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Microbes: the next livestock boom?
Matt Cawood, Stock & Land (Australia)
New research suggests soil microbes will be the key to developing new farming systems, dealing with climate change, and peak oil and fertiliser prices too.

That's because what you do above ground changes what happens in the soil-and what happens in the soil makes a difference to farm profitability.

When Dr Gupta Vadakutta, a CSIRO microbiologist, began studying soil microbes in Mallee soils for the Grain & Graze program, he found that the less plant diversity and biomass above ground, the less microbial diversity and density below ground.

Microbes are an essential ally for farmers, Dr Vadakutta says.

They are instrumental in the decay of stubble and pasture litter, and converting it into plant-available nutrient.

They suppress soil-borne crop diseases, encourage plant growth, stabilise the soil and hasten the degradation of chemical residues.

All this contributes to better plant yield and quality, and lower input costs.
(8 July 2008)

Trawlermen cling on as oceans empty of fish - and the ecosystem is gasping
George Monbiot, Guardian
All over the world, protesters are engaged in a heroic battle with reality. They block roads, picket fuel depots, throw missiles and turn over cars in an effort to hold it at bay. The oil is running out and governments, they insist, must do something about it. When they've sorted it out, what about the fact that the days are getting shorter? What do we pay our taxes for?

The latest people to join these surreal protests are the world's fishermen. They are on strike in Italy, Spain, Portugal, France and Japan, and demonstrating in scores of maritime countries. Last month in Brussels they threw rocks and flares at the police, who have been conspiring with the world's sedimentary basins to keep the price of oil high. The fishermen warn that if something isn't done to help them, thousands could be forced to scrap their boats and hang up their nets. It's an appalling prospect, which we should greet with heartfelt indifference.

Just as the oil price now seems to be all that stands between us and runaway climate change, it is also the only factor which offers a glimmer of hope to the world's marine ecosystems. No east Asian government was prepared to conserve the stocks of tuna; now one-third of the tuna boats in Japan, China, Taiwan and South Korea will stay in dock for the next few months because they can't afford to sail.
(8 July 2008)