Posts by Farmer Green
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Hard News: Fact and fantasy, in reply to Sacha,
But it could be very good news for farmers if it was "clean , green and fresh" added-value products coming from the low-impact agriculture.
Low impact is the easy part which takes care of the environmental sustainability (in the relative sense).
The added-value requires the dairy industry to abandon seasonality , and to produce milk all year round (at the very low stocking rates) so that fresh cultured foods (yoghurt , sour cream , cottage cheese, other cheeses etc ) can be made daily for shipping to the rich (top 10%) Asians.
Year- round production also addresses the rebuilding of rural social capital, the destruction of which has occurred over the last 40 years of dairy company amalgamations and centralisation of processing. -
Hard News: Fact and fantasy, in reply to Ross Mason,
It is time Farmer Boy used his verbal jousting to constructively improve the situation we are in.
I'm not sure that Farmer Green has anything for you Ross : he presumes that most here already have a clivus multrum producing nutrient-rich topsoil to service their extensive vegetable gardens . Most will already be exporting to the national grid their excess electricity from their solar panels and VAWTs. Nobody will be still using air travel, especially overseas, and the Sunday drive is long gone along with all the other recreational pollution , i.e. V8 supercars , stockcars , Formula One , jetskis, etc. etc.
Working from home will be the norm here, and people will be entertaining themselves in the evenings with their vinyl record collections [actually that might be true :-) ].
Farmer Green really hasn't got much to offer to the good folk here ; he was hoping for some suggestions for his own farming operation.
What is it that you want to see?
Farmer Green would like to be able to say that he has ticked most of the boxes. -
Hard News: Fact and fantasy, in reply to Jacqueline Hahn,
That's the reality. The other reality is that , as a nation , we haven't got the money to prevent further degradation of the remaining conservation estate. Specifically we haven't got the budget to eradicate the cats , rats , mustelids, pigs, goats, deer, etc. not to mention the cute little bushy -tailed phalangers.
Given that the nation still earns a large proportion of its GNP from the export of basic agricultural commodities (SMP, WPC, AMF etc.) what is the pathway forward?
Clearly farmers accept that change is going to happen , but will that be enough?
Is it incremental change that we need?
Don't we need a total redesign of the dairy industry if it is going to pull its weight , economically speaking.
Is the failure to protect what remains merely a misallocation of resources or is it more fundamental i.e. the country is not making any money? -
Not exactly Blue Note N.Y.
Mangaweka actually; The Rangitikei Ecofest. This Summer (yep it will happen) FG and friends will provide something fairly laid back, in comparison. Shameless self-advertising, but you might want to get away from it all:http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=187713304577623&set=vb.174779355880271&type=3&theater
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Hard News: Fact and fantasy, in reply to Joe Wylie,
Well it's true that the Pohangina river is much nicer, and there are certainly NZ rivers that few would want to swim in. The Manawatu situation is not as some of the MSM would have you believe.
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Hard News: Fact and fantasy, in reply to Sacha,
"The Federated Farmers representative is quoted in the farming press thusly:-
“We know the way we farm will need to change” ."He doesn't sound too fearful to me.
On the other hand he may as yet be unaware of the opportunity these changes will present. -
Hard News: Fact and fantasy, in reply to mccx,
You think there is a significant risk , that if Kyoto 2 dies at Doha, then there may be nothing to come out of the whole conference? I would almost agree with that.
I do think there will be some progress towards a cleaner world regardless of the fate of Kyoto 2.
China appears to want to be seen as a responsible senior player : enlightened self interest perhaps , but who cares why they want to clean up their act? -
Yeah you have to admire the achievement of Alistair Bisley , the chair of the LWF. It would be surprising if there was as much as 50% in common between the cockies and "environmentalists" when that discussion began.
And look what they have come out with in this third report. Farmer Green thinks Bisley should get a knighthood; talk about herding cats.
Farmer Green was disappointed at the early departure from the discussion here of The Grand Inquisitor, especially when FG still had ten intact fingers. But then , bridging is expensive; FG this year coughed 90 grand for a modest structure over a fairly filthy little ephemeral storm channel that is dry 6 months of the year. Still it will pay for itself next time the Manawatu river gets over 7 metres of flooding. The cows won't have to get wet next time. -
Hard News: Fact and fantasy, in reply to Sacha,
regulated markets, like grown-ups use
You lost me there. Is that a Fonterra reference?
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Hard News: Fact and fantasy, in reply to Ross Mason,
FG is wide open to suggestions for further improvements on the land over which he has some control. Fire away.
Just for the record and to save time, FG has one of the more forested farms , particularly amongst dairy farms, and has several areas of remnant native cover; matai , totara, matipo, Cordyline, Pittosporum, Sophora, kahikatea, Hoheria etc.etc.
Generally establishing 50 new stems/annum in the riparian zone, (against the wishes of the regional council).