The Generator is founded on the simple premise that we should leave the world in better condition than we found it. The news items in this category outline the attempts people have made to do this. They are mainly concerned with our food supply and settlement patterns. The impact that the human race has on the planet.
Chief of the Victorian Country Fire Authority, Russell Rees, told reporters last week that his organisation has repeatedly asked the Victorian government to crack down on housing developments in bushland. “Our community is choosing to live in a way that means we simply cannot guarantee their survival,” he said. “Why do we choose to build a civilisation that is not safe?” Over 200 people were killed and 7,000 left homeless as a result of last week’s fires.
People on small farms or domestic blocks in the Riverina are urged to report any signs of locusts on their property.
NSW Plague Locust Commissioner Graeme Eggleston said every bit of information helped authorities in the fight to control the second generation of locusts.
“We have had information suggesting quite a bit of locust activity on some of these small acreage properties both in and on the outskirts of towns in the area, and we appeal to these property owners to let us know,” he said.
Embattled livestock producer AACo is hoping the big wet sweeping northern Australia can provide it with the platform to rebound in 2009 from a bad year in 2008.
It is expected to lose between $39 and $42 million, according to an announcement made to the Australian Stock Exchange this week.
Drought conditions were the primary driver behind the poor result in 2008, but with many of the company’s properties are now likely to have their best season in several years, and the company is optimistic about its future – a view not necessarily shared by the market.
I suggest you sit down before you read this. Robert Mugabe is right. At last week’s global food summit he was the only leader to speak of “the importance … of land in agricultural production and food security”.(1) Countries should follow Zimbabwe’s lead, he said, in democratising ownership.
Of course the old bastard has done just the opposite. He has evicted his opponents and given land to his supporters. He has failed to support the new settlements with credit or expertise, with the result that farming in Zimbabwe has collapsed. The country was in desperate need of land reform when Mugabe became president. It remains in desperate need of land reform today.
But he is right in theory. Though the rich world’s governments won’t hear it, the issue of whether or not the world will be fed is partly a function of ownership. This reflects an unexpected discovery. It was first made in 1962 by the Nobel economist Amartya Sen(2), and has since been confirmed by dozens of further studies. There is an inverse relationship between the size of farms and the amount of crops they produce per hectare. The smaller they are, the greater the yield.
From The Land
Textile manufacturers and distributors want to source more Australian Certified Organic cotton, according to the Biological Farmers of Australia, but they say the industry faces significant challenges without more support.
According to the latest edition of the BFA’s e-newsletter, The Organic Advantage, demand for organic cotton is on the rise, but not production.
It quotes organic manchester manufacturer and distributor Peter Byl, from Organature, as saying he is on his last batch of “Australian produced organic cotton from a crop harvested three years ago”.
A protester vandalises a GM crop trial. Qualms about GM food may be a luxury Africa can ill afford. Photograph: Barry Batchelor/PA
The Science Museum in London is running an exhibition until the end of May called Future Foods. It attempts to give a balanced view of the pros and cons of genetically modified crops, which are back on the agenda in the light of fears over a major food crisis. It does a good job too.