farming Archive

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  Genetically bred prince opposes GE - by frog

  
  
  
  I don’t really like the idea of royals, especially when they use their unelected power and profile to comment on democratic political issues, but that shouldn’t prevent me quoting them approvingly when they say something I like eh? So Prince Charles has got the genetic engineering world in a bit of an uproar. Some British [...] read more
  August 14, 2008 11:12 am - 17 Comments
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  Cuba in the Pacific - by frog

  
  
  
  The Hive is looking on worried at six Cuban doctors working for free in Vanuatu.  Presumably it is worried about some sort of communist domino effect in the Pacific, as that is the sort of thing foreign affairs bureaucrats are paid to worry about.  And maybe the Hive is on to something – there are [...] read more
  August 12, 2008 10:10 am - 7 Comments
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  Michael Pollan - by frog

  
  
  
  Sue Kedgley has just put up this video of a conversation she had with one of my favourite food writers, Michael Pollan, author of In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto. read more
  August 12, 2008 9:37 am - 4 Comments
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  Industrial dairy could hurt the summer BBQ - by frog

  
  
  
  OK, so barbecued lamb chops are not really my major concern with large scale dairy conversions, but it seems they (dairy conversions) are partly to blame for the ratio of sheep to people falling from 22 sheep for every person in 1982 to 8 to 1 today: Economic Service executive director Rob Davison says the [...] read more
  August 9, 2008 8:57 am - 37 Comments
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  The Southland farming debate continues - by frog

  
  
  
  P Clifford and Fulton Long’s ongoing letter writing debate exploded across the letters page of the Southland Times yesterday with 4 letters dedicated to refuting Long’s assertion that a few dirty rivers is an acceptable price to pay for economic prosperity. I promised I’d keep you up to date, so here are not just P [...] read more
  July 24, 2008 2:07 pm - 17 Comments
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  Farming, food, chicken plucking and ape rights - by frog

  
  
  
  Don’t say that title too fast.  Here’s few foody bits and pieces from around the world. Farmer Peter Kindersley tells the Guardian about two different ways to pluck a chicken.  The first is not pleasant, given New Zealand’s high rate of campylobacter: [T]he scald tank that was part of it has always been a headache [...] read more
  July 2, 2008 3:35 pm - 3 Comments
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  Goodbye Charlie Pedersen - by frog

  
  
  
  The Wellington ‘beltway’ will be a quieter place without Charlie Pedersen who leaves Federated Farmers presidency to be replaced by Southland sheep and beef farmer, Don Nicolson. In his parting shot yesterday Charlie gave a rambunctious speech, mostly focused on attacking the Resource Management Act. But some of what he says is right there on [...] read more
  June 26, 2008 11:20 am - 18 Comments
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  Opposing the common good - by frog

  
  
  
  Also giving his Federated Farmers AGM speech this morning was Keith Kelly, chair of the Meat and Fibre Section (in this bloggy context ‘fibre’ means wool rather than broadband): The biggest problem of all however, could be the emissions trading legislation already through the first stage of the select committee process. By my calculations this [...] read more
  June 24, 2008 1:32 pm - 17 Comments
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  Stolen water - by frog

  
  
  
  Frank Brenmuhl, chairperson of the Dairy Section of Federated Farmers, has just given his AGM speech in which he bemoans that attacks that he perceives dairy farmers face from the Greens and other environmentalists.  The basis of his defence is very Rousseau-ian: The physical resources that we use, to produce food is what we have [...] read more
  June 24, 2008 1:04 pm - 4 Comments
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  Growing upwards not outwards - by frog

  
  
  
  Green Upgrader has an interesting analysis of the sustainability of vertical farms.  A vertical farm is kind of like a big tall building where each floor is a field or paddock rather than office space.  Check out this picture: Obviously by stacking your farm fields one on top of another you save space that might [...] read more
  June 18, 2008 6:38 am - 25 Comments
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  The water debate - by frog

  
  
  
  Russel has spent yesterday pointing out that the newly released and misnamed ‘Plan for Action‘ on water quality is quite a different sort of document to the one that might have been drafted if it had been based on consultation with iwi, environmental groups and ordinary people as the Ministry for the Environment had been [...] read more
  June 11, 2008 8:12 am - 3 Comments
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  Fonterra has more money for industrial dairy - by frog

  
  
  
  Was it really only one month ago that we were falling off our chairs over the fact that Fonterra was forecast to pay dairy farmers $7.30 for a kilo of milk solids?  That gave the average farm $850,000 of income.  Well, records are made to be broken, so today Fonterra is hinting the payment could [...] read more
  May 27, 2008 3:27 pm - 12 Comments
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  A meaty dilemma - by frog

  
  
  
  Paul Roberts, author of The End of Food, has a compelling article in Seed magazine, Carnivores like us, which begins looking at the impact of China’s new-found meat eating revolution: Thanks in part to the meatier diet, the number of people suffering physical stunting has fallen from three in 10 in 1980 to half as [...] read more
  May 27, 2008 11:05 am - 14 Comments
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  Peak oil and farming – the Welsh experience - by frog

  
  
  
  Treehugger has links to a compelling BBC documentary on what Wales’ oil dependent farms will need to do to survive the arrival peak oil. The conclusions are stark for a farming country like New Zealand. We need to act quickly if we are going to be ready, but if we get it right the opportunities [...] read more
  May 7, 2008 9:47 am - No Comments
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  China looks to NZ food and farms - by frog

  
  
  
  The head of HSBC, Margaret Leung is in the Herald this morning saying that we can expect lots more Chinese financial interest in New Zealand assets. It is interesting that she particularly singles out food as an area for future investment: “At the moment we are financing quite a bit of meat exports but we [...] read more
  May 6, 2008 8:53 am - 5 Comments
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  Debate at Fed Farmers on palm cake - by frog

  
  
  
  The Herald this morning has Andrew Gillanders, Federated Farmers grains and seeds chairman, criticising the practice of importing palm oil cakes as feed for dairy cows.  Gillander notes that the practice contributes to rainforest destruction and should be stopped: “We are importing a waste product created from the destruction of tropical rainforests.” Mr Gillanders said [...] read more
  May 5, 2008 10:08 am - 6 Comments
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  GE breaks its promise - by frog

  
  
  
  The promise of GE was that it was going to feed the starving masses. Now a UN report that 400 scientists spent four years helping to write criticises GE saying it has little role to play in helping to feed the world and that scientific time and energy time instead needs to be invested protecting [...] read more
  April 17, 2008 9:59 am - 12 Comments
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  UN calls for change in farming practices as food riots continue - by frog

  
  
  
  As food prices around the world continue to soar, a United Nations report released today says that industrial agricultural practices are exhausting land and water resources, destroying diversity and hurting poor people. The report’s authors recommend that agricultural science place greater emphasis on safeguarding natural resources and on ‘agro-ecological’ practices, including the use of natural [...] read more
  April 10, 2008 12:15 pm - 9 Comments
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  The trade of Nashi pears - by frog

  
  
  
  As an urban frog this is going to sound silly, but one of my favourite radio shows is National Radio’s Country Life. It’s a great way to hear about the other end our food chain, including life on our farms for both the farmers and food out there. There are some amazingly passionate and skilled [...] read more
  April 5, 2008 9:13 am - 3 Comments
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  Cheese prices up 59.9% - by frog

  
  
  
  Food prices continue to rise according to Statistics New Zealand, 5.2% in the year to February.  Grocery food prices led that charge, increasing 9.0%. Within that the most significant upward contributions came from higher prices for fresh milk (up 20.9%), cheese (up 59.9%) and butter (up 91.2%). Oils and fats rose 29.4%.  There were also significant rises in bread, cereals, coffee, [...] read more
  March 13, 2008 1:48 pm - 16 Comments