Food security for Canterbury
From:
Tim Kerr
Date:
Jun 09 04:01 UTC
Short link
Exponential (and it isn't) increases in oil has a lot to do with old
technology and equipment meeting an unprecedented demand for oil from China,
Indonesia and India.
ALL these countries are subsidising their oil prices. Partly to prevent
violent reactions from their residents but also to help sustain the terrific
growth they are going through - and forestall associated inflation.
It will soon pass....
Just as the European countries put various trade barriers on imported
agricultural products, ex-third world countries whack subsidies on oil. It
keeps their citizens happy and encourages higher industrial productivity.
So now we have high grain prices AND high oil prices - and high milk
prices.....
Oh, and believe me, the citizens of China, India and Indonesia would not
remain as happy as we are if they had even a fraction of our oil price
increases!
So really... I just want to know if Armageddon is strictly a Canterbury
issue....
----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian Sandle" <bsandle@snap.net.nz>
To: <canterburyissues@forums.e-democracy.org>
Sent: Monday, June 09, 2008 3:31 PM
Subject: Re: [Canterbury Issues] Food security for Canterbury
> Tim Kerr wrote:
>> Cripes!!!!
>>
>> What date is Armaggeddon?
>>
>> Just wondering....
>>
>> Tim Kerr.....
>>
>>
> When one thinks of the exponential petrol price rises and the energy
> required for current agriculture it could be quite close.
>
> We might stave it off a bit with fast thinking.
>
> The AgResearch Annual Report seems to say how unprofitable it has been
> doing public good research:
>
>
http://www.agresearch.co.nz/publications/annualreport/Annual-Report-2007-1-of-4.pdf
> "Last, but not least, the real benefits of the research and its
> subsequent commercialisation may not be immediately apparent or
> quantifiable in dollar terms.
> This is particularly so for agricultural science, where the initial
> investment may be made by an industry/government collaboration, with the
> commercial benefits being captured by individual farmers or processors
> some considerable time later. An example of this is the increasingly
> effective biological control of the Argentine stem weevil and clover
> root weevil, the control of which together is now allowing productivity
> to be realised for our pastoral farmers of up to $500 million per annum.
> Ironically, while the science behind this was being carried out by
> researchers inside AgResearch, the ‘public good’ benefits have done
> considerably less for AgResearch’s long-term financial viability. There
> is a trade-off here that government, industry and society must help
> reconcile."
>
> According to the following some of this weevil problem has not been
> particularly prevalent in Canterbury, but biological control is being
> used to prevent its spread from where it is, (however it got here).
>
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/esa/envent/2003/00000032/00000004/art00010;jsessionid=1dv1s5oft7bej.alexandra
> http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/SC0712/S00047.htm
>
> So what mechanisms are there for us to ask that other beneifits than
> financial/commercial come and increase to come from our local research
> institutes?
>
> I think of the treeless drought-ridden sheep paddocks of South
> Canterbury shown on TV a few days ago. Other countries are planting
> trees to reclaim desert. For some reason treelessness has been sold
> here, though earlier generations of farmers watched the topsoil blow
> away before.
>
> Is Federated Farmers promoting treelessness?
>
> I see they have just promoted GMOs
>
> Brian Sandle
>
> Info about Brian Sandle: http://forums.e-democracy.org/p/briansandle
>
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