Farmers are the solution
Submitted by Anonymous on 10 February 2009 - 8:22pm
An article from Biodynamic Agriculture Australia
Farmers are the Solution
There is growing concern and attention being directed to climate change and the environment. It is the farmers who can solve our environment problems - everyone else can slow the process of creating carbon emissions but only farmers can reverse them.
Politicians can encourage and scientists inform, only the farmers can achieve outcomes on the scale required, effective immediately.
Biodynamic Agriculture Australia Ltd is a not-for-profit, national, membership association with over 1,200 members. We educate, train and support farmers in the adoption of carbon efficient agriculture and the implementation of sustainable methods that are environmentally regenerative, simple and low cost to apply as well as providing high quality food and fibre.
Hamish Mackay,
CEO,
Bellingen, bdceo [at] biodynamics [dot] net [dot] au
August, 2007
Farmers are the Solution
There is growing concern and attention being directed to climate change and the environment. It is the farmers who can solve our environment problems - everyone else can slow the process of creating carbon emissions but only farmers can reverse them.
- CARBON: "We require only 10% of our productive, degraded lands to absorb the estimated 6.1 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide emissions to make a carbon negative world possible in our lifetime" www.amazingcarbon.com/SummariesHORSHAM.pdf Note: biological carbon sequestration is very different to carbon GEOsequestration, a physical process.
- SOIL: Australia loses 6.97 tonnes of soil per hectare per year across the entire continent. www.deh.gov.au/soe/2001/land/land01-5html Humus holds the soil as well as increasing drought tolerance
- WATER: In a river catchment basin such as the River Murray (1,057,000 square Kilometres) a 2% increase in humus would equate to an increase in water –holding capacity of 33,824 gigalitres of water (which is approximately equivalent to one Olympic pool per 10 hectares). http://www.biodynamics.net.au/documents/PlainOldDirt-Compactversion2006edn..doc
- ECONOMY: Australia imports approximately $4 billion in agricultural chemicals. This is approximately $30,000 per farmer. If we can free ourselves from this requirement we have more resources: $4 billion - to spend in local communities - annually.
Politicians can encourage and scientists inform, only the farmers can achieve outcomes on the scale required, effective immediately.
Biodynamic Agriculture Australia Ltd is a not-for-profit, national, membership association with over 1,200 members. We educate, train and support farmers in the adoption of carbon efficient agriculture and the implementation of sustainable methods that are environmentally regenerative, simple and low cost to apply as well as providing high quality food and fibre.
Hamish Mackay,
CEO,
Bellingen, bdceo [at] biodynamics [dot] net [dot] au
August, 2007
