Catching Up, Rhizobia Help Repel Aphids, Protecting Against Frost Damage, Plantstones, Soil Bacteria Adjust to High CO2, Colony Collapse A Myth?, Colours, The State of Green Business 2010, Factory Farming, Polyface Farm, An Inconvenient Truth About Food, Treating Mastitis Naturally, Leibig's Law, Surveying Farmers Views on Climate Change, Bacteria Mop Up Atrazine, Warming Sceptic Friends Part Ways, Questioning the Benefits of GM Canola, New Pest in GM Cotton, GM Meltdown Continues, Still Opposed to GM Crops, Is it GM Fruit?, Monsanto Enters Haiti, GM Eucalypts Approved in the US, Restricting GM Research, Curious Oil Dispersant Choices, What's New..., Backyard Revolution, Caring For Our Country Funding Cutbacks, Canada's Organic Newsletter, Soil Biology Workshop, Quantum Agriculture Intestive Workshop, Business of Farming Courses, NZ Soil Carbon Conference, Joel Salatin in Australia, Maarten Stapper in Brisbane, Soil and Plant Nutrition Workshop, Technology of Growing Grass, Health (one poison replaced with another, lead in your dinner plates, the sun not sunscreen, too much antioxidants?, link between asthma and paracetamol, potato rings better than potato strips, farming and breast cancer, Viscum Schwenk, corruption at every step of collecting medical evidence, what is codex alimentarius?, processed meats are the problem), Quote, Cartoon, Miscellaneous, Events, Postscript

Catching Up

A few days out of the week has a big impact on gettting these newsletters out. My apologies for the lateness of this one. It is quite likely this week's newsletter will also be late - I am away giving a talk on the day the newsletter is due out again.

Rhizobia Help Repel Aphids

US researchers found that soybeans associated with naturally occurring rhizobia had lower aphid densities than either the artificially fertilized plants or the plants inoculated with commercial rhizobia. They also found the same level of nitrogen in both soybean plants inoculated with natural rhizobia and those inoculated with commercial varieties. The researchers do not yet know what the natural nitrogen-fixing bacteria do to repel aphids.

Protecting Against Frost Damage

Increase plant carbohydrate levels because higher levels of carbohydrates in plants during a frost event means less leakage, hence damage during thawing. Biological farmers measure “Brix levels” with a refractometer. Crops with a higher sugar content (high Brix) will also have a lower freezing point, with an associated protection against frost damage.

Plantstones

PhytOC (phytolith occluded carbon or plantstone) is highly resistant to decomposition compared to other soil organic carbon components, accounting for up to 82% of the total carbon in well-drained soils after 1000 years of organic matter decomposition. This offers the opportunity to use plant species that yield high amounts of PhytOC to enhance terrestrial carbon sequestration.

Soil Bacteria Adjust to High CO2

It's been proposed that as soils warm, the bacteria in the soil become more active and release more carbon dioxide. But new research suggests that while this effect is real, it is limited in time. After a short period, perhaps a few years, CO2 emissions from soil decline to control levels (i.e. to the levels prior to warming).  Field trials have shown this effect.

Colony Collapse a Myth?

A new unexplained disease is supposedly laying waste to honeybees in the United States, but one of the world’s leading bee pathologists, CSIRO’s Dr Denis Anderson, is yet to be convinced that it’s actually happening. “CCD is a recently invented term for an old disorder: winter losses...And we all know that losses over winter are due to a range of factors, from varroa to nutrition and management.”

Colours

Colors is primarily a fruit business, spanning the whole value-chain, from growing fruit on their farms, through to packing, shipping and marketing of their products. They market around 16 million cartons of a wide variety of fruits around the world, which accounts for 8% of South Africa's annual fruit production. Over 60% of their exports are marketed through the large retail chains in the UK and continental Europe. The Colors Foundation was established to develop and deliver a comprehensive sustainable business strategy that includes trials with biochar. [An inspirational read]

The State of Green Business 2010

This third annual edition of the State of Green Business report aims to measure the environmental impacts of the emerging green economy. This year’s effort was colored by the Great Recession and its myriad of impacts on individuals, companies and governments around the world. In many cases, progress is evident, though not necessarily at the scale and speed needed to effectively address climate change, water shortages, resource scarcity and the toxicity of consumer products, among other pressing issues. [An interesting read that comments on the role of the internet and greenwashing among many other things]

Factory Farming

The book Animal Factory, by David Kirby, takes a close look at factory farms and the problems they cause. In an interview with Time Magazine, Kirby talked about these farms and the appalling lack of government oversight. Factory farms allow us to be removed from taking personal responsibility for raising our own food. There is no one to be held accountable for raising garbage food or treating animals inhumanely because the system has taken on a life of its own.

Polyface Farm

Joel Salatin is a well-known name in the regional food movement in the USA. For nearly 50 years the family has been trying to reverse generations of "traditional" farming, using compost and many of the practices of Holistic Management. Polyface Farm produces beef, poultry, eggs, pork, turkeys, rabbit meat and timber (lumber). They also believe strongly in selling their produce locally and refuse to ship their food to distant locations. He is also featured in the new movie FRESH which celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system. [What a lovely vision for the future]

And if you want to read more about this 'lunatic' farmer - this is another wonderful article from the Sydney Morning Herald [by-the-way, he is touring Australia later this year, see below)

An Inconvenient Truth About Food

The film Food Inc is a warning. Don’t follow the US down the path of food self-regulation. It leads to a nightmarish dystopia where children are killed by burgers, where the raising of animals under appalling conditions happens behind closed doors and where illegal immigrants are poorly paid to mistreat animals under conditions almost as inhumane to them. [This is a terrific review]

Treating Mastitis Naturally

Andy Ibbott is helping to run his family's 200ha dairy farm.  Last year he was introduced to Farming Secrets and commenced moving the family property and livestock away from their dependence on inorganic chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Initially Andy started using natural minerals on his 230 cows, rather than synthetic supplements and antibiotics and noticed that the cows were being attacked less by flies and that their conception rates had improved. He is also using natural remedies for mastitis successfully.

Leibig's Law

Liebig's Law suggests that plant growth is controlled, not by the total amount of nutrients or resources available, but by the availability of the scarcest resource. Liebig's Law was used to support the development of the fertiliser industry, to replace soil nutrient deficiencies with inorganic chemicals, but is it now also applied to biological populations generally and is an integral component in modelling ecosystems. [Good basics for understanding growth]

Surveying Farmers Views on Climate Change

Surveying the attitudes of primary producers toward climate change is part of a new student study at the University of New England. Student Methuan Morgan is undertaking a survey of Australian farmers as part of a research project, A look at farming practices and attitudes towards climate change within the Australian Rural Sector. The survey takes 15-30 minutes online, and is attempting to investigate pro-environmental behaviours, perceived trustworthiness of authorities and attitudes to climate change, attachment to property/land, attitudes to the general environment, and the time perspective of Australian Farmers.

Bacteria Mop Up Atrazine

Scientists have genetically engineered a common bacteria that will, in the lab, detect and seek out atrazine. They see a future where designer microbes can be created to track and clean a wide variety of environmental contaminants. Programming bacteria to take on evolutionally unnatural tasks is one of the foundations of synthetic biology, the rapidly growing field that leverages recent strides in biotech that allow scientists to manufacture, if imprecisely, the building blocks of life.

Warming Sceptic Friends Part Ways

Richard Lindzen and Kerry Emanuel both study the atmosphere and climate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and both have strong conservative streaks and once agreed that the evidence for catastrophic man-made global warming just wasn’t there. But then the climate changed between them. Lindzen has emerged as one of the most prominent climate change skeptics in the world. Emanuel emerged as a preeminent voice on climate change’s potential dangers. [This is an interesting story on the climate change divide, but fits beautifully with a newly released book 'Why We Disagree About Climate Change' by Mike Hulme that explains the divide extremely well. It is not, and can not be a problem/solution proposition. And there are other, arguably better, ways of dealing with global climate than top down international agreements - a must read]

Questioning the Benefits of GM Canola

Despite the claims of increased yields from GM proponents, Sheehan (a Victorian farmer) who has grown GM canola for 3 seasons so far, has recorded no such increase. What he has noticed is a much higher cost of using GM canola than using TT varieties. Sheehan is not alone among farmers who have tried GM canola and are questioning the alleged benefits.

New Pest in GM Cotton

A 10 year study into BT Cotton has revealed that whilst cotton boll worm isn’t a problem there are some significant problems with other broader spectrum “pests” such as mirids. The rise of mirids has driven Chinese farmers back to pesticides — they are currently using about two-thirds as much as they did before Bt cotton was introduced. As mirids develop resistance to the pesticides, Wu expects that farmers will soon spray as much as they ever did. Meanwhile, Chinese researchers are trying to develop cotton plants that kill both bollworms and mirids. [And so the treadmill continues...]

GM Meltdown Continues

Two senior scientists in the US who have been investigating the ecological impacts of glyphosate and the Roundup Ready cropping system for decades are warning of “dire consequences for agriculture such as rendering soils infertile, crops non-productive, and plants less nutritious.” Further, glyphosate stimulates the growth of fungi and enhances the virulence of pathogens such as Fusarium. “Unfortunately, most researchers are forbidden to do work in the area. They don’t have access to isogenic lines [conventional and Roundup Ready plant lines that are otherwise genetically identical], the materials are denied to researchers.”

Still Opposed to GM Crops

GM crops close the circle on the farmer’s knowledge, finally eliminating, after 10,000 years, the farmer’s role in the genetics of agriculture. Every seed is a binding contract with stiff penalties attached, which represents the final transfer of the collective farming wisdom of the human race into corporate hands. Genetically modified crops create the illusion of more and better choices when, in fact, they represent a narrowing of genetic ownership and a model of genetic diversity that is unattainable outside the laboratory. Protests are more than having a resistance to a type of seed. It is also a resistance to a model of agriculture whose failings are all too plain.

Is it GM Fruit?

Most Produce Look-Up numbers (PLU) consist of four digits. They are mainly used in supermarkets to identify fruits and vegetables at the check-out. Some four-digit PLUs are prefixed with an 8 (8xxxx) which denotes genetically modified produce and a 9 (9xxxx) which denotes organically grown produce. Both numbers are prefixes to the standard four digit PLU numbers.

Monsanto Enters Haiti

GM Eucalypts Approved in the US

Federal regulators gave clearance for a large and controversial field test of genetically engineered trees planned for seven states stretching from Florida to Texas. The foreign gene helps the eucalypts withstand the cold. There are concerns that any unintended environmental effects may spread and persist longer in a woodland environment than in crop fields. [I wonder if they have noted the problems with genetically improved monocrops of eucalypts in Tasmania recently?]

Restricting GM Research

A battle is quietly being waged between the industry that produces genetically modified seeds and scientists trying to investigate the environmental impacts of engineered crops. Although companies such as Monsanto have recently given ground, researchers say these firms are still loath to allow independent analyses of their patented — and profitable — seeds.

Curious Oil Dispersant Choices

Two dispersants BP has been using to break up the oil spewing from an undersea wellhead in the Gulf of Mexico carry the federal stamp of approval. But they are not rated as effective or as safe for marine life as at least 12 other government-approved dispersants on the market. Critics have said the major oil companies stockpile Corexit dispersants despite its relatively poor toxicity rating, because of their cozy relationship with Nalco (the manufacturer).

What's New...

I've just discovered Stance Global who outlet horse and cattle feeds and plant fertilisers in Australia. This includes Primephos Guano which is mined from coastal areas of Indonesia, and steam processed to a granule. PrimePhos guano is of consistent quality. They also outlet B-Organic Natural Gypsum mined in Western Australia. Might be worth checking out.

Backyard Revolution

Backyard Revolution is a holistic productive landscape design and animal health management and consultancy service. Transform your urban yard or rural house-yard into a resilient, diverse, food-producing system, or take your rural enterprise to the next level with integrated landscape scale ecological design and management, including landscape re-hydration projects. [Having watched Joel Dunn at work during his year's with Landcare-associated projects I can highly recommend his abilities, knowledge and enthusiasm - I have been incredibly impressed!]

Caring for Our Country Funding Cutbacks

The 2010-11 federal budget has cut-back $81. 3 million from the Caring for Our Country program. It is expected these savings will be achieved through administrative efficiencies and minor adjustments to the program. Funding for the Natural Heritage Trust of Australia will be reduced by $70.4 million and funding for Landcare by $10.9 million.

Canada's Organic Newsletter

This month's newsletter includes: Long-term effects of organic amendments on soil fertility. A review; Effects of band-steaming on microbial activity and abundance in organic farming soil; Manipulating Crop Row Orientation to Suppress Weeds and Increase Crop Yield; Impact of organic pig production systems on CO₂ emission, C sequestration and nitrate pollution; Scale matters: the impact of organic farming on biodiversity at different spatial scales; Selecting for Parasite Resistance in Sheep; and much much more...

Soil Biology Workshop

Making it work for you. This field day will cover soil biology and soil health; interpreting soil test results; how to do you own soil biology testing; making it work for your farm. Guest speakers include Derek Smith of Working with Nature; Jeff Lowien of NSW Industry & Investment; me(!); and Peter Roberts of Northern Rivers CMA. Glen Innes 27th May.

Quantum Agriculture Intensive Workshop

Bring your family for a winter holiday and immerse yourself in the deeper levels of Quantum agriculture. Hugh Lovel, the author of A Biodynamic Farm, will give us a deeper understanding of the energy, patterns and frequencies that work in agriculture, and help us enhance how we farm our land and crops so it gets easier and cheaper while it gets better and more abundant in this time of great change. This will not be like any of Hugh’s introductory presentations. To attend you must either have taken a previous workshop or bought and studied the DVDs because it covers the application of these concepts to specific, real life problems. Mossman 11th - 16th July 2010.

Business of Farming Courses

More profit guaranteed, or your investment will be refunded in full!!....PrincipleFocus is running its next  Business of Farming Courses in Dubbo NSW, Ballarat VIC, Launceston TAS and Adelaide SA, 26-30 July. The Business of Farming Course is the start of a unique program that uses a combination of training, coaching and peer mentoring to make lasting positive changes to farming businesses.   This course is approved under the FarmReady Reimbursement Grant program.

NZ Soil Carbon Conference

There are calls for papers/posters for the upcoming NZ Soil Carbon Conference in Wellington 15-17th September 2010. Prof Tim Flannery has been confirmed as the keynote speaker and Christine Jones will also be presenting. Earlybird registrations for the conference will open on the 15^th of June, however expressions of interest are being taken now.

Joel Salatin in Australia

Joel Salatin is a farmer who truly walks the walk. An exponent of balance, Joel’s family farm PolyFace has achieved remarkable success on multiple critical fronts. Besides Polyface Farm’s exemplary status as a truly regenerative operation (on countless levels), the Salatins also practice an infectious way of regenerative living which has inspired their local community to put their dollars (and faith) behind genuinely local profitable farms. Two days with Joel Salatin will prove a life-changing experience. New Zealand 19th - 20th November, Bungendore 25th - 26th November, Launceston 29th - 30th November, Woodend 2nd - 3rd December, Queensland 7th - 8th December, Mudgee 10th - 11th December.

Maarten Stapper in Brisbane

Farmers and gardeners are rediscovering the power of nature and soil biology as the most effective engine feeding their plants to high nutrient quality and resilience. Healthy soils help to wean farmers and gardeners off fossil fuel based fertiliser, pesticides and herbicides while maintaining productivity. Former CSIRO scientist Dr Maarten Stapper of BioLogic AgFood, is a speaker at the University of Queensland 11th June.

Soil and Plant Nutrition Workshop

A Cutting edge 2 day soil and plant management workshop with Bart Davidson of Bionutrient Solutions. You will learn to: read and interpret soil tests, monitor and understand crop and pasture health, implement a best practice monitoring program for soil, crop & pastures, uthe interactions between soil and plants, biology and nutrients and much much more. Pittsworth 31st May - 1st June, Emerald 3rd - 4th June.

Technology of Growing Grass

Learn the truth about Carbon and its link to healthy soils and how to manage pasture for increased profits and health. This course covers a number of topics linking carbon and profitability to your management of the land and pasture, your property plan and your actions. The latest science with practical hands on actions. Wandoan - 27th & 28th May, Charters Towers - 31 May/1st June, Julia Creek - 7th & 8th June, Cloncurry - 10th & 11th June, Tambo - 10th & 11th June, Biloela - 17th & 18th June, Gayndah - 21st & 22nd June, Gympie - 24th & 25th June, Stanthorpe - 5th & 6th July, Glen Innes (NSW) - 7th & 8th July, Walgett (NSW) - 27th & 28th July. [Check out the program - it covers just about everything!]

Health

One Poison Replaced with Another

Stung by lawsuits, consumer complaints and politicians' calls for action, many food producers have stopped using a butter-flavoring additive that's been linked to a debilitating, irreversible lung condition found in workers at popcorn factories. It turns out, though, that some of the chemicals used in place of the additive, diacetyl, might be just as dangerous - if not more so.

Lead in You Dinner Plates

Lead is considered toxic and it's a key ingredient added to the paint and glaze in millions of dinner plates, cereal bowls and other dishes we use every day. There are no common characteristic among the plates that yielded high lead content. Some featured bright colors and bold patters while others were plain white. Some of the plates came from China, England and Germany and others were produced in Italy, Japan and the United States. Some of the dishes were brand new and some are antiques.

The Sun, Not Sunscreen

Sunscreen blocks your body's production of vitamin D. Most brands contain toxic free radical generators which can increase your risk of disease. Instead sunshine is the ultimate way to get your Vitamin D, which in turn protects you from many diseases. But it is true too, that too much can be damaging - so how much is too much?

Too Much Antioxidants?

Although "antioxidant good, free radical bad" has become the nutritional rallying cry of a generation, scientists say that worrying questions remain about the complex role the two interlinked chemicals play in our lives. Research is now suggesting that high doses of antioxidants can do significant damage to our bodies. "...The simple message for consumers is: eat as much fruit and vegetables as you like. You can't overdose on antioxidants in your diet. But supplements can take you into the danger zone." [More support for 'real' food vs lab produced isolates]

Link Between Asthma and Paracetamol

Use of the common painkiller paracetamol in the first year of life has been linked to an increased risk of asthma and other allergies, a new study has found. "It's well known that paracetamol reduces your antioxidant defences. In the airways that can lead to inflammation which is the basis of asthma ... and [this] may switch your immune system to become more allergic."

Potato Rings Better Than Potato Strips

Frying potato rings rather than straight strips produces fries with less oil, lower levels of acrylamide, less salt, and better taste. [Though blanching them, dipping them in disodium acid pyrophosphate (0.5%) and glucose (0.3%), and then frying them in soybean oil is not my idea of healthy anyway]

Farming and Breast Cancer

A startling link between farming and breast cancer in women is being studied. Some pesticides and other farm chemicals are either cancer-causing or mimic the hormone estrogen. Chemicals that mimic estrogen have a very profound effect on people's cancer risk and other health impacts, "if the timing is right." They found that the women interviewed in their research reported starting to work on the farm when they were children.

Viscum Schwenk

In the early 1920s, Rudolf Steiner pointed out the remarkable similarities of the life habits of mistletoe and cancer. He introduced the plant misletloe (Latin: viscum album) for use as a cancer medicine. Modern studies of the various mistletoe preparations show that they raise the temperature of cancer patients, help them to establish healthy rhythms, stimulate and modulate the immune response, and selectively kill cancer cells while leaving non-cancerous cells unharmed.

Corruption at Every Step of Collecting Medical Evidence

Dr. Beatrice Golomb, Associate Professor of Medicine at University of California, San Diego, masterfully exposes the corruption that has metastasized like a tumor throughout the pharmaceutical and medical industries. The corruption has become so prolific that it has literally debased medical science.

What is Codex Alimentarius?

Behind the Codex Alimentarius Commission is the United Nations and the World Health Organization working in conjunction with the multinational pharmaceutical cartel and international banks. Codex began simply enough to develop a universal food code. Their purpose was to 'harmonize' regulations for dietary supplements worldwide and set international safety standards. But instead of focusing on food safety, Codex is using its power to promote worldwide restrictions on vitamins and food supplements, severely limiting their availability and dosages. The name of the game for Codex Alimentarius is to shift all remedies into the prescription category so they can be controlled exclusively by the medical monopoly and its bosses, the major pharmaceutical firms.

Processed Meats are the Problem

Eating processed meat like bacon and sausages could significantly increase risk of heart disease and diabetes, while unprocessed red meat may not be as harmful as once thought, according to a new Harvard study. A link has been established between total meat intake and colorectal cancer, but the Harvard scientists said this should be followed up by a separate evaluation only looking at unprocessed meats.

Quote

'If you don't read the newspapers you are uninformed - if you do read the newspapers you are misinformed' - Mark Twain

Cartoon

Miscellaneous

Have you ever wondered why the world has become the way it is? Like a "Splinter in the Mind" that something is not quite right with our present reality? The English Language has been deliberately modified to enslave us, yet the answers are all written in front of you if you know where to read them. JUDGE :David-Wynn: Miller seminars explain and introduce Quantum Language/Syntax Sentencing. He explains when, how and why our language was bastardized over the last 8,500 years. [I continue to experience profound 'aha' moments as I learn more about the use (and abuse) of our language. I highly recommend the seminars, and the online course - though do be prepared to be challenged to think outside the box!]

Events

You can view ALL upcoming events advertised in these newsletters, in date order here.

* Soil Biology Workshop - Glen Innes NSW 27th May 2010.

* Technology of Growing Grass - Wondoan Qld 27th - 28th May 2010.

* Soil and Plant Nutrition Workshop - Pittsworth Qld 31st May - 1st June 2010.

* Technology of Growing Grass - Charters Towers Qld 31st May - 1st June 2010.

* Soil and Plant Nutrition Workshop - Emerald Qld 3rd - 4th June 2010.

* Technology of Growing Grass - Julia Creek Qld 7th - 8th June 2010.

* Technology of Growing Grass - Clonclurry Qld 10th - 11th June 2010.

* Technology of Growing Grass - Tambo Qld 10th - 11th June 2010.

* Maarten Stapper in Brisbane - St Lucia Qld 11th June 2010.

* Quantum Agriculture Intensive Workshop - Mossman Qld 11th - 16th July 2010.

* Technology of Growing Grass - Biloela Qld 17th - 18th June 2010.

* Technology of Growing Grass - Gayndah Qld 21st - 22nd June 2010.

* Technology of Growing Grass - Gympie Qld 24th - 25th June 2010.

* Technology of Growing Grass - Stanthorpe Qld 5th - 6th July 2010.

* Technology of Growing Grass - Glen Innes NSW 7th - 8th July 2010.

* Business of Farming Course - Dubbo NSW 26th - 30th July 2010.

* Business of Farming Course - Ballarat Vic 26th - 30th July 2010.

* Business of Farming Course - Launceston Tas 26th - 30th July 2010.

* Business of Farming Course - Adelaide SA 26th - 30th July 2010.

* Technology of Growing Grass - Walgett NSW 27th - 28th July 2010.

* New Zealand Soil Carbon Conference - Wellington New Zealand 15th - 17th September 2010.

* Two Days with Joel Salatin - New Zealand 19th - 20th November 2010.

* Two Days with Joel Salatin - Bungendore NSW 25th - 26th November 2010.

* Two Days with Joel Salatin - Launceston Tas 29th - 30th November 2010.

* Two Days with Joel Salatin - Queensland 7th - 8th December 2010.

* Two Days with Joel Salatin - Mudgee NSW 10th - 11th December 2010.

Postscript

Some clever church signs:

Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the snake, and the snake didnt have a leg to stand on.

There are some questions that even Google can't answer.

Down in the mouth? Come in for a faith lift.

As you pass this little church be sure to plan a visit, so when at last you're carried in God won't ask 'Who is it?'

Can't sleep? Don't count sheep, talk to the shepherd.

Let us help you study for your final exam.

Almost 2000 years old and still under the maker's guarantee.

We are the soul agents in this area.