Better Tasting Tomatoes

Do you think tomatoes are tasteless?   Many do.

They hanker back to fresh vine ripened tomatoes where both smell and taste were terrific.  If you grew up in a summer tomato production area like I did you can probably still smell that great odour from ripe tomatoes and taste the ripe flesh.

Today, even growing the same varieties, they are never quite the same.  Produced too far from fresh markets, they are picked too green to allow travel time and prevent damage.  When working in a tomato field, picking was made to be about getting what were called semi ripe tomatoes - thosse expecte to be at their peak in just a few days.  With major markets 50 -80km away, you knew they would be used at their peak flavour.

While modern plant breeding and production has delivered varieties that retain "taste"and ripeness over extended periods, so that production is often several thousand kilometres from the user, and they arrive in a good condition in the shops.........they are just not quite the same.  Many say taste less!

Fear not, the same plant breeding processes are on the trail and may have discovered some genes that are linked to six specific volatile compounds that enhance the perception of sweetness - the single most critical factor in any person's rating of a tomato.  These volatiles can fool the brain, with tomatoes having high levels being preferred to those varieties naturally sweeter [ based on sugar compounds].

The work is now underway to incorporate these genes into tomatoes to combine better taste and smell, while retaining keeping quality and extended ripeness.

This issue has been around for over 25 years - ever since tomatoes became a mass production crop grown a long way from consumers, but hopefully we may see some change soon.

fresh tomatoes on the vine
 

More here - http://www.readcube.com/articles/10.1038/scientificamerican0513-84

UAVs Already Operational in Agriculture in Australia

Like I said a few weeks back - UAVs , or drones, are coming soon to a place near you.  And agriculture is the lead area where they will be used.

Read this article [ ABC today, 10 May 2013] - http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-10/yamaha-uav/4681552

With a great shot of the helicopter - an unmanned Yamaha 4m long fitted with controlled droplet low volume spray rig for weed spraying serious woody weeds, in remote parts of Western Queensland.

The most interesting part is the expected usage rate of their equipment - and they are not the only supplier remember - in coming years.

They really do fill a niche in agriculture and land management.
[photo from ABC web site]

near Camooweal, near NT / Qld border spraying prickly acacia

 

Zoysia - Ideal for Low Maintenance Areas, Median Strips

The low maintenace or awkward to access areas such as median strips, within the road areas are well suited to low growing grasses such as zoysia.

Not the super puffy japanese type - Z.tenuifolia, but the more common z.matrella or Z.japonica forms.

While these varieties are also very widely used on golf and sporting areas in a higher maintenance mode, they can also be left with very low maintenance and used to provide excellent cover on median strips.

More common in Asia than north Australia, the short, dense, tough, low nutrient requiring grass which is zoysia, is tough enough to withstand some pretty rugged street conditions across some of the big cities in Asia, with widespread use in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Kuala Lumpur, a few areas in Vientiane [ most main streets are less ordered than some other areas], although less so surprisngly, in Singapore, although more comon nearby in Johore Bahru.

It deserves more widespread adoption in north Australia where it should quickly reduce mowing frequency in areas where it is used.  That alone should significantly reduce maintenance costs.  While not as water efficient as Bahia grass, it is among the top two or three for water efficiency, and with lower mowing frequency, it will still be offering reduced overall maintenance costs.

Zoysia on median strip - Kuala Lumpur city centre
 

Turf Institute in North Korea

One would hope that turf research was not getting precedence over other more important food and agriculture priorities but it has been on centre stage today in North Korea.

Media reports show Kim Jong Un visiting a new North Korean turf institute near Pyongyang.

http://www.news.com.au/world-news/north-korea-dismantles-missiles-and-reigns-in-provocative-talk/story-fndir2ev-1226636420839

Will zoysia be a new weapon for peace?  Certainly appears in some of the photos.

Green Walls Grow in Singapore and Malaysia

Policy changes and enhancements are driving more green walls and roofs in SE Asia.

Becoming very common in both Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, and now in many new developments.

A good example is the new Park Royal on Pickering Hotel in Singapore which is Singapore's first Platinum Green Mark hotel.  Quite an achievement...........and a lot of green walls help to reach this achievement.

In the foyer of Park Royal on Pickering

Green Roof and shading

 

 

Sustainable Intensification 'Can Work for African Farmers'

Smallholder farmers in Africa must participate in research to ensure higher crop yields and to fend off hunger as the continent's population grows, according to a report published on 18 April.

A combination of traditional knowledge and modern science will be key to achieving higher productivity at lower ecological cost — known as 'sustainable intensification' — the report says.

'Sustainable Intensification: A New Paradigm for African Agriculture' was written by the Montpellier Panel, a group of international experts from the fields of agriculture, sustainable development, trade, policy and global development.

SPEED READ

• A conjunction of traditional knowledge and modern science is key to African food security
• 'Sustainable intensification' of farming is not just for big agriculture, it can work for smallholders, too
• Innovation and technology diffusion are essential for ensuring food security in Africa

The group first met in Montpellier, France, in March 2010, with the aim of helping European policymakers make better decisions in support of food security and agricultural development in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The new report is a reaction to the growing politicisation of the term 'sustainable intensification', which some now see to be promoting the interests of big, industrial agriculture. Taking a different view, the report claims the sustainable intensification approach can help smallholder farmers grow more crops and protect the environment.

In Sub-Saharan Africa food demand is growing rapidly, while supply is still insufficient. It is estimated that by 2050 the African food production system will be able to meet no more than 13 per cent of the population's needs.

A possible approach to tackling the problem is to reduce food waste by improving supply chains and facilitating access to healthy food. However, the Montpellier Panel maintains that for 80 per cent of the chronically hungry African smallholders, low productivity remains a major issue.

Camilla Toulmin, director of the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and a Montpellier Panel member, believes that a bottom-up approach is "absolutely essential" for sustainable intensification.

"We need to get farmers involved in the process, testing out new crop varieties and new ways to use soil and water," she tells SciDev.Net.

Toulmin adds that, to engage the farmers, "there's no need for a formal meeting platform — you just need to encourage a different way of working".

Along with the other members of the Montpellier Panel, she believes that to improve communication between international researchers and local smallholders, the best solution is to visit affected communities, spend time in villages and fields, and to listen and learn.

"Scientific knowledge can be obtained anywhere — globally or locally," says Lindiwe Majele Sibanda, chief executive of the South African Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) and fellow panel member. "But any science must be adapted to local conditions, and policies must be put in place to support implementation."

Majele Sibanda cites the water pockets technique known as zai, pioneered by farmers in Burkina Faso, as an example of a traditional practice recognised by modern science. Farmers dig holes — or zais — across the fields during the dry season, and fill them with manure to attract termites. The termites then create an extensive network of underground tunnels beneath the holes and bring up nutrients from the deeper soils.

Rainwater is captured in the zais, and water loss through drainage is limited by the manure. Thus even in drought-prone environments, sufficient water capture to sustain crop yields is ensured.

In the northeast of Burkina Faso, where the zai technique has been practised since the early 1980s, grain yield has increased by 120 per cent, equating to around 80,000 tonnes of extra grain per year.

"The labour in the first year is high, but farmers may reuse the holes or dig more between the existing ones," says Majele Sibanda.
Unai Pascual, a senior lecturer in land economy at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, and a professor at the Basque Foundation for Science in Bilbao, Spain, who was not involved in the study, agrees with the panel's calls for the greater involvement of African farmers in research processes.

"Any intervention has to be legitimised by the people it is going to affect or it won't last in the long term," Pascual tells SciDev.Net. He believes that farmers should join scientists in designing new measures, because they are familiar with the complexities of local systems.

"What I would have liked to see in the report is more attention to the time frame of any intervention," he says.

"Interventions need to be carefully balanced," because the relationship between agriculture and local environments is dynamic and changes over time, he explains. "Some funding approaches can work in the short period, but afterwards socio-ecological conditions will change as a consequence."

The report also recommends a range of actions aimed at governments in developed countries and Africa, to act upon sustainable intensification, in partnerships with the private sector, civil society organisations and NGOs.

These include providing support for research and innovation to help identify suitable technologies and processes; the scaling up and out of such technologies and processes; providing financial investments and markets that support sustainable intensification; and making required inputs and credits accessible to smallholder farmers in Africa.

While there are some interesting developments, it seems as if earlier work by various organisations including IITA, ILCA [ or alternate names for the essentially same organisation] seem to have been omitted from much of the report.

Is it a case of ignorance, or person turnover, so that they need to reinvent the wheel, again and again?

The full report [ a slim volume of 36pp] is a decent read.  But words are getting a bit passe........it is well past the time for some action. 

The link is here -
https://workspace.imperial.ac.uk/africanagriculturaldevelopment/Public/Montpellier%20Panel%20Report%202013%20-%20Sustainable%20Intensification%20-%20A%20New%20Paradigm%20for%20African%20Agriculture.pdf

 
[ photo of zai farming systems as used in Burkina Faso to improve crop production; more here -
http://www.worldbank.org/afr/ik/iknt80.htm ]

Yes, some parts of Africa have made enormous strides in agricultural productivity, crop yields and "smart" and innovative production systems, but many others have not.  Climate variability does not help - with serious uncertainities unresolved about commencement of the rainy season.
African agriculture has been a laggard generally, in comparison to some other tropical regions, in terms of productivity, yet there are areas of great improvement - and across quite a range of crops.  Getting that translated into a wider area is critical, particularly in light of climate variability and uncertainity.

In northern tropical Australia, some better understanding of the monsoonal rain patterns is helping - not just for agriculture either but industry as well, including the oil and gas industries.

Strong Rumours Indonesia to Increase Live Cattle Imports From Australia

The Director General of Foreign Trade in Indonesia, Bachrul Chairi, has told the ABC that Indonesia will allow more Australian cattle into the country.

 

Nothing has been officially announced, but a decision to increase import permits for the second quarter is expected soon, as reported by Matt Brann of the ABC Country Hour in Darwin.

The price of beef in Indonesia has soared beyond $10 a kilogram, an astromical price in Indonesia and which is far beyond the means of the average consumer.  That high price has seemingly forced the government's hand, with Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan admitting Indonesia needed to be "open-minded" when it came to its beef supply.

"We will basically open up (trade with) the types of beef that can't be substituted or produced by the Indonesian beef producers," he said.

Local NT livestock producers are hopeful this will occur very soon, in time to move cattle into the country to be fattened and ready for slaughter by Ramadan.  No one is saying much at either end, but it seems that reading between the lines the two industry players in Australia and in Indonesia have been doing a lot of quiet diplomancy, well below the radar, over several months.

There have been a number of visits to Indonesia by local industry people from the NT in the past few months, keeping channels open.  But the real issue, has probably been local meat prices.  And maybe, although no one is probably really stressing this - a realisation that Indonesia cannot yet really provide all the beef required in the country, and that importing live cattle from north Australia is a real win-win for all of the industry players while allowing a much needed price respite and some political quodos for the Indonesian government in reopening the trade.

While the fat lady is not singing, she may well be warming up quietly in the wings about to hit centre stage again.

If it is true, it will be a very big deal for the northern cattle industry that has really been in the doldrums since the cessation of the trade 2 years ago.  Complacency would be a disaster though - so hopefully sensibility on both sides can bring a quiet improvement to the trade for the benefit of all concerned.  And keep it off the media.

Myanmar and Development

Myanmar was, 40 years ago, thought of as potential major agriculture powerhouse.  A lot of Australian and international aid was directed towards agricultural improvement [ true - common around the region as well], as it was thought of as having real production potential and even export of food.

Sadly, that rise in agricultural productivity has not been the case over the intervening period, but is change coming?

neglected rural Myanmar

This recent article is a brief summary of where things are at now, and hints at some positive changes in agriculture that could drive some future development in the sector.

read more here - http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2013/04/17/myanmar-a-normal-developing-country/

There is a slowly emerging tourist industry as well, but rural development seems a more pressing need in general, with so many citizens in that sector.

Indications are reasonably positive for rural sector growth, but there will no doubt be a few hiccups along the way.

Whiskey Waste to Biofuels - Sustainable Whiskey Production

That cliche - TGIF - Thank God it's Friday -  comes to mind.  Time for something a little more light hearted, although it is actually a serious topic.

The European Parliament's TV channel has published a video looking at a project in Scotland which is aiming to produce high value fuels and products such as biobutanol from the whisky industry's waste.

According to the report around 97% of the products that are used to make whiskey in the distillation process end up as waste, which at the Tullibardine Distillery in Perthshire has to be discarded at a cost of some €293,000 per year.  That is a significant amount of money, so there is money available to invest in something better.  And that is just one whiskey distillery - think of the fact that there are many more in Scotland.

The report explains that while much of this waste has traditionally been recycled as fertiliser and animal feed, the recovery of far more valuable products such as biobutanol – a next generation biofuel – can be produced by refermenting whiskey industry by-products.

According to Mark Simmers, managing director of Celtic Renewable, the idea is to take two low value commodities, or residues and convert them into five or six high value products, including acetone.

The report said that while scaling the five litre lab model up to a 10,000 litre working plant will cost millions, Celtic Renewables is in talks with large companies such as drinks industry giant Diageo and hopes to have a plant in operation by the end of this year.

Reminds me of the story on this blog last year about sustainable rum production.  See the story here:
http://abovecapricorn.blogspot.com.au/search/label/rum

Food Bowl in Australia?? Real or Media Hype.

Australia as a food bowl for Asia is a concept that just will not seem to go away.

Technically it is possible to increase food production here in Australia but it might need that magical mystery commodity that often is elusive - WATER.

The latest impressario advocating the food bowl concept is Anthony Pratt.  I think he has already proven to be a useful business person after shouldering the mantle of his father at Visy.  But they have interests in irrigation piping, and have been involved in the concept of piping rather than channels for irrigation water in Victoria.  Pragmatic views or vested business interests?

There is more here - http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/in-depth/asia-food-bonanza-our-next-boom-says-anthony-pratt/story-fni2wt8c-1226623037094

[the Austalian is pay walled but think this should be available freely; it might be seen elsewhere]

The food processing side does need to do more but are getting screwed through the major supermarkets and imported manufactured product at low prices.  But......it is interesting to hear that many consumers want Australian grown and processed foods.  Are Chinese vegetables to be trusted, given the issues with food tainting and quality, contaminated land and corruption generally in China?  Many consumers distrust processed food from Asia due to poorer food regulation and safety quality issues. 

The "more agriculture / horticulture and food processing"concept is important, but we need to grow our strengths.

Broadacre crops, including ideas related to precision farming and controlled traffic and livestock production [beef and lamb notably, with chicken too] are two vital areas that can grow without a lot of angst.  With GM crops possibly in the mix as well, especially now that attitudes to this concept seem to be slowly moderating in Europe.  While dairy is getting trashed at the moment over local milk prices, the industry has been internationally focussed for some time and there are growth options in temperate areas - some are being exercised by progressive growers, with sales to Asia, seen as a growth market. 

Meat processing is a labour intensive process, although that is changing, and the new AACo site in Dariwn might showcase some of that and with lower process costs to come from it.  But prices for output is important and need to give a decent return to producers - a tricky business in a world market with options for multi location purchases by Asian countries.

AUSVEG the peak body for vegetable industries, is hopeful that growth is achievable, but where?  Water water water - a major need in temperate Australia.  Vegetable and fruit growers have had a tough time recently but they can grow, but not maybe rapidly, and overhanging debt might be a drag.  

Patch development is a concept that could offer some options in north Australia - with suitable areas of modest size being developed with appropriate soil and water resources [ see report of northern Australia land and water task force of 2010].  Some are under development already with a good example the work of Centre Farm in Alice Springs.  More have been identified in a general sense already, by other entities.  And land tenure issues need to be rectified and adjusted across the north.

Qualified scientists in agriculture have diminished and R and D in the sector is declining  - that would need reversing, and will take time.

Achieving the size advocated in today's newspaper article is many years off.  But playing to our strength is important and agriculture in the broad sense is one of Australia's strengths.  But surely we can do more in the value adding area.

Not to mention the need for better market access for our agricultural products through some free trade agreements, currently stalled  - think Japan and China.

Indonesia to Revise Beef Imports Up - Rumours or Fact?

It has been around the media for a day or so now but the concept as discussed in the media does have some advocates and could be a way forward politically for Indonesia and allow some "face keeping".

That last point is an important issue in Indonesia.

Politically the issue of beef prices is a thorny one, as they have risen considerably, some say astronomically, with major impact on less well off Indonesians, especially those around Jakarta.

The scenario seems to run along lines that the Agriculture minister will be sacked as part of a ministerial reshuffle, with his demise associated with some shady deals concerning possible bribery over beef import quotas.  As part of this adjustment, new import quotas for the second half of 2013 will be developed and would likely be larger to meet surging demand for beef and hopefully reduce local prices.  This might have a flow on to Presidential politics in indonesia, with an election due in 2014. [SBY cannot run though].

The NT could quickly move to supply appropriate animals, as it is believed around 600,000 animals are available locally that are suitable for live export.  However, Australian players in the industry are being extremely coy over the entire issue - and justifiably so.

The new slaughter arrangements are mostly in place, so humane slaughter is possible, meeting most of the issues raised about the initial dramas over live export of cattle to Indonesia.

There is more on the topic here: http://www.queenslandcountrylife.com.au/news/agriculture/cattle/beef/indo-may-lift-cattle-quotas/2654453.aspx?storypage=0

and here:
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/04/16/suswono-may-be-fired.html

but I expect this story will develop over the next few days or weeks.

No one locally is yet cracking a beer or three.........but the deal has all the hallmarks of a workable scenario for various reasons, not least of which is the ability for Indonesia to save face over the deal.

The Burning Season - for Carbon Abatement

It has arrived, that time of the year to start burning.

A serious business these days, with early season burning now a fixture on the business scene for those trying to offset carbon emissions.

The science is well established: - in summary, by organising and entering into a medium to long term business arrangement to conduct organised early season burning that well over 100000 tonnes of CO2 can be prevented as an emission, a scenario that had occurred previously with late dry season wildfire burns.  The work is done by local indigenous people, creating a win-win situation of job creation in indigenous communities across the Top End, and a business win by the companies investing in the business of actually getting the job done, and saving them costs of carbon emissions - a carbon offset.
[more here about it - http://www.nailsma.org.au/walfa-west-arnhem-land-fire-abatement-project and there are other articles ]

The early season burn is usually a patch type burn, slow and smouldering, and much lower CO2 emissions.  It is easily controllable, and has less damage on wildlife and trees /shrubs as well, effectively burning the grass vegetation, and not much more.

patch burning

In contrast late season fires are typically wild, driven hard by strong late season winds often from the SE, consume the whole landscape, kill trees and shrubs as well as grass vegetation, and are essentially uncontrollable.  They also have more potential to inflict damage on infrastructure, including fences, buildings and utilities.

Most recent weather forecasts indicate little chance of more rain, and indigenous communities and their rangers will be out soon.

The tell tale signs will be smoke across the horizon on the outskirts of Darwin, Katherine and Nhulunbuy.   

Australia’s Biosecurity – Ultra Important – Giant African Snail

We laugh [or is it cry?] about the cane toad, that attempt at biocontrol that has become the pernicious invader across north Australia, and even more recently into some parts of Sydney.

There are also biosecurity concerns about various ant species, wild Asian honey bees [ potential host for varroa disease of domestic bees] and numerous weed species that can be hitchhikers into north Australia.

Spare a thought for Florida, USA.  Apart from some crazies who released Burmese pythons into the everglades that have now become quite a serious pest there, the current threat is African Giant Snail.

It seems someone has seriously dropped the ball – was thought to have been eradicated in Miami-Dade County where it is now appearing widely, some years ago.  We are talking of over 100,000 of the creatures captured and killed recently – and there seem to be a lot more coming as the weather warms.

This pest would be a serious, serious, serious problem in Australia if it ever got out of biosecurity measures.  A major one of the methods is container hygiene, along with soil freedom and with rigorous in country pre export as well as post entry inspections, hopefully it might remain as “not here”.

There are a few current newspaper and media reports about the Florida situation – be alert, but not alarmed!

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/14/us-usa-florida-snails-idUSBRE93D05620130414

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/plant_pest_info/gas/index.shtml

http://miami.cbslocal.com/2011/09/15/giant-african-land-snails-return-to-south-florida/

http://www.freshfromflorida.com/pi/gals/

Any suspected sightings in Australia – get in touch with AQIS.  Better still, take care to avoid soil on equipment and shoes, and never – repeat never, bring snail or snail shells into Australia.  Take care.

Australia's Future Workforce

Radio National ran this program over the weekend.

Lots of comment - mostly pretty scathing about the guests and their views.  Comment from those in the real world has been pithy, and irately directed towards the guests on the program.  Quite bluntly - what the hell would a broken down lobbbyist and ex pollie really know about workforce requirements.

I tend to agree.

And many seem to think we have a developing crisis with our future workforce as, bluntly - they are seen as pretty hopeless!  Poor training and too much of the lucky country syndrome of laziness and poor work ethic.  Too used to sitting around, on social media, and not actually doing or working.

Read more here - http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/saturdayextra/future-workforce/4597680.

Big Reductions in US CO2 Emissions are Continuing - Good Stuff!

A report released earlier in 2013 attributed much of the emissions decline to new energy-saving technologies and a doubling in the take-up of renewable energy.

 A revolution is transforming how Americans produce, consume, and even think about energy. Traditional sources are in decline, while natural gas, renewables and energy efficiency are on the rise.

These changes, which seem to show no sign of abating so far, have major implications for US economic / national security interests and are increasing the diversity of the country's energy mix, improving energy security, and rapidly shrinking the US 'carbon footprint' - a major positive development for addressing climate change.

A copy of the article with further links in it is available here - http://www.environmental-expert.com/news/us-co2-emissions-fall-to-lowest-level-since-1994-366452?utm_source=News_Air_11042013&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter&utm_content=feattextlink

There are also geo-economic and geopolitical implications for energy policy, relating to the Middle East energy supplies, and has intensified debate in Australia a major gas exporter, about gas reservation policies for local industry……with US domestic industry a major beneficiary of cheap gas especially, because of US policy on that issue.

SRI - System of Rice [or Root] Intensification

Something for nothing? This method of rice growing seems to offer that, with labour replacing other inputs.  Does it work?  It seems to for many, with crop yields substantially increased.

It seems as if yield per plant is once again the driver, and with intensified root proliferation, to extract every last vestige of nutrient and water in the soils.

There is some modern science that supports the concept theory, with microbial activity the driver to extract the nutrients and with organic inputs to create more soil carbon as a significant part of the system.

Whatever, it really has driven some monumental changes in parts of India and other areas and even more recently in Indonesia.

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2013/feb/16/india-rice-farmers-revolution

This article is a well put together overview of some of the developments, and there are plenty more to peruse online.  In this article the yield increases are staggeringly large, with world record yields of 22.4 tonnes per hectare!

The concept was started by a Jesuit priest / agronomist in Madagascar, but has spread quite widely.

In Indonesia another aspect has been pushed, which is a curious conundrum.

Us in the developed world seem to be able to afford to pay for organic produce, and some want to exercise that right and use organic produce, with consumers in parts of Europe, Japan  and even China fearful of ordinary produce so will pay big money for organic foods.

Some areas of Indonesia have been cleverly developing export markets for this organic produce side, while also achieving higher yields and lower input costs - a real win for the farmers.  They have achieved organic certified status and are using that to drive better prices and overall much superior returns. More on that story here -
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-04-11/revolutionary-rice-farmers-reach-international-markets/4623706
That is a very clever outcome.

While some scientists debate the issue, othes have been strong supporters, including some very senior scientists at major international research institutes.

This is an ongoing debate, and the concept has also been extended to some of the other major food crops.

Some say the labour demands are too high.......but that is often the input most readily available to poorer third world farmers, not cash to buy inputs.  But the yield outcomes seem to apply to local unimproved varieties as well as even advanced GM varieties.

Can this be part of another green revolution in crop yields?

Green Wall Systems

There is a lot of interest in building design as well as more general landscaping, to encourage the use of green wall and green roof systems as part of a sustainability drive in the industry.

While there is little use so far in Darwin, Singapore has been very active in integrating these approaches into building and the environment.  Yet, with hot weather here, the concept of green walls and roof systems does have a lot of merit.  It is well known that green vegetation can be a major factor in providing shade to building walls and roofs, thus reducing heat gain and improving sustainability of design - and appearances too

A new system from Elmich known as Versiwall does offer some interesting concepts including some very clever ideas for dividing and /or external walls that can actively reduce sunlight on building walls and reduce heat gain.

The system has a recyclable plastic frame with specially designed pots that lock onto the wall frame.
A new take on the idea of a wire mesh or similar wall .

The pots can be arranged to match the size of plants to give a dense or not so dense wall cover, at a reasonable cost, and have a specially designed ctch to eliminate the risk of being dislodged, for example, in storms.

Check out the system at www.elmich.com or see the photos below.  Pots are made of a very durable plastic and are modestly priced.

The system is very new to Australia, with the first designs being installed later in the month.
Watering is integrated into the system, and recycled or grey water use is possible.

 

 

GM Bt Cotton and Aphids - Law of Unintended Consequences

Recent field trials seem to have confirmed that BT cotton has had some unintended outcomes with aphids proliferating, and damaging cotton crops.

It seems that the Bt gene has prevented production of natural plant defence chemicals which are stimulated by caterpillar attacks on the plants, and these chemicals in turn deter aphids.

The story is more complex but the link provides a reasonably neat summary.

http://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/45830

Up until recently it seemed that the GM cotton story was one that generally had been a very successful option with pesticide use reducing substantially on Bt cotton varieties.

It is not totally clear if economic damage is occurring but it does seem likely that aphids are now a pest in some situations and in some areas.

Biochar May Also Sequester Carbon Dioxide

'Biochar' is the name for charcoal when it is used as a soil amendment. People add charcoal to land in order to increase soil fertility and agricultural productivity.  Water holding capacity in soils is also usually increased.

In addition to these benefits, researchers are now saying that biochar has potential to mitigate climate change as it can help sequester carbon and thus cut our greenhouse gas emissions.

Sean Case, a PhD student at the US NERC's Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) and lead author of the study says: "We've shown that adding biochar suppresses CO2 emissions very significantly over several years... Previous studies have found this effect in the lab and over short periods, but this is the first time anyone has looked at bioenergy crops in the field, and at the effects of biochar over a long period."

Results of the study show that by applying biochar before planting energy crops, soil greenhouse-gas emissions can be cut by around a third.

Researchers studied a plantation of miscanthus, a perennial grass which is harvested for fuel. They monitored how much CO2, nitrous oxide and methane came from the plot's soil over two years. They also monitored soil emissions under controlled conditions in the lab.

The plots that had been treated with charcoal emitted 37% less greenhouse gases than neighbouring plots that hadn't, while in the lab the impact was 55%. Most of this came from cutting CO2 emissions, with methane playing no significant role and only a small nitrous oxide component.

"There's a lot of interest at the moment in the potential of bioenergy crops to sequester carbon in the soil, because unlike arable land these crops aren't ploughed every year so the carbon is not being regularly disturbed," says co-author Dr Jeanette Whitaker of CEH. "Biochar contains a lot of carbon in its own right, so adding it to the soil is already having an immediate sequestration effect, but our research suggests that it also reduces the CO2 emitted by soil respiration, which makes the case for using it even stronger. It's about maximising the sustainability benefits of bioenergy crops."

Whitaker explains that in the long term, it is unlikely people will use wood as biochar. Instead, biochar can be made out of anything from municipal waste to chicken manure.

Different regions will have different availability of feedstock products, with crop residuals common.

 

 

 

Anaerobic Digestion - Is the Time NOW?

Anaerobic digestion seems to have had a recent surge in development around the world.

While small communal facilities are relatively common in rural areas of many less developed countries, including China, where in general they provide a decent contribution to energy and heat, often for hot water, it seems the first world has "discovered"the idea as well.

A recent article has shown an enormous increase in the UK, essentially a doubling of facilities since 2010.  While scale is not mentioned, it seems thay are referring to medium, industrial scale developments, not the sort that featured on Kevin Mcleod's  "Cabin in the Woods" tv show, for a single small weekend cabin.

It is a sensible idea - generate the methane upfront, with the organic residuals then suitable composted, or sometimes even gasified and used for energy.  I prefer the compost route, but not all areas are able to handle the volumes of compost generated.
Nutrients are a critical part of the remainder organics - too much of these are simply transported from farm to city and then lost down the sewer, or as food waste.  That connot continue, as the supply of most nutrients is finite.

The article is here - http://www.waste-management-world.com/articles/2013/03/rapid-expansion--uk-waste-to-biogas-anaerobic-digestion-industry.html

and clearly shows the rapid development in the UK.

Not so sure about Australia, but the trend is likely to develop.  There have seen some smaller systems developed including in WA, but none in the tropical north that I am aware of, yet that is where the bulk of organic residuals from crops - think sugar cane - are generated, along with food waste from cities and towns of modest size that could easily allow for development of suitable digestion and biogas systems.

 

New Research to Boost Water Recycling in South Australia

Australia is a dry continent, and with climate change, expected to get drier, in general.

Boosting use of recycled water in agriculture is a critical part of the equation as water efficiency becomes critical and squeezing more out of each litre of water becomes a  more normal issue in Australia.  Israel already boasts of getting at least two uses out of each litre of water.......Australia is a long way behind that claim.

But some recently funded research is at least examining options to boost recycled water use while managing salt, a critical problem in drier areas of Australia, although not so important in the wetter areas of the north......we do not even do much water recycling, and some utilities seem to not care much about water recycling with the PAWC in the NT one of the worst in Australia with very low percentages of effluent recycled.

Maybe if this new research shows promise we shall all be drinking wine made from grapes grown in McLaren Vale on recycled wastewater.

The new research to expand the use of water recycling for irrigating South Australia’s vineyards has been initiated by the Australian Water Recycling Centre of Excellence.

Led by the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) at the Waite Institute, and co-funded by the Goyder Institute for Water Research, the project is collaborating with the local viticulture industry and the University of Adelaide to demonstrate the economic and environmental value of water recycling to Australia’s agrifood industry.

In announcing the project, Australian Water Recycling Centre of Excellence CEO Dr Mark O’Donohue said the security of water supply is an ongoing concern for producers of horticulture crops.

“Recycled water can provide a secure, climate-resilient water supply for many agricultural areas of Australia. This project will contribute to a growing body of knowledge about how to incorporate the use of recycled water into a variety of irrigation regimes,” said Dr O’Donohue.

Project investigator Tim Pitt, from SARDI, said, “The project involves crops being watered under very precise irrigation systems and looks at how to mitigate the salt content of recycled water by diluting it with fresh rainwater. We will be applying recycled water to vineyards in the McLaren Vale [region] and to almond orchards on the Northern Adelaide Plains.”

The trials at a McLaren Vale vineyard, owned by Treasury Wine Estates, will test whether redirecting rainfall - from raised soil mounds built between the vines to soil directly under vines irrigated with recycled water - reduces the build-up of salt. Preliminary studies indicate that redirecting rainfall run-off to drip lines can reduce the salt content in vine leaves and grapes by 20 to 30%.

The almond orchard trials will use mixtures of recycled water and freshwater to identify the most salt-sensitive growth stages of almonds. Such knowledge will have value to producers, water utilities and policy makers trying to maximise the use of recycled water in agribusiness. “We will also assess how the changing concentrations of salt, in the various soils being assessed, affect plant response in terms of vigour, yield and crop quality,” said Pitt.

Based on the success of the trials, the horticulture industry could expand its use of recycled water schemes for precision crop irrigation in other dry regions and improve management of soil salinity.

This is very clever - crafty use of both commodities of water with the more precious fresher water being used to help flush salt through the system, especially near the rootzone along the row.

It matches work that has shown that organic mulches in the rootzone along the row also improve production and reduce water use.

Combining these two factors could lift water use efficiency quite significantly in wine grape areas.

 

In our region near Darwin, neither of the two issues - quality production and use of organic residuals in horticulture [ but some goes into home gardens] nor effluent recycling and reuse are widely used.

Yet, we have 35 - 40 weeks each year without rain, where irrigation must be used in both urban and rural areas including horticulture, to enable growth of plants.  Most of that is supplied from groundwater, with an annual recharge the next rainy season, in most areas.  But many have some ancedotal evidence that water tables are declining.

Could we do better?

Agriculture in Australia needs to get Tough - or Does It?

http://www.queenslandcountrylife.com.au/news/agriculture/agribusiness/general-news/ag-needs-to-get-tough/2650082.aspx?storypage=0

This will get you to the original as published in the online edition of Qld Country Life, which was however copied from the AFR [ which is paywalled].

The headline was Ag needs to Get Tough""

11 Mar, 2013 09:03 AM

ALAN MITCHELL

BY 2020, Ken Henry says, Asia's middle class will have more than trebled in size to 1.7 billion people. By 2030 it will have almost doubled again, and it will account for 60 per cent of global middle class consumption. With that growth will come an increase in demand for the kind of food we produce and eat.

Martin Parkinson, Henry's successor as Treasury secretary, says the next positive shock wave from Asia will be felt by Australian agriculture.  "We're likely to see a significant increase in demand, particularly from China, for high-end agricultural products like fruit, dairy, high-grade meat and seafood," he says.  This will be a huge opportunity for farmers, investors and the economy.  But to fully capitalise on a boom you have to be able to meet the demand, and ABARES says we will need a change in agricultural production to do it.

First, it says, we have to reverse the slowdown in farm productivity, which for broadacre farming has been negative for the past decade. We also need to better target consumer needs in fast-growing markets, especially Asia.

Reviving productivity growth will be harder than it looks. Productivity has been negative temporarily because of droughts, but there has also been a more permanent slowdown.

Broadacre and dairy productivity was boosted by the major reforms of the 1980s and 1990s, including the dismantling of statutory marketing and price support schemes, labour market reforms and the phasing out of tariffs on imported agricultural products.  There were also big improvements in technology, including larger, more efficient sowing and harvesting machines, and greater automation and mechanisation of dairy production.  These advances, in turn, led to industry consolidation and an increase in average farm sizes.

But it seems the big gains from these changes have been largely realised, and an acceleration of productivity growth will require new drivers.  So where do we find them?

The opposition's Andrew Robb would suggest the northern food bowl. However, that is not on ABARES's to-do list, possibly because the idea has already been expertly examined and rejected.

The Northern Australia Land and Water Taskforce reported in 2009 that "contrary to popular belief, water resources in the north are neither unlimited, nor wasted. Equally, the potential for northern Australia to become a 'food bowl' is not supported by evidence."  Robb, who is heading a federal Coalition taskforce to reassess the merits of the food bowl proposal, insists that there is "a patchwork of opportunities right across the north" that, with "sensible water catchment", could double Australia's agricultural production.

With rising global food prices, there are almost certainly development opportunities in the north that would justify their environmental and other social costs. But an election-year Coalition task force is not the mechanism to find them.

What the federal opposition should promise is a Productivity Commission inquiry to re-evaluate the issue.

In the absence of Robb's economic miracle, ABARES warns productivity growth will have to come from on-farm innovation and advances in plant and animal genetics, and technologies that enable better farm management and increase energy and water efficiency.

State moratoriums on the commercial release of genetically modified crops have limited private sector investment, and ABARES makes a plea for transparent and evidence-based decision-making by the states.

Genetically modified food crops are being adopted overseas, including in the United States, Canada, China, Argentina and Brazil, and have the potential to transform agricultural productivity in Australia. Unfortunately, there seems to be no task force of federal politicians ready to take on that battle.

ABARES also argues that reduced government spending on agricultural research and development since the 1970s has contributed to the slowdown in farm productivity growth. That decline in funding should be reversed.

But there is more than the politicians can, and should, do.

There is scope for further gains from farm rationalisation. The Productivity Commission states the 20 per cent of most-efficient broadacre farms accounted for nearly two-thirds of total production in 2005. The remaining 80 per cent of farms produced only 36 per cent of output.

Drought should naturally force the rationalisation of the farm sector into larger, geographically diversified enterprises. However, governments have allowed drought relief to preserve economically inefficient operators.

Another useful agent of change should be foreign investment. And given the need for the agricultural sector to target consumers in Asia, corporate investors from China should be particularly useful.  That is not how some farmers see it, of course. But when all the emotive nonsense about Chinese investment is stripped away, their real concern seems to be that Chinese investment will excessively bid up the price of farm land and reduce the opportunity for the next generation of Australian farmers to carry on the family farms.

There might be some truth in that, but it is in Australia's interests for small farms to be replaced by larger corporate producers.

If agriculture is the next big thing, Australia cannot afford to protect undersized, under-capitalised, overgrazed family farms from the economic pressures of the global food market.

If anything, the federal government should increase the pressure on unprofitable farmers to get off the land, and it should demand that the states do the same. For example, grazing leases on Crown land should be put on a proper, arm's-length commercial basis, and producers who cannot manage their leases at a profit should be pushed out, just as a retail centre owner expels unsuccessful retailers.

In the case of the Crown leases in Queensland's Upper Burdekin, the benefits of such a policy would extend beyond agriculture to tourism.

According to the Productivity Commission, most of the sediments, nitrogen and phosphorous that wash into Great Barrier Reef lagoon come from cattle grazing, and a big part of the problem is overstocking by graziers who are fundamentally unviable or who have succumbed to the moral hazard of drought relief. "

--------------------------------------

Reader comments were vehement that this was a load of codswallop.  But some issues do require a more detailed examination.

Yes, Australian agriculture needs capital, but most think that should not be a selling off of the farm to sovereign entitities without any real need to be accountable for the product and the offshoring of the profits, and job replacement with foreign staff.

Many are also wary of large corporate operators with remote control, and they have not always been that successful, while some larger locally owned properties are.  There is also a place for smaller operators with specialised production [ and who can grow or encourage others into an industry], and truly, that might be a very profitable area with a number of classic operations noted - quinoa production in Tasmania as well as chia in the Ord River area.  There will be others.  One concept does not fit all!

As regards crown leases - well, it could be a pandora's box if enterprise change is envisaged as it can open these to land claim.  And that coud be a protracted event, and overall unproductive in the meantime.

The decline in agricultural R and D is a key issue, and there are a few tiny signs there may be some glimmer of change with recent large investments in several key centres in NSW and SA.  But there is little happening in the north, and with live cattle exports screwed, this will take some time to reverse.  Almost no public entity is increasing investment in this sort of r and D in the north of Australaia.

Export of chilled and frozen beef to some markets will increase, but it is unlikely Australia will improve beef sales - live or processed - to Indonesia anytime soon [ think 5 years plus], and that alone is impacting monumentally on pastoral production properties and their value.  There is a role for GM but refer back to the R and D equation........little has been done, and to also raise the performance and quality of varieties, including adapted vegetable crops to warmer regions will take time.

Look at agricultural productivity growth in Brazil - and that has resulted from investing in R and D.  May be we need to plagarise some of this for use in north Australia.  Climatically there are quite a few regions with similarities.