Comments on: Grow your own food with sunlight – instead of eating oil

By: tom

tom — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 09:53:52 +0000

Obviously extremely difficult for individuals to affect policy, unless we happen to be in government, but as will all things that start in a micro fashion, we can all vote with both our wallets and our trowels! In our family we are gradually educating ourselves as to how much we can supplement our food purchases by planting, even in a small garden. Small steps, granted, but steps nonetheless.

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Sat, 21 May 2011 06:33:54 +0000

I would like to import an Australasian Minister of Agriculture into the UK, but before taking office she or he would need to study the principles of organic agriculture, landscape architecture and historic conservation. Studies of the economics public goods and the market for luxury goods would follow. Are any candidates available?

By: Christine

Christine — Sat, 21 May 2011 04:47:12 +0000

Yes. Australia’s Producer Support Estimate (PSE) [market price support, budgetary payments and budgetary revenue foregone] has fallen from 13% in 1986 to 3% in 2009.

Agricultural policy in Australia is based on the premise that government will only intervene economically to correct market failure. Market failures relevant to agriculture include (non-rival and non-exclusive) public goods (ie water allocation between the environment and consumptive uses), externalities (ie air pollution), natural monopolies (ie the supply of water) and risk (particularly catastrophic risk).

New Zealand has the lowest OECD PSE figures (1% in 2004-06), lower even than Australia, and only provides payments for pest control or relief against climate disasters.

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Fri, 20 May 2011 06:14:53 +0000

Norway is an interesting case in point with regard to sustainable farming. A key reason for the Norwegians not wanting to join the European Union is that the EU level of farm subsidies, normally described in Britain as ‘bloated’ or ‘grotesque’, was regarded as niggardly. As I understand it, they use subsidies to maintain traditional farming landscapes and communities. I hope they also produce non-industrial high-quality food. These would certainly be public goods. But the UK system of paying farmers more and more money to produce worse and worse food does not generate public goods. The policy is also bad for agricultural exporters. Am I right that Australia, like NZ, does no longer subsidises farmers? Or are they paid for some public goods?

By: Christine

Christine — Fri, 20 May 2011 04:51:02 +0000

Sustainability has meaning if you consider it as a balance between the competing interests of the environment, economy and society.

In some circumstances, the social goal of the welfare of farmers might also be considered a public good (ie. disaster relief or assistance to adapt farming practices to climate variability due to climate change).

In other instances buying out farms (for economic or environmental reasons) with just compensation might also fulfil a social goal and also be a public good in the sense of promoting the good society.

Perhaps there is another term other than inorganic and industrial to describe a range of contemporary farming practices that are not environmentally efficient.

Should we be considering sustainable archaeology, and antiquities and archeological tourism also?

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Thu, 19 May 2011 07:11:52 +0000

But for the fact that changing the system of agricultural subsidies is impossible, I would like to spend time investigating their consequences. The aim SHOULD be to spend the money on public goods. Farmers do not see it this way. They want the money to be spent on their WELFARE.

‘Inorganic farming’ is just a joke and a way of being rude about industrial farming. A linguistic alternative to ‘organic’ is necessary. ‘Sustainable’ means hardly anything and ‘ethical’ sounds rather prim. Maybe the best thing is to write a code of conduct and give it brand name.

Re Akrotiri, I regret that the site has been closed since the roof collapsed in 2005. Very sad. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akrotiri_%28Santorini%29. Pompeii is rather sad too. It is over-run by school children and the antiquities would be in much better condition of the site had never been excavated. Archaeologists want to conserve the past but they very often wreck it.

By: Christine

Christine — Thu, 19 May 2011 06:12:41 +0000

I am wondering what sub-limit state farming practices would be like? For example, how could yeilds be maximised, organic conditions optimised and environmentally harmful inputs eliminated?
Would farming practices be described by the equation Organic = X where X = Inorganic > X < Wild food?

Tom, it would be excellent to spend a week studying Akrotini and Pompeii for a week each to better understand ancient Athens.

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Wed, 18 May 2011 13:24:07 +0000

Antibiotics and fungicides, if they use them in the ways they are used on fish farms. Growth hormones? Lack of nutrient diversity? Use of soybean as a fish food? I don’t know but I bet there are ways of corrupting the process and would therefore prefer to have an organic stamp on aquaponic products.

By: Benz

Benz — Wed, 18 May 2011 12:39:58 +0000

There are good farms and farmers and then there are bad ones. The vegetables I have grown are very, very tasty. Hydroponic strawberries are good. Aquaponics = less water use than traditional agriculture, less land use, less fertlizer inputs, less discharge and nutrients into the environment, more crops in less space, more food can be grown on rooftops and in areas where other crops could not be grown… what’s not to like?

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Wed, 18 May 2011 12:00:07 +0000

I suggest (1) using a little extra breath and type by speaking of ‘organic aquaponics’ instead of just ‘aquaponics’ (2) signing up to a code of conduct for ‘organic aquaponics’.
Too many food producers have used ‘organic’ as an excuse to raise prices – without making a significant departure from inorganic farming.
And I have seen some filthy-look fish farms.
Nor do I have a good opinion of hydroponic vegetables, from which aquaponics takes part of its name.