Category: News
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The Generator news service publishes articles on sustainable development, agriculture and energy as well as observations on current affairs. The news service is used on the weekly radio show, The Generator, as well as by a number of monthly and quarterly magazines. A podcast of the Generator news is also available.
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admin /11 April, 2009
Statistics published in February and March 2009 show no let-up in the financial downturn that has gripped the UK economy since last summer. In the past year GDP has fallen by 1.9%, unemployment has increased by 1.3%, and retail sales have dropped by 1.8%.
Against this background it is encouraging to report that sales of organic food increased by 1.7% last year – in marked contrast to the prophecies of doom made by some. This growth points to some underlying resilience in the organic market, suggesting that it has the potential to grow dynamically once the economy picks up.
admin /11 April, 2009
Forests might pump water from the ocean to the inland of major continents, Russian scientists told New Scientist last week. The transpiration of moisture from forests leads directly to lower air pressure as that moisture condenses, creating winds that suck in further moisture from the ocean, the scientists say. The theory was first published in 2007 but has received little support until last week. A UK scientist, Doug Shiel, working in Uganda has revealed that traditional hydrology models cannot account for the increased rainfall over forests compared to neighbouring lands at the same latitude with similar geography. Shiel says the “biotic pump” that forests provide could account for the high inland rainfall of the Amazon and Congo rainforests, compared to areas like the Sahara and Australian deserts.
admin /11 April, 2009
Half a million US citizens defy the law on a regular basis to buy raw milk according to the US Food and Drug Administration. A patchwork of state lawslead to a complicated situation, where the product can be bought in some states and sold in others, leading to clandestine car-park sales of the product on state borders. Raw milk drinkers enjoy the health benefits of the range of enzymes and organisms in the fresh cows milk, that are killed by the pasteurisation process. Pasteurisation of milk was enforced by a variety of laws to prevent food poisoning from unhygenically handled milk and milk products. The US Pasteurised Milk Ordinance bans the transportation of raw milk across state borders for sale.
See Giovanni’s column
admin /10 April, 2009
A sheep farmer in Riedsdale in the hinterland of Southern NSW has restored permanent water to a parched landscape by introducing a range of fodder trees and plants including willows, bamboo, chestnuts and oaks. Peter Marshal bought the degraded farm twenty years ago and began ploughing the pasture to 700 millimetres and planting the trees and running sheep and goats instead of cattle. The trees are regularly cut and the leaves used for fodder while the logs are left on the ground. He said the logsreduce run-off, capture organic matter and reduce wind speed across the pasture. The property now has permanent water where creeks once operated as drains, eroding the soil and further degrading the pasture. The high protein diet of leaves also include tannin that reduce methane production and increase fertility in the sheep.
admin /10 April, 2009
The failure of irrigation across the Murray Darling River basin has led to a mass exodus from the land, the Murray Action Group claimed last week. Chairman of the group, Lester Wheatley said the government is allowing natural attrition to depopulate the inland. He described the governments attitude as “If everybody moves to the coast, well so be it.” The mayor of Deniliqin in southern NSW said, “Since the rice industry stopped we have had a mass exodus.” Water minister Penny Wong said, “We have to face up to a future where we’re likely to see the less water. What we’re doing is seeking projects that will ensure efficiencies and continue to produce more crop per drop.”
admin /10 April, 2009
The government has forgotton to secure the food sector in its plans to head-off the global financial crisis, according to the chief Executive of the Australian Food and Grocery Council, Ms Carnell. The former chief minister of the Australian Capital Territor, Ms Carnell said that the $70billion food industry employs 200,000 people and faces the major challenges of global warming, peak oil and the economic downturn. “If these challenges are not addressed they will significantly impact on Australia’s long term food security and our capacity to be self sufficient,” she told the National Press Council.
