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  • Farmers seek organic fertiliser solutions

    In his own work around Wee Waa, NSW, Dr Rochester has seen vetch rotations regularly fix up to 200 kilograms of nitrogen per hectare under dryland conditions—and deliver a wealth of other benefits that combined, increased gross margins by up to $540 per ha.

    “This last year we got over 5.5 bales of cotton an acre, with no nitrogen, using legume systems,” Dr Rochester said.

    Cotton grower John Phelps, who has been trialling vetch rotations on his Wee Waa property “Havana” for about six years, said he has reduced his formulated nitrogen applications by 40 per cent, and hopes to reduce it further.

    Vetch, which is grown out and then slashed and mulched into the soil as a “green manure” before it begins to hay off, has proved a stand-out soil ameliorant, but faba bean runs a handy second and provides the additional attraction of a cash crop.

    “Within a continuous cotton system where cotton was planted year after year, growing vetch reduced the amount of nitrogen fertiliser required for cotton by 140 kg per hectare to achieve maximum yields,” Dr Rochester said.

    “Coupled with increased yield, the gross margin per hectare for this system [compared to not growing vetch] was increased by $390.”

    Average nitrogen fertiliser applications in the cotton industry now stand at around 200 kilograms per hectare, and are increasing.

    Under a wheat-vetch-cotton rotation, gross margins improved by $270/ha compared to not growing vetch, with the biggest results coming in a vetch-fallow-cotton rotation that saw gross margins leap by $540/ha.

    “Although vetch is not an income producing crop itself, the $100 per hectare cost of growing it is substantially outweighed by the financial benefits accrued for the following cotton crop.”

    Those benefits cover a range of soil improvements, including and increase in soil organic matter of 14 per cent—and the annual accumulation of a tonne per hectare of total soil carbon, which itself may deliver a cash return under an emissions trading system.

    Dr Rochester attributes the jump in organic matter and carbon not just to the vetch, but a permanent-bed tillage system that minimises soil disturbance, and thus the soil nitrogen that is normally consumed when soil is turned over and microbial activity accelerated.

    The combined effect has been the improvement in a range of soil properties, including water infiltration and water-holding capacity, that collectively deliver a beneficial boost to crops.

    Following vetch, cotton crops are able to absorb greater amounts of nutrient, including nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, zinc and copper; while detrimental sodium uptake is reduced.

    Management also becomes easier. The interaction between plants and healthy soils tends to self-regulate the delivery of nitrogen, so that the crop isn’t hit with a nitrogen overdose if conditions start to dry out.

    “The nitrogen is in an organic form, so it’s slow release, and it cycles between organic and inorganic forms, so that its cycling more rapidly and the crop has access to the mineral nitrogen,” Dr Rochester said.

    “It all becomes less risky—you can rely on the nitrogen being there when you need it.”

    It doesn’t have the flexibility of nitrogen fertiliser, he observed, but because organic nitrogen is more stable, the last-minute rush to add N to a potentially high-yield crop may not be so necessary. However, it remains an option to those who want to capitalise on yield in a big year.

  • Farmers want governments to keep out of trough

    From The Land 

    The best policy response to food shortages is to let the market do its thing, according to the National Farmers Federation.

    Responding to the release of a new report “High Food Prices – Causes, Implications and Solutions”, NFF president, David Crombie, said if the United Nations’ stated goal of a 30pc increase in global food production by 2030 is to have any hope of coming to fruition, the paramount objective of food policy must be to encourage a workable system of production, distribution and consumption.

    “This means a global recommitment to agricultural research and development investment in pursuit of higher farm productivity – including technologies, new plant varieties, inlcuding genetically modified crops, new farming systems and irrigations systems, with a focus on climate adaptation,” Mr Crombie said.

    “Foreign govenrments must leave their domestic policies at home and once and for all abandon their trade distorting subsidies, tarrifs and other artificial barriers, which only mire production by sending the wrong market signals to farmers as food producers.”

    Mr Crombie said govenrments must not intervene to impose limits on food exports, nor distort the flow of food stocks to the production of bio-fuels.

    “The only workable policy response is to facilitate an open, market-oriented system for the production, distribution and consumption of food that enable farmers to respond to genuine market demands and ensure consumer needs are met.”

  • Fertiliser prices soar to $1600 per tonne

    The Fertiliser price hike has continued apace – and the bad news for Australian growers is that international price rises are going up faster than domestic ones.

    With most farmers already sorted for their 2008 phosphate needs, the jump of close to $200/t in phosphate (P) products such as MAP and DAP in the past three weeks will not have an impact this season, but casts a pall over their affordability in 2009.

    Although no blanket figure can be quoted – suggestions are that farmers would generally be paying $1600/t or moren for new up-country deliveries.

    Tight international supply, favourable grain prices are the drivers behind the continued demand, along with strong demand from Indian buyers.

  • NSW plans to increase train fares

    Responding to the IPART review of CityRail services, Greens MP and transport spokesperson Lee Rhiannon said today the NSW Pricing Tribunal should withdraw its call for fare increases and heavy job cuts.
     
    "IPART's recommendations of massive fare hikes and front line service sackings reveals that it has failed to understand the new priorities of regulating public transport services," Ms Rhiannon said. 
     
    "IPART should be advising the NSW government that increasing the attractiveness and reliability of CityRail services is its top priority. Increasing revenue should be a secondary priority. 
     
    “Sydney’s roads are choked. Peak hour is a thing of the past, air pollution is reaching dangerously high levels and chronic traffic congestion is making Sydney unliveable.
     
    “With rising petrol prices and the peak oil phenomenon set to boost rail service patronage the government should be looking to employ more station staff and rail workers. 
     
    “The Government must encourage more commuters onto trains, not turn them off.
     
    "The IPART recommendations include cutting operation costs by $480 million, the axing of 1,176 train guards and replacing staff at 204 of the 305 train stations with ticket machines.
     
    "Instead, IPART should be recommending a large increase in the rail budget to put CityRail on a world class footing, not relying on the traditional economic rationalist approach to drive change. 
     
    "It is disappointing that the Tribunal has given such poor advice at a time when the NSW government's public transport policy is so out of step with what passengers need. 
     
    "Everyone knows that CityRail has to lift its game but IPART has targeted the wrong areas. 
     
    "IPART has jeopardised its standing with these recommendations. They show contempt for public transport passengers and hard working CityRail staff, and a complete lack of understanding of the transport crisis that lies ahead with predicted fuel shortages. 
     
    "Fewer staff and higher ticket prices on CityRail services would hit people living in western Sydney and commuters from the Illawarra, Hunter and Central Coast particularly hard.
     
    “The Greens will be making these recommendations in our submission to the IPART review,” Ms Rhiannon said.

  • US prepares to hand Iraq to mercenaries

    By Patrick Cockburn in Counterpunch

    A secret deal being negotiated in Baghdad would perpetuate the American military occupation of Iraq indefinitely, regardless of the outcome of the U.S. presidential election in November.

    The terms of the impending deal, details of which have been leaked to this reporter, are likely to have an explosive political effect in Iraq.
    Iraqi officials fear that the accord, under which U.S. troops would occupy permanent bases, conduct military operations, arrest Iraqis and enjoy immunity from Iraqi law, will destabilize Iraq’s position in the Middle East and lay the basis for unending conflict in their country.
    But the accord also threatens to provoke a political crisis in the U.S.
    President Bush wants to push it through by the end of next month so he can declare a military victory and claim his 2003 invasion has been vindicated.

    But by perpetuating the U.S. presence in Iraq, the long-term settlement would undercut pledges by the Democratic presidential nominee, Barack Obama, to withdraw U.S. troops if he is elected president in November.
    The timing of the agreement would also boost the Republican candidate, John McCain, who has claimed the United States is on the verge of victory in Iraq — a victory that he says Obama would throw away by a premature military withdrawal.

    America currently has 151,000 troops in Iraq and, even after projected withdrawals next month, troop levels will stand at more than 142,000 — 10,000 more than when the military “surge” began in January 2007. Under the terms of the new treaty, the Americans would retain the long-term use of more than 50 bases in Iraq. American negotiators are also demanding immunity from Iraqi law for U.S. troops and contractors, and a free hand to carry out arrests and conduct military activities in Iraq without consulting the Baghdad government.

    The precise nature of the American demands has been kept secret until now.

    The leaks are certain to generate an angry backlash in Iraq. “It is a terrible breach of our sovereignty,” said one Iraqi politician, adding that if the security deal were signed it would delegitimise the government in Baghdad, which will be seen as an American pawn.

    The U.S. has repeatedly denied it wants permanent bases in Iraq but one Iraqi source said: “This is just a tactical subterfuge.” Washington also wants control of Iraqi airspace below 29,000 feet and the right to pursue its “war on terror” in Iraq, giving it the authority to arrest anybody it wants and to launch military campaigns without consultation.

    Bush is determined to force the Iraqi government to sign the so-called “strategic alliance” without modifications, by the end of next month. But it is already being condemned by the Iranians and many Arabs as a continuing American attempt to dominate the region. Ali Akbar Hashemi Rasfajani, the powerful and usually moderate Iranian leader, said that such a deal would create “a permanent occupation.” He added, “The essence of this agreement is to turn the Iraqis into slaves of the Americans.”

    Iraq’s prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, is believed to be personally opposed to the terms of the new pact but feels his coalition government cannot stay in power without U.S. backing.

    The deal also risks exacerbating the proxy war being fought between Iran and the United States over who should be more influential in Iraq.

    Although Iraqi ministers have said they will reject any agreement limiting Iraqi sovereignty, political observers in Baghdad suspect they will sign in the end and simply want to establish their credentials as defenders of Iraqi independence by a show of defiance now. The one Iraqi with the authority to stop deal is the majority Shiia spiritual leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. In 2003, he forced the U.S. to agree to a referendum on the new Iraqi constitution and the election of a parliament.

    But he is said to believe that loss of U.S. support would drastically weaken the Iraqi Shiia, who won a majority in parliament in elections in 2005.

    The U.S. is adamantly against the new security agreement being put to a referendum in Iraq, suspecting that it would be voted down. The influential Shiia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has called on his followers to demonstrate every Friday against the impending agreement on the grounds that it compromises Iraqi independence.

    The Iraqi government wants to delay the actual signing of the agreement but the office of Vice President Dick Cheney has been trying to force it through. The U.S. ambassador in Baghdad, Ryan Crocker, has spent weeks trying to secure the accord.

    The signature of a security agreement, and a parallel deal providing a legal basis for keeping U.S. troops in Iraq, is unlikely to be accepted by most Iraqis. But the Kurds, who make up a fifth of the population, will probably favor a continuing American presence, as will Sunni Arab political leaders who want U.S. forces to dilute the power of the Shiia. The Sunni Arab community, which has broadly supported a guerrilla war against U.S. occupation, is likely to be split.

    Patrick Cockburn is the Ihe author of “ Muqtada: Muqtada Al-Sadr, the Shia Revival, and the Struggle for Iraq.”

  • Fungus improves ethanol production

    The remaining liquid, known as thin stillage, still contains some solids, a variety of organic compounds from corn and fermentation as well as enzymes. Because the compounds and solids can interfere with ethanol production, only about 50 percent of thin stillage can be recycled back into ethanol production. The rest is evaporated and blended with distillers dried grains to produce distillers dried grains with solubles.

    The researchers added a fungus, Rhizopus microsporus, to the thin stillage and found it would feed and grow. The fungus removes about 80 percent of the organic material and all of the solids in the thin stillage, allowing the water and enzymes in the thin stillage to be recycled back into production.

    The fungus can also be harvested. It’s a food-grade organism that’s rich in protein, certain essential amino acids and other nutrients. It can be dried and sold as a livestock feed supplement. Or it can be blended with distillers dried grains to boost its value as a livestock feed and make it more suitable for feeding hogs and chickens.

    Van Leeuwen said all of that can save United States ethanol producers a lot of energy and money at current production levels:

    • Eliminating the need to evaporate thin stillage would save ethanol plants up to $800 million a year in energy costs.

    • Allowing more water recycling would reduce the industry’s water consumption by as much as 10 billion gallons per year. And it allows producers to recycle enzymes in the thin stillage, saving about $60 million per year.

    • Adding value and nutrients to the livestock feed produced by ethanol plants would grow the market for that feed by about $400 million per year.

    • And the researchers’ fungal proc

      ess would improve the energy balance of ethanol production by reducing energy inputs so there is more of an energy gain.

    Van Leeuwen estimated it would cost $11 million to start using the process in an ethanol plant that produces 100 million gallons of fuel per year. But, he said the cost savings at such a plant could pay off that investment in about six months.

    Van Leeuwen and the other researchers developing the technology – Anthony L. Pometto III, a professor of food science and human nutrition; Mary Rasmussen, a graduate student in environmental engineering and biorenewable resources and technology; and Samir Khanal, a former Iowa State research assistant professor who is now an assistant professor of molecular biosciences and bioengineering at the University of Hawai‘i at M?noa – recently won the 2008 Grand Prize for University Research from the American Academy of Environmental Engineers for the project.