Inside the Fertiliser Business

I was alerted to this Hansard on the inquiry into fertiliser pricing, and as promised by the sender, it certainly provides interesting reading including documented cases of companies breaking contracts, refusing sales until fertiliser prices had increased etc. Interestingly there seems to be hints that it is not supply at issue, but manipulation of money (p.22)....there is a wonderful section from p.46 - p.55 on alternative fertilisers too. My goodness, it would make anyone reel being tossed around by such power and greed, let alone individual farmers with very little voice to retaliate. It gives weight to the idea of steering clear of dependence on such institutions and farming models.

The Chair of this committee regularly alludes to some big revelations about Roundup and its recent price increases, as though the evidence is already in - and its not pretty! Apparently that will be covered as the inquiry continues.

Disease Suppressive Soils

Research in WA has identified Rhizoctonia suppressive-soils and have interestingly pointed towards soil biology as the hero (finally!), but are scratching their heads as to why the microbes can't be simply transferred to other soils....one day the links and importance between soil structure, minerals, carbon and biology will be taken on board, but it obviously requires a more holistic approach.

Sterilising the Environment

After E. coli contaminated spinach killed people in America in 2006, McDonald's and Wal-Mart responded with an array of tough new standards for growing spinach and lettuce. Pushed by inspectors and buyers, leafy greens growers on California's Central Coast are sterilizing their fields, ripping out wildlife habitat and putting up fences. But the bare earth buffers may actually be increasing the risk of disease.

Registering Neem

It appears that neem is finally being registered as an insecticide in Australia (refer back to Marketing for Natural Product Woes)! The arguments for its future use are also interesting. With most agricultural chemicals reliant on petroleum-based ingredients and peak oil hitting - neem is an attractive alternative. And with trees being recognised as tradeable carbon sinks, long living neem trees become doubly attractive!

Atrazine Safety Questioned

The second most widely used herbicide in the U.S., Atrazine, could cause serious problems for both fish and humans, according to new research. Experiments show definite endocrine effects on genes at 2 parts per billion (ppb); the U.S. EPA has set drinking-water limits for humans at 3 ppb for atrazine.

Food Waste During Food Shortage

While so-called food shortages are occurring around the globe, every day in the U.K., folks throw out 7 million slices of bread, 660,000 eggs, 1.2 million sausages, 2.8 million tomatoes, 1.6 million bananas, 700,000 packages of chocolate and 260,000 packages of cheese - that have never been opened. And all the rotting food pumps more than 18 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere. Then there's the cost of collecting, transporting and landfilling the excess food. Why isn't this at least being composted?

Global Food Safety

There is more to wanting to eat locally from small farmers than reducing a carbon footprint. Up to 13 million Canadians, more than 40 per cent of the population, will suffer from food-borne illnesses this year from industrial modeled food sources and unchecked overseas produce and products. Canadian Food Inspection Agency's inspect less than 10 per cent of shipments of low-risk products, which includes a majority of fresh produce that comes into Canada.

Fish Kill Culprit

After years of searching high and low for a culprit in the collapse of Delta fish populations in America, scientists are learning the problem may lie right under their noses. The likely fish killer is ammonia, a common byproduct of human urine and feces.

Commercialising Organic

Organic foods may be becoming a victim of their own success. Production can no longer keep up with demand, and many are saying that the initial ideals of clean, natural and healthy food have been sacrificed for profit. Many organic foods are now being produced by the giant corporations that make some of the most offensive junk food on the market.

Geothermal Energy in Australia

Australia's first power plant fuelled by hot rocks, four kilometres below the Earth's surface, supplies electricity to the sun-scorched Cooper Basin township of Innamincka, 1100 kilometres north-west of Adelaide. It has a vast area of subterranean fractured granite with an estimated potential to produce 60 times more electricity than the Snowy Mountains hydro-electric scheme.

Organics and Nanotechnology

Biological Farmers Association have released for industry and stakeholder comment a new policy to deal with nanotechnology - ‘the science of the extremely tiny' - in the organic industry. At this point the organic industry is taking the view that there is no confirmed need for nanotechnologies.

Farmers At The Mercy of Mines

Farmers in NSW could see their homes demolished and their farms dug up to make way for new coalmines under legal changes being pushed by the minister who is supposed to be representing them. A Supreme Court judge was so surprised that he remarked on "the odd situation of a minister giving away to another minister his powers". Big business is pushing its weight around again it seems.

Agstart Funding

Lachlan Grazing Management Project Field Days

There are 10 mainstream farmers throughout the Lachlan CMA area who have set up sites (up to 20 ha) on their properties with the objective of demonstrating increased soil health, production and biodiversity through the application of planned high density short duration grazing in the context of achieving the farmers' own unique landscape goals (description of how the landscape is to look and work). The intention is to run the program for 5 years. This year is the start ... and visitors to the sites (see below in Events) will see them at the beginning. Presenters at the field days will be Phil Diprose (of Ochre Archives fame), Paul Cavanagh (12 years HM practitioner), and the landholders. Everyone is most welcome to attend.

Grazing For Profit Courses

The GrazingforProfit^TM School is Australia's longest running business school for the grazing industry. With over 2,500 graziers as graduates it is also the most attended management school conducted in rural Australia. The School provides a holistic insight into the many factors that affect your business. Next courses are Tamworth 18-25 June and Dubbo 20-27 June.

BFA Roadshow

The next BFA Roadshow will be in Brisbane on 11th July with Dr Maarten Stapper presenting the facts on GM crops. "We should be working out how to get the most out of existing plant, animal and human genes, not working out whether one gene will make a difference".

Other upcoming roadshows include: Perth 16th August, Neranderra 6th September, Coffs Harbour 28th November and Armidale 29th November.

Farming for Profit Course

RCS FarmingforProfit tackles climate variability head on. Nothing is treated in isolation. It gives you the knowledge, principles, and management tools needed to build a farming and grazing business with lower overheads, reduced risk and higher profits. The next course is in Cowra 6-12 August. Farming For Profit 29/05/2008,09:38 489.85 Kb

What's New...

This article on guano in Peru has prompted this week's comments - high phosphate fertiliser prices have created an avalanche of orders for natural phosphate products, which is good news, but it has overwhelmed many suppliers to the point where supplies are literally drying up. I am having a nightmare accessing some of my traditional sources, but there are some options still open.

Powerphos (granulated pre-digested rock phosphate) is still coming through Ausmin at the same price as last year - $663.80inc/tonne bulk ex Ipswich. As well as the powdered form - Ausphos at $507.86inc/tonne bulk, ex Ipswich. Unfortunately their new Platinum range (partially acid-treated phosphate) has encountered supply problems, but they have managed to source some conventional phosphate to make up the same granule - called Mineral Black. The price is higher, but still lower than current MAP and DAP prices, ranging from $903.27inc/tonne bulk - $1091.91inc/tonne bulk ex Ipswich, and comes with the additional benefits of trace minerals and humates. Not bad. So if you would like to explore these options, contact me.

Sofenica - Part 46

Of course there is always something to report on the house building front - but I have run out of time this week. I am giving some soil test interpretation workshops early in the week in Gloucester and Taree, then we are off to Port Macquarie to pick up our final house plans from the architect ready for submission to council!!! Apparently the engineers and our intrepid wall raising Huff n Puff consultants have signed off on it.

So come Thursday we will be double checking the plans, racing back to Inverell and presenting it to the Inverell Shire Council asap. According to the council, if everything is in order, it could pass through them in 1-2 weeks. Here's to fingers and toes firmly crossed. We are optimistically looking to turn sod end of June/early July!

Health

Sodium Benzoate

Coca-Cola is phasing out the use of the controversial additive sodium benzoate in Diet Coke on the back of consumer demand for more natural products. Unfortunately it is not planned for other products. Fortunately the trend for removing artificial colouring in products is spreading rapidly across supermarkets and other manufacturers though.

Our Diet is Killing Us

For those that missed seeing this terrific 7.30 Report interview with Michael Pollan, the transcript is now available. He provides exceptional insights into ways of looking at food (and science's weird way of dissecting it) and its obvious links to our health. What a wonderful wonderful author.

EPA's Poor History of Enforcement

An expose by an investigative journalist uncoverd the extraordinary inaction by the EPA in testing 15,000 suspect endocrine disrupting chemicals over an 11 year period - in fact they are still to test one! And more bizarrely have spent over $US 80 million doing it. Yet the authorities and chemical manufacturers continue to publicly claim that all the chemicals are safe, including Bisphenol A, with some using the quip that 'Science supports our side...'. Interestingly, when pushed to provide answers, the EPA suddenly became very difficult to talk with and the science is certainly far from fully supporting them...

School Food

My recent horror at the new nutrition policy being put forward in northern NSW seems to be echoing down south as well, where debate is brewing about looking into preservatives and additives - not just fat and salt content in school foods. One Minister opposed to the idea states judgments on what additives are acceptable should be "left to the experts" - I wonder if she really meant "left to the multinational profit makers"!!

Events

For all June events

For all July events

* Lachlan Grazing Management Project - Grenfell NSW 11th June 2008.

* Lachlan Grazing Management Project - Cowra NSW 11th June 2008.

* Lachlan Grazing Management Project - Rankin's Springs NSW 12th June 2008.

* Lachlan Grazing Management Project - West Wyalong NSW 12th June 2008.

* Lachlan Grazing Management Project - Condobolin NSW 16th June 2008.

* Lachlan Grazing Management Project - Trundle NSW 16th June 2008.

* Lachlan Grazing Management Project - Bigga NSW 17th June 2008.

* Lachlan Grazing Management Project - Fullerton NSW 17th June 2008.

* Grazing for Profit School - Tamworth NSW 18th - 25th June 2008.

* Grazing for Profit School - Dubbo NSW 20th - 27th June 2008.

* BFA Roadshow - Brisbane Qld 11th July 2008.

* Farming for Profit School - Cowra NSW 6th - 12th August 2008.

* BFA Roadshow - Perth WA 16th August 2008.

* BFA Roadshow - Neranderra NSW 6th September 2008.

* BFA Roadshow - Coffs Harbour 28th November 2008.

* BFA Roadshow - Armidale 29th November 2008.

Postscript

A carrot, an egg, and a cup of coffee...You will never look at a cup of coffee the same way again.

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up, She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil; without saying a word.

In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, ' Tell me what you see.

'Carrots, eggs, and coffee,' she replied.

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft.

The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg.

Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked, 'What does it mean, mother?'

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak.

The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened.

The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.

'Which are you?' she asked her daughter. 'When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?

Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?

Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?