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Agriculture is totally sustainable : Comments
By David Leyonhjelm, published 17/7/2013Modern agriculture is not only sustainable now, but more sustainable than it has ever been.
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Posted by Rhrosty, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 12:17:28 PM
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Too many have said "if you are not profitable , you are not sustainable" . The present unsustainable spiralling rural debt and accompanying stalled property market suggests most farmers are not even covering the short term cost of production , let alone the long term true cost of production ( which includes the cost of replacing essential plant nutrients ) .
The 5 criteria of sustainability ( productive ,financial , environmental , social and cultural ) all display disturbing negative trends. Productivity gains have slalled. Rural debt is exploding . Environmental indicators are of concern . Rural populations are reducing and aging with alarming suicide rates . The historic rural culture of family farms with stoic resilient farmers is disappearing. The Australian vision of owning and controlling our means of production is being lost In general the picture is of unhealthy balance sheets and rural communities Posted by peasant, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 11:04:38 PM
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Agriculture in Australia is totally sustainable as effective pest control services like the Pest Inspection unit are used for treating against pests. More information on these services is available at http://termitesvic.com.au/pest-control/pest-control-melbourne online.
Posted by jacktraver, Monday, 22 July 2013 7:22:07 PM
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We currently pour energy into transporting millions of tons of perfectly good phosphorous and nitrates annually out to sea, where they do nothing but harm to the marine ecology.
Whereas, if we extracted the energy component from this endless waste, and then used the remaining waste products, carbon rich, phosphate and nitrate rich, safely sanitised organic fertilizer, and reusable endless water, we could quite dramatically improve current production; and or, open up brand new endlessly sustainable industries.
One of the most damaging ways to manage the environment, is with the aid of fire.
Fire which routinely and annually, destroys fragile non fire tolerant ecosystems,(all rainforest species) sends millions of tons of increasingly scarce and increasingly expensive soil nutrients skyward, to eventually come down over our oceans.
Where this nutrient load does nothing but harm to the marine ecology.
There is another better way!
And that way is via very intensive very short term cell grazing, assisted by ubiquitous dung beetles.
The very short term and intensive nature of this practise, breaks open the soil allowing precipitation to enter and be absorbed at some depth as retained soil moisture! Whereas, burning it bakes the soil making it more and more impervious to water, which in turn then adds to eternal erosion and or flash flooding outcomes.
The dung beetles assist by placing organic fertilizer at just the depth needed to maximise plant growth.
Seeds do not necessarily need fire to germinate, just heat.
And that can be provided by virtually any oven or even solar heated BBQ's!
Rhrosty.