In an Agricultural Land and Water Ownership Survey (ALWOS) conducted in March 2011, with data requested as at 31 December 2010, the Bureau found that 99% of agricultural businesses in Australia were entirely Australian owned
Farming
Abbott on farming v mining
Tony Abbott has arrived late and confused at an issue the Greens have been pursuing for years. Declaring you support both farmers and miners on these issues is merely going to make everyone unhappy.
Coal seam gas miners’ water bargaining potentially tainted
Mining companies are winning the support of farmers in the Dalby Downs region of North Queensland by offering to return water used during the process of coal seam gas extraction, despite concerns about water quality.
Live cattle ban: the beginning of the end
The Northern Territory pastoral farming industry is not economically viable, it is not ecologically sustainable, and it is an obstacle to obtaining wise fire management in the NT, declares Strider on The Northern Myth.
I’m a beef farmer and I support the live exports ban
An immediate ban on live exports forces everyone at the table sit up and address this as a serious issue. Animal rights must be a priority in farming, says beef farmer Kathy Yannarakis.
Garnaut details the potential of ‘green carbon’ — but we need a price
Ross Garnaut has returned to the issue of biosequestration, and shows a carbon price, not “direct action” is needed to realise its benefits.
Crikey Clarifier: Locusts — who are they and why are they here?
You’d think the heavy winter rains in Australia’s south-east that broke a drought and filled a struggling river system would have been welcomed by all. But the Big Wet has been the equivalent of mood lighting and a Barry White record for one of our most feared pests — the Australian plague locust.
The saucy scandals staining the tomato business
You say tomato, I say industry wrecked by scandal. Arthur Allen explores the messy world of the canning tomatoes industry, with juicy tales of bribery, corruption and a dirty competitor war.
How rich countries are gobbling up Africa
An investigation by the Guardian’s Observer has found that wealthy countries and companies are farming millions of hectares of African land to sure up their food supplies. Is this colonialism for the 21st century?
California’s water wars rage on
California lawmakers have approved several bills that could significantly change the state’s troubled water system, fueling hopes that a generation of feuds over the state’s most vital and overexploited natural resource might soon be over.
How green is tofu?
It’s the culinary preference of hippies everywhere, but is eating tofu actually any better for the environment than eating meat? Apparently it all depends on what you’re not eating…
What came first, the chicken or the vegetarian egg?
Vegetarians are forced to ponder whether the eggs they are eating are possibly chickens that never got the chance to grow. Is it true? Grist investigates.
Richer than the richest gold, if a farm’s got soul
Insipid food lines and factory farms full of antibiotics have replaced the traditional family farm, leaving modern day farming with no soul, writes Nicholas D. Kristof.
Solutions for a starving planet
By 2050, the world will have nine billion people to feed, and increasingly less land to do it with. Popular Science looks at eight potential farming innovations — from genetically engineered rice to robot farmers — to help stop world hunger and feed a growing world’s appetite.
Fertile opportunities amongst Detroit’s debris
America’s once-thriving Motor City is now a suburban wasteland, the shells of abandoned factories punctuating the landscape as businesses go under or pack up stumps. But beneath the ruins lies highly fertile and arable land, says Mark Dowie, and the potential for reinvention as an urban farm.
Biting into the meat vs. climate change debate
Does meat production cause climate change? The problem isn’t that we’re eating juicy steaks, it’s that we’re ignoring fossil fuels and fertiliser, writes farmer Eliot Coleman.
What the GFC can teach us about our intertwined food system
Just like the financial sector, the food system has dramatically globalised over the past generation, even as it has become increasingly concentrated.
Is rural green living an elitist illusion?
Country folk are getting annoyed with the influx of “downsizing” middle-class urban hippies mussing up their towns with soy lattes and artisan bakeries.
