Granule. The overall aim is to reduce the dependence on larger inputs of water solubles like MAP as a starter by cranking up nutrient cycling in the root-zone biologically, utilising the release of energy which Oxidation-Reduction reactions in the slot can provide when chemistry fires and using sap testing to ensure the componentry of the package is on track. Also note: they have increased the shelf life of the liquid inject and seed dressing products (to 6 months minimum).

SFI Newsletter

The Soil Foodweb Institute's March 2009 newsletter is out and covers: native pastures are profitable; Soil Foodweb course in June 09; biodiversity in medicine; possible problems with glyphosate; charred farm waste; soil biology movies; tropical soil biodiversity project; biotechnology may assist with climate change; link of soil microbes with plant growth; and soil biology science.  SFI March 09 12/03/2009,22:19 352.27 Kb

Vegetation Management Workshop

A Vegetation Management Workshop will be held in Goondiwindi on the 20th April to provide an overview of the Vegetation Management Act and how it affects landholders (ie, what can and can't be cleared without needing a permit). Each participating enterprise will receive the latest Regional Ecosystem map and a satellite map of their property(ies).  Registration Form 11/03/2009,19:33 95.00 Kb

How the Rivers Run

Initially in response to Peter Andrews' take on landscape water management the Border Rivers-Gwydir CMA pulled together a river management course, which will now be traveling to Goondiwindi 17-18th March, Bellata 24-25th March, Ashford 6-7th April, Tenterfield 23rd & 30th April, Warialda 28-29th April. It uses local knowledge and includes local examples as well as expert knowledge and practical skills.

RCS GrazingForProfit Courses

GrazingforProfit is Australia's most highly regarded business school for the grazing industry. The course provides a holistic insight into the many factors that affect your business. This course is approved for the FarmReady Reimbursement Grant of $1500 per person per financial year towards the fees, along with a further $500pp towards associated expenses such as travel and accommodation. A FarmReady Application with the course details already completed for you will be forwarded upon registration for the course. Next courses are in Gunnedah 27th April - 3rd May, then Bourke 21st - 27th June.

NSW Sustainable Development Conference

The NSW Sustainable Development Conference 2009 will bring together decisionmakers from the private and public sectors, industry leaders, local government, scientists, conservationists and others to discuss the current and future directions and frameworks for sustainability in NSW, and how it will affect NSW state and local government, business and the community. There will be over 30 speakers and held in Sydney 12-13 May.

Bushfire Resistant Design Forum

An upcoming Bushfire Resistant Design Forum with Permaculture co-orginator David Holmgren and ASPO Australia's Ian Dunlop will be held Saturday 21 March at Eltham.

Health

More Chemicals Determined Toxic

The Canadian government has declared four chemicals widely used in paints, varnishes, stains and industrial cleaners as toxic to human health, paving the way for their possible ban in products. The chemicals to be declared toxic to human health are: 2-(2-Methoxyethoxy) ethanol (DEGME); 2-Methoxyethanol acetate (2-MEA); 2-methoxy-1-propanol; and C.I. Pigment Red 3. This comes on top of previous announcements on Bispenol A; two types of siloxanes known as D4 and D5 - commonly found in shampoos, skin care products, deodorants and household cleaning products; and pigment yellow 34 and red 103, a colourant used in paints, dyes, inks, and plastics; thiourea, used in electronic products, insecticides and textiles; isoprene, used in rubber and plastic manufacturing; and oxirane, used in paints, coatings and adhesives.

Deodorant and Breast Cancer Link

Research has shown that women who suffer repeated appearance of benign breast lumps might be more likely ultimately to develop cancer than those who do not. And there is a growing suspicion that these lumps could be linked to heavy use of anti-perspirant products.

Anti-Scuff Chocolate

The weird world of food manipulation! A new unamed 'agent' has been created that responds to customer demand for a product that upholds the appearance of chocolate while protecting its surface from scratches. The firm remained tight-lipped about the ingredients of the anti-scuff agent that acts as an 'invisible protection', but added that the product conforms to all EU food regulations.

Eye Foods

Anything to find a marketing niche...eye health ingredients are increasing as consumers turn to nutrition to protect against blinding diseases such as age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma. Supplement ingredients currently linked to eye health benefits are primarily antioxidants, and include lutein, beta-carotene, zeaxanthin, astaxanthin and bilberry. Amusingly, it appears that consumers don't know about it, so the industry is preparing to help them - following the marketing maxim of creating a need when there wasn't one?

Brushless Tooth Cleaner

Falling between pharmacy and confectionery, a new tooth-friendly product from France enters the competitive marketplace for portable breath fresheners. The tablet is crunched to a paste, and then swallowed. "Our product is between toothpaste and chewing gum."

Healing Using Your Own Blood

Platelet-rich plasma therapy involves injecting portions of a patient's blood directly into the injured area, which catalyzes the body's instincts to repair muscle, bone and other tissue. It even appears to help regenerate ligament and tendon fibers, which could shorten rehabilitation time and possibly eliminate the need for surgery.

Trans-Fats and Interestified Fats

Now that the health dangers of trans fats have been clearly exposed, the food industry would do you a great favor by returning to the use of natural saturated fats for frying and in baked goods. But that would mean reversing their entirely unscientific, 50-year campaign to vilify saturated fats, and would bring an end to the enormously powerful edible oil industry. Instead they have turned to the laboratory and created interestified fats...

Organic Coca-Cola?

Again, anything to find a marketing niche...Coca-Cola is attempting to reposition itself into the health food market with the introduction of Diet Coke Plus, which is fortified with B vitamins, zinc, and magnesium. What next? Organic Coke?

Eggs are Good for You

I know my father bowed to the belief that too many eggs were bad for you because of their cholesterol content, so thought this article might be of interest to others that were convinced too. To me I could not understand why something so natural and know to have been eaten by our ancestors for so long could be that bad for you.

Australian Vaccination Stories

The event leading up to these letters was an ABC interview about a measles outbreak in Beewah Qld - they are absolutely remarkable. Yes, those that consciously choose not to vaccinate tend to be highly-educated, well researched parents (not parasitic hippies) - surprisingly, many even work in the medical industry itself. And like many of these stories, my children are also healthy and thriving - and have never needed a doctor.

The US Vaccine Court

This so-called 'court' has certainly helped a struggling industry in the 1970s turn into $21.5billion one. For example, if a child becomes seriously injured or even dies after receiving a vaccine, the vaccine makers are completely shielded - and IF they are ever awarded compensation through NVICP, it is the taxpayers who pay, not the vaccine makers.

Flu Vaccine Contaminated with Avian Virus

The influenza vaccine produced by Baxter International Inc was 'unintentionally' contaminated with live H5N1 avian influenza virus has shocked the medical world and caused panic in the European nations where the vaccine was distributed and administered. My first thought was to query the 'unintentional'....

Contaminated Meningitis C Vaccine

Health officials have been forced to withdraw 21,000 doses of the meningitis C vaccine from GP clinics around the UK after it emerged that some doses may have been contaminated with a blood-poisoning bacterium - Staphylococcus aureus bacterium!

Cartoon

Extracted from E-Club newsletter

Miscellaneous

Robert Kiyosaki, author of the #1 bestselling personal finance book of all time, Rich Dad Poor Dad is taking a new approach with his next book. He's releasing the book, Conspiracy of the Rich: The 8 New Rules of Money, online - for free. And he's inviting readers to participate in the writing process. I just read Chapter 2 and its great, and I have passed it onto some big picture thinkers who I know would be able to contribute some significant, but little understood ideas. I reckon everyone will benefit from this one.

Events

For all March events

For all April events

* How the Rivers Run - Goondiwindi Qld 17th - 18th March 2009.

* Bushfire Resistant Design Forum -Eltham Vic 21st March 2009.

* How the Rivers Run - Bellata NSW 24th - 25th March 2009.

* How the Rivers Run - Ashford NSW 6th - 7th April 2009.

* Vegetation Management Workshop - Goondiwindi Qld 20th April 2009.

* How the Rivers Run - Tenterfield 23rd and 30th April 2009.

* How the Rivers Run - Warialda NSW 28th - 29th April 2009.

* Sustainable Development Conference - Sydney NSW 12th - 13th May 2009.

* GrazingForProfit - Gunnedah NSW 27th April - 3rd May 2009.

* GrazingForProfit - Bourke NSW 21st - 27th June 2009.

Postscript

Its all in the timing! What wonderful photographs - just love the tulip tutu.