Brilliant article this!
Everyone should take a while and read it through, think about what the author is saying.

Think too about what you would eat if one day you find the supermarket shelves are bare. What are your alternatives?
Plant a garden you say?
What will you eat while you wait for your garden to grow?
The time to start a garden is NOW!
There is a lot of pleasure in growing your own food. You will save a lot of money - and you will be much healthier. Especially if you grow your food naturally. No chemicals!

Organic farming ‘could feed Africa’.

Organic farming offers Africa the best chance of breaking the cycle of poverty and malnutrition it has been locked in for decades, according to a major study from the United Nations to be presented today. London Independent, United Kingdom.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/organic-farming-could-feed-africa-968641.html

‘The study found that organic practices outperformed traditional methods and chemical-intensive conventional farming. It also found strong environmental benefits such as improved soil fertility, better retention of water and resistance to drought. And the research highlighted the role that learning organic practices could have in improving local education. Backers of GM foods insist that a technological fix is needed to feed the world. But this form of agriculture requires cash to buy the patented seeds and herbicides – both at record high prices currently – needed to grow GM crops.’

All areas affected by ‘dryness’ (the new politically correct word for drought here in Australia as we must not let farmers be downhearted by this) need to think carefully about these findings. On crops grown without pesticides, the soil shows..’better retention of water and resistance to drought’.
Why would farmers continue to use practices that potentiate drought?
Who is joining the dots here?
Why are farmers in Africa growing crops without pesticides and GM seed to increase their crop production and yet at least 70% of farmers here in Tasmania, continue to use pesticides?

Repetition is needed on these matters, especially now that P Wong is waiting on the CSIRO report re Tasmania - due 12/2009 - on water (esp. ground water and interceptions from forestry and agriculture and all water use)before she decides on $ allocation to Tasmania re water diversions. Also articulated is Tasmania’s need to comply with the National Water Iniative. Interesting times indeed!
And the drying of Tasmania has only been evident for 20 years or so - what pro-active actions has our Government taken? No, they plant all but 4 catchments in Tasmania with trees on 15 year rotations and do not account for the water taken, think up un-sustainable ways to divert the remaining water to the farmers who are now paying more for any water that they can get, and vegetables from China are on the supermarket shelves!
It is indeed the time to draw breath and look at all this very critically - time and real accountable leadership is essential, if Tasmania is to stay ‘the food-basket of the future’.