DPI Steps Up Carbon Sequestration

Well this is certainly an improvement from the Carbon Myth Buster talks! NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) has launched two web pages which highlight work being done to assess and explore the potential for holding carbon in the soil long term, and the benefit this would have in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Although it has an over emphasis on biochar - it is still a wonderful start.

Organic Lands Expand

The amount of land dedicated to organic produce is growing due to government backing and market forces, opening up opportunities particularly in developing countries. 32.2m hectares were certified according to organic standards in 2007, which was 1.5m hectares more than the previous year with strongest growth in Latin America and Africa. "The number of ethically committed consumers and of those that prefer products with a regional identity appears to be increasing."

Organics Does Work

This is a copy of an impassioned email about natural farming sent to Dr Christine Jones after the airing of Ground Control on Landline last week. By the way, Christine has been literally inundated with with hundreds of similar stories - all people out there doing and proving to themselves that it works.

10 Mistakes to Avoid

Prof Stuart Hill has more pearls of wisdom to offer in his response to the Commonwealth Government's announcement of the Australia 2020 Summit in Canberra, 2008 and lists 10 common 'mistakes' to avoid. Some of the suggestions include avoiding: getting the usual 'experts' (mostly older males) together to talk and plan; trying to solve problems within the disciplines or areas responsible for creating them; over-focus on knowledge and data, and neglect wisdom and experience etc. I loved this one: avoiding getting stuck in activities 'pathologically' designed to postpone change, particularly measuring problems (ie ‘monitoring our extinction').

Removing Pests Causing Unintended Damage

Macquarie Island has recently become a sobering illustration of what can happen when efforts to eliminate an invasive species end up causing unforeseen collateral damage. Non-native cats were killed to protect native burrowing birds, but allowed rabbits to breed out of control and ravage the island's vegetation. "Our findings show that it's important for scientists to study the whole ecosystem before doing eradication programs." And similar scenarios are happening around the world. Its all much like Alan Savory discovered decades ago. The holistic theory continues to be reinvented over and over, but little turned into action...

In the same vein, killing top predators, such as jaguars and tigers, is now being linked to outbreaks in human disease. Perhaps the holistic picture will eventually trickle down into future projects.

Cleaning Water With Kelp

Kelp beds provide shelter for young fish and shellfish. And kelp is a fast-growing, robust marine plant that helps maintain clean water. "Marine plants are this enormous sponge for nitrate and ammonia. They help absorb any near-shore pollution. They are the scrubbers of the ocean." A pilot project in Canada aims to drop kelp in key locations to create temporary artificial reefs, and perhaps have an underwater camera set up on one of the reef structures, so that people will be able to watch kelp grow in real time over the Internet!

Broken Ecologies Can Be Fixed

An essentially 'dead' coral reef has been restored rapidly using mineral accretion technology - Biorock. ‘This project has transformed barren areas of dead coral with very few fish into lush reefs full of colourful and exceptionally rapidly growing corals swarming with fish - on the Biorock structures themselves as well as in the surrounding areas. Those who have not seen it deny that it is possible....rather like the soil carbon sequestration story...but the message is: complex systems can be restored, even without a full understanding of how or why.

Enzyme Breakdowns Atrazine in Water

An enzyme has been added to a holding dam filled with run-off contaminated with atrazine. More than 90% of it was removed in less than four hours. CSIRO is now actively seeking commercial partners to collaborate with.

Out-of-Touch Farming With GM

As one American farmer comments...

"My neighbours like them [GM crops] because there's less management, they don't have to walk out to the fields. A lot of them don't even feel the dirt. They plant it; they hire somebody to spray it; hire somebody to fertilise it and they just go and harvest it."

Which says a lot about our farming practices and why soil health has been neglected. But this story goes on to talk about the bully tactics used by Monsanto, on GM and non-GM growers.

GM Research Stifled

Biotechnology companies are keeping university scientists from fully researching the effectiveness and environmental impact of the industry's genetically modified crops. To research GM crops, they must seek permission from the seed companies. And sometimes that permission is denied or the company insists on reviewing any findings before they can be published. For example, a growers' agreement from Syngenta not only prohibits research in general but specifically says a seed buyer cannot compare Syngenta's product with any rival crop!

Consumer Demand Winning

Both General Mills and Dannon, which represent 2/3rds of the US milk market, said their commitment to move away from milk sourced from rBST-treated cows is a direct result of consumer demand. This is a rejection of a technology that has been approved as safe by FDA, and will essentially wipe out its use in the large part of the dairy market. This is  demonstrating that US consumer is no longer willing to take anything thrown at them!

The Plocher System

If the links in a recent newsletter to the Plocher system stimulated your curiosity, then you will find this paper even more intriguing and exciting.  Plocher Dossier 23/02/2009,20:45 139.64 Kb  It provides explanations and theories about how it works. Unsurprisingly, it involves holistic thinking, not linear musings, and refers to numerous geniuses of the past like Wilhem Reich, Nikola Tesla, Erhard Hennig... the plocher system can be applied to just about any natural system.

Ausmin Fertiliser Deal

Ausmin are offering an early season order discount for two of their popular lines of fertiliser - Platinum NP570 (@ $800inc/tonne bulk ex depot) and Platinum NP570 + 1% Zn (@ $849inc/tonne bulk ex depot). Conditions apply. It is part of the drive to help avoid predicted transport delays when the season hits.

If interested please contact DL & FM Smith Guyra, Fertile Farm Gunnedah or Gaia Consultancy Forbes, to place your order at these prices.

Water Footprint

Companies have started tracking "water footprints" as a growing threat of fresh-water shortages looms. It measures not just the water used to make beverages and cool factories, but also the gallons used to grow ingredients such as cotton, sugar, wheat, tea and tomatoes, and is partly modeled on carbon footprinting. For example, a cup of coffee takes roughly 35 gallons; a cotton T-shirt typically takes some 700 gallons of water to produce; a typical hamburger takes 630 gallons of water to produce; and the bulk of water is used to grow grain for cattle feed.

Going Local

I linked to this video last newsletter to introduce you to Michael Shuman, the keynote speaker for the Bioneering Business Conference in June. I just sat down and watched it fully - and it has some fantastic facts about the real benefits of local, intimate economies. Are supermarkets really cheaper - or is marketing changing your perceptions? The proportion of money going back to farmers in the past compared to now is stunning - and unsurprisingly, marketing takes the lion's share now. Just love the David and Goliath analogy at the end - yes, Goliath is on political steroids!!

Middle Eastern Farm Buy Ups

Oil rich nations, who are food deficit are going to a continent, Australia, that is food rich but oil deficit. Apparently interest in Australian farmland was sparked by food shortages in early 2008 that made prices soar. Middle East countries are also facing water resource challenges (over pumping of underground aquifers), reducing their ability to maintain existing domestic food production. It is suggested that if Australia is smart, it will barter its grain for oil and keep its farms- guaranteeing to deliver grain to the Middle East, but floating the price of grain with the price of oil...interesting concept.

China Going Bust?

Beijing went through a building boom before the 2008 Summer Olympics. 500 million square feet of commercial real estate has been developed in Beijing since 2006, more than all the office space in Manhattan. Now 100 million square feet of office space is vacant - a 14-year supply if it filled up at the same rate as in the best years, 2004 through '06, when about 7 million square feet a year was leased! Its interesting to read that developers are thinking of turning all their empty venues - like the birds nest stadium -into shopping malls. How many shopping malls can one city take?

Smart Infrastructure

Will we spend money the way we've been doing for decades - on more concrete and steel? Or will we make our roads, bridges and other assets much more intelligent? Imagine highways that alert motorists of a traffic jam before it forms. Or bridges that report when they're at risk of collapse. Or an electric grid that fixes itself when blackouts hit.

Miracle Elixir

It's a kitchen degreaser. It's a window cleaner. It kills athlete's foot. Oh, and you can drink it. The stuff is a simple mixture of table salt and tap water whose ions have been scrambled with an electric current. Researchers have dubbed it electrolyzed water. Its been used as a sanitizer for decades in Russia and Japan, and it's slowly winning acceptance in the United States. "I didn't believe in it at first because it didn't have foam or any scent," said one housekeeper.

Landcare Misses Out - Why?

Of the $42 billion splashed around in the Commonwealth's economic stimulus package, not a cent went to Landcare, the one agency that truly effects those directly on the ground. Even getting regular funding involves competition with CMAs and other government agencies. Only the bigger, better organised Landcare networks are able to fight for funding in an era when applying for a "Caring For Our Country" grant means filling in a 130 page application!!

Nutrition Matters

The latest edition of Nutri-Tech Solutions Nutrition Matters newsletter is out. It includes a breakthrough with Woolworths in South Africa; monitoring myths; the benefits of trace mineral nutrition; Norfolk Island - a biological showpiece; magnesium the master mineral; essential salt; and the benefits of zinc. The agronomy tips in this issue are excellent. The file size is too large to post, so please contact me for a copy.

Also note that Nutri-Tech are holding their next NTS Certificate in Sustainable Agriculture in 16th - 19th March, and there will also be one on Norfolk Island 24th - 28th September - what a treat! It really is a beyond belief wonderland.

Other Nutri-Tech events include a 4-day course at Taree 23rd - 26th February, a couple of 1-day ag and human health talks at Applethorpe 5th March and 7th May (contact Pascal Martin of This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more details); a presentation at the Landcare Conference, Longreach 15th -17th October. Other international events can be found in the newsletter.

The NTS Sustainable Agriculture course has been approved for the Government's FarmReady scheme which means farmers can receive full reimbursement from the Government, and other related costs such as accommodation and childcare.  

SBS Foundation Donations

In 2009 the SBS Foundation will be donating $2 million in TV advertising of Community Service Announcements for up to 20  Australian charities or community organisations to promote their  activities. The  Foundation is seeking partners from the following categories:  creative arts; multicultural; Indigenous; environment; health;  
regional; and sport. For further information, email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call: (02) 9430 2828. To download the  guidelines, visit: http://www.ccdnsw.org/ccdnsw//pdf/site_32_rand_1817458830_Foundation_Guidelines.doc

Introduction to Permaculture Discount

What a deal! Tony Cootes and Geoff Lawton have reduced the fee to this weekend's Introduction to Permaculture course by $100 (it's now only $200 for the weekend). They want to introduce as many people as possible to Geoff's teachings and help change the "perception" that Permaculture is just a quaint backyard gardening approach. You will be astounded at the depth, simplicity and sensibility of this "design system" and the varying scales and projects that it can be applied to.

New Zealand Soil Carbon Conference

This three day conference hosted by Integrity Soils will focus on the reality of climate change, biological farming and the huge global opportunity the soil carbon market presents for New Zealand. Speakers will include Louisa and Michael Kiely, co-founders of Carbon Farmers of Australia and Blair McClinton, executive manager of Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Assn (SSCA) to talk about their experiences with the voluntary carbon market. It will be held in Napier 23rd - 24th June 2009, with an optional field trip on 25th. June.

Health

Birth Control Pill Mutations

Researchers report that very minute quantities of the hormone found in the birth control pill alter sperm development in rainbow trout by changing the number of chromosomes, which can lead to lower survival and long-term health problems in the offspring. This error is called aneuploidy. For people, aneuploidy is the biggest known cause of spontaneous miscarriage and the number one cause of congenital birth defects.

Body Ecology Diet

I love the focus of this diet - it's about restoring and maintaining the important "inner ecology" your body needs, ie those microbes that outnumber the number of body cells in our body - those same guys that fire up our digestive system which in turn is intimately linked to our immune, endocrine, circulatory and central nervous systems. I have recently been contacted by Maria Hunt who is setting up shop in Armidale NSW and contactable on 0431 323 979. It's something I am keen to check out.  Body Ecology Armidale 19/02/2009,21:21 157.71 Kb   Bowen Master 19/02/2009,21:22 194.63 Kb

High Temperatures Do Defend the Body

Conventionally, this is seen as heresy, but I am a firm believer in allowing a fever to run its course without interference. Fever is the body's natural and powerful response to attack. This amazing paper in the American Scientist pieces together science from as far back as the last 1800s where high temperatures seemingly cured cancers. It is now known that our immune system is triggered by two types of responses - innate and adaptive. The innate response results in high temperatures, and without that, the adaptive response cannot be launched... this hypothesis also helps explain why and how adjuvants work in vaccines.

Saturated Fats Now Less Toxic

Well how bizarre is this. Many decades ago saturated fats like coconut oil and palm oil were demonised erroneously as bad for our health. In response, food manufacturers turned to polyunsaturated oils, but to had to change their chemistry (via hydrogenation) to give them the same texture features as the saturated oils/fats. This process created trans-fats, which are now recognised as being toxic...so it now they are beginning to promote coconut oil and palm oil as a non-toxic solution! And so they should, the health giving properties of these oils are short of miraculous. It was never about our health in the first place, just profits and smear campaigns.

What's in Your Cleaning Product?

Its about time. The makers of Tide, Ajax and other common household cleansers are being asked to come clean about their ingredients. I know that even with so-called 'green' cleaners not all the ingredients can be considered safe, but without labeling consumers are left in the dark. I know one green cleaner businessman refused to release his ingredients list due to commercial confidence, but even when given a list of identified harmful chemicals and asked to confirm whether his products were clear of them all - no response was given...

Generation RX

Making patients out of normal children for profits... The movie Generation RX "weaves a terrifying tale of criminal conspiracy, the mass abandonment of medical ethics, and the routine betrayal of an entire generation." Just this trailer alone tells a chilling tale of drugs, mass shootings, money, fraud, corruption. We all have to wake up!

More Gardasil Questions

Merck continues to insist that Gardasil is safe and effective, yet reports of side-effects continue. Spain actually withdrew 75, 000 doses of the vaccine from their market just last week. By the way, Gardasil doesn't prevent cervical cancer, it protects against a few strains of a virus that has been linked to cervical cancer...scientifically speaking that is very different.

Acrylamide on the Toxic List

Health Canada is recommending adding acrylamide to the country's toxic substances list. Acrylamide is an industrial chemical that isn't naturally found in foods, but is produced accidentally when sugars and other items in potatoes and grains are exposed to high cooking temperatures. It is found primarily in french fries, but also detected in breakfast cereals, pastries, cookies, breads, rolls, toast, cocoa products and coffee.

New Flu Antibiotic?

Researchers have engineered antibodies that protect against many strains of influenza, including the 1918 Spanish flu and the H5N1 bird flu. The antibodies take aim at the hemagglutinin "spikes" on the shells of flu viruses which are used to invade nose and lung cells. There are 16 known types of spikes, H1 through H16.

Miscellaneous

FDA approves depressant drug for the annoyingly cheerful!!.... you will love this.

And the French government has started a campaign to stop the French from drinking wine! "The consumption of alcohol, and especially wine, is discouraged," say guidelines that are drawn from the findings of the National Cancer Institute (INCA). A single glass of wine per day will raise the chance of contracting cancer by up to 168 per cent, claims the ministry's brochure.

Cartoon

Again, perhaps not exactly a cartoon, but truly beautiful artwork, unfortunately destroyed in the Victorian bushfires this month. Bruno's Art & Sculpture Garden was hidden amongst the trees of the small village of Marysville... take the tour, its magic.

Events

For all February events

For all March events

* NTS Certificate in Sustainable Agriculture - Taree NSW 23rd - 26th February 2009.

* Dumaresq Weed Field Day - Bonshaw NSW 24th February 2009.

* New Zealand Soil Carbon Conference - Napier New Zealand 23rd - 25th June 2009.

* NTS Certificate in Sustainable Agriculture - Norfolk Island 24th - 28th September 2009.

Postscript

Proof of what can happen if a wife or girlfriend drags her husband or boyfriend along shopping

Apparently this is an excerpt from a letter sent by Tesco's Head Office to a customer in Oxford:

Dear Mrs. Murray,

Whilst we would like to thank you for your valued custom and use of the Tesco Loyalty Card, the Manager of our store in Banbury is considering banning you and your family from shopping with us, unless your husband stops his antics. Below is a list of his actions over the past few months all verified by our surveillance cameras:

1. June 15: Took 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in people's trolleys when they weren't looking.

2. July 2: Set all the alarm clocks in Housewares to go off at 5-minute intervals.

3. July 7: Made a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to feminine products aisle.

4. July 19: Walked up to an employee and told her in an official tone, 'Code 3' in housewares..... and watched what happened.

5. August 14: Moved a 'CAUTION - WET FLOOR' sign to a carpeted area.

6. September 15: Set up a tent in the outdoor clothing department and  told shoppers he'd invite them in if they would bring sausages and a Calor gas stove.

7. September 23: When the Deputy Manager asked if she could help him, he began to cry and asked, 'Why can't you people just leave me alone?'

8.. October 4: Looked right into the security camera; used it as a mirror, picked his nose, and ate it.

9. October 10: While appearing to be choosing kitchen knives in the Housewares aisle asked an assistant if he knew where theantidepressants were.

10. November 3: Darted around the store suspiciously, loudly humming the Mission Impossible' theme.

11.November  6: In the kitchenware aisle, practised the 'Madonna look' using different size funnels.

12. November 18: Hid in a clothing rack and when people browsed, yelled 'PICK ME!' 'PICK ME!'

13. November 21: When an announcement came over the loud speaker, assumed the foetal position and screamed 'NO! NO! It's those voices again.'

And; last, but not least: