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The Forum > Article Comments > Creating the great Australian foodbowl > Comments

Creating the great Australian foodbowl : Comments

By Everald Compton, published 11/10/2011

One million billion litres of water are available in the north of Australia could feed China or India.

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This comes across more as a resolution to think about the problem than a plan, but I’d like to see it keenly prosecuted. People who are worried about habitat need to acknowledge that habitat can be created as well as destroyed. The rate of population growth worldwide has been decreasing steadily since the 1960s, but we’re still trending to a peak of 9 billion humans in another 90 years. Cheap, plentiful, nourishing food could knock a billion off that total, maybe move it a decade or two closer. And Australia is far better placed to provide it than just about anywhere else. Food, unlike ore, is a renewal resource, always in demand. Yes, it’s a remote area. So was Las Vegas at one time, but it’s thriving now ... and without massage to its environment. Urban Greenies imagine Northern Australia as either wasteland or wall-to-wall sacred sites — choosing to remain ignorant solves most problems, if you’re so inclined.. Indigenous Australians could benefit hugely from real interest in their lives and lands, as opposed to the faux hero-worship and welfare on offer from naysayers. First things first, though. No real discussion of forward-thinking projects like this will be allowed by KRudd/Gillard Labor. We need a new election, ASAP. I hope Robb & his team are ready, whenever that happens.
Posted by donkeygod, Tuesday, 11 October 2011 8:08:26 PM
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Vanna ; Fertilizer too easy everyone has two exhaust ports that offer forth the best fertilizer imaginable after bacteria have done their job.
Posted by Garum Masala, Tuesday, 11 October 2011 8:18:19 PM
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Garum Masala
Rather simplistic, but not practical or possible.

Every time a crop is harvested, nutrients are removed from the soil.

If the crop is exported, how are the nutrients returned to the soil to grow the next crop?

Peak phosphate may occur shortly, and fertiliser costs are now a major cost to farmers.

As for diesel, it is also one of the biggest costs for many farmers, and the reason why many have already left the land.
Posted by vanna, Tuesday, 11 October 2011 9:14:30 PM
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*And diesel.
Where will the diesel come from to build the dams and irrigation channels?*

Actually Vanna, we are not about to run out of diesel in Australia.
Australia is about to triple its gas production in the NW and a
substantial byproduct of gas is condensate. Globally it adds up
to about 10 million barrels a day, so our condensate production
should keep Australian vehicles going for a fair old while.

As to 50-100 years, I have not met too many who can accurately
predict the future, they are invariably wrong. The only one who
got it close to right was Darwin, who noted that species would
breed and multiply to their hearts content until one day they
would run out of resources and then that species population would
crash with a thud. Given that we humans have bred like rabbits over
the last 100 years and continue to do so, with an ever growing
human population, no doubt one day there will be a thud. So be it,
we clearly wern't smart enough as a species to take note of basic
biology.
Posted by Yabby, Tuesday, 11 October 2011 9:35:11 PM
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Vanna I beg to disagree the amount of sewerage discharged into the sea is amazing for example the Sydney discharge is piped about 5 miles seaward it can be seen on the sea surface at Eden sometimes at least a mile wide slick .
My contention is it should be piped not out to sea but inland where it can be processed by bacteria into Fertilizer .
Posted by Garum Masala, Tuesday, 11 October 2011 9:40:19 PM
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Northern water harvesting is better than dams on rivers.
Photos and info at the following link. (I have cross-linked The Forum).
http://justgroundsonline.com/forum/topics/barnaby-joyce-water-mp-attention
Posted by JF Aus, Wednesday, 12 October 2011 10:03:19 AM
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