I N S I D E�� Focus�on�food�� Cash�for�Christmas�� Insignificance�� Losing�Lisa�� DCG�news

‘Food for thought’

the basinBULLET

F e b r u a r y � 2 0 1 1

desertchannelsG R O U P

voice of the desert channels group

Editor

C O N T E N T S E D I T O R I A LA S I S E E I T

For�more�on�the�work�of�the�Desert�Channels�Group,�visit�www.dcq.org.au,�email�info@dcq.org.au�or�call�4658�0600.

My wife knows I’m interested in climate change and bought me Ian Plimer’s book, Heaven and Earth — Global Warming: The Missing Science. In it, Plimer sets out his arguments on why the climate change we are currently observing is part of natural fluctuations, and not influenced by human activity – in other words, we need do nothing. On the other hand, when I read The Weather Makers by Tim Flannery, the evidence seems unequivocal that the burning of fossil fuels is the prime threat to the future of the planet as we know it including, most importantly, global food security.

How on earth do I make sense of all this? What should I believe? Does any of it deserve belief?

I could decide to go with the majority (scientific consensus) view that CO2

is bad, or I could recall the ‘Darwin experience’ where popular consensus for biblical ‘creation’ has since been proved wrong. Or I could simply sit on the fence because mire waits on either side. It seems that greater availability of information means harder sifting of grain from chaff.

One way is to look behind the information to identify the true source (i.e. look for vested interests or, dare I say it, conspiracies). In Plimer’s case, he has significant interest in the mining industry. Conversely, could the scientific community be held hostage by funding dollars? To who’s advantage is it for the world to believe in human-induced climate change?

Research and reading has answered my questions, because I honestly don’t know who to trust when I read a newspaper, the internet, or watch TV. And, delving into the background delivers its own satisfying depth of knowledge that lends confidence to a final position. Sometimes, you even find a little gem like www.abc.net.au/unleashed/stories/s2803278.htm that restores some faith.

Focus�on�food...� 3

Is it time for loaves and fishes?

Insignificance...� 5

… but a grain of sand

Cash�for�Christmas...� 7

Walking the line

Losing�Lisa...� 8

Gone but not forgotten

DCG�news...� 9

All the latest

Hold�that�thought..� 10

A little something to ponder

The�nosebag�� 11

Light ‘n’ spicy

While the recent Queensland floods are having an immediate impact on food prices, they are not the only factors in play here. Julian Cribb, a science communicator and author of The�Coming�Famine:�the�global�food�crisis�and�what�we�can�do�to�avoid�it, offers some insights ...

World food prices are now at their highest in recorded history. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation’s global food price index surpassed its previous (2008) peak in December 2010.

“We are beginning to realise that the era of food surpluses has come to an end,” the UK Financial Times commented recently.

The message is likely to be rubbed in for Australian consumers in the weeks and months ahead, as the impact of the Queensland floods seeps through to the supermarket as food price inflation - and maybe even drive up the cost of repaying a home mortgage.

The context in which Australia must shape its future agriculture and food policies is one of a world in which

global food demand will double by the mid-century. At the same time the resources needed to satisfy it - water, arable land, fossil energy, mined nutrients, fish, technology and stable climates - will become much scarcer or increasingly unaffordable for farmers.

Strategic thinktanks in the US, UK, Scandinavia and Australia are already warning about the consequences of this for conflict and refugee crises, for economic shockwaves and food price hikes, even in affluent and otherwise food-secure countries.

At present these shocks are reasonably small and well-spaced. By 2060, with 10 billion people aspiring to a western diet, they will be tectonic and one will spill into another.

Countries that imagine themselves secure now will discover that, in a globalised world, they are not.

It is important to note that it does not have to be this

way. Humanity does not have to bow to a growing cycle of scarcity and crisis; indeed, if we prepare ourselves, we can prevent them.

What is most needed is leadership, both national and international, to put in places the measures that will avert the building cycle of regional food shortages and their wider impacts.

Food production cannot be turned on and off like a tap, at the whim of global markets or politicians. It takes decades for a new technology or farming system to be widely adopted: meantime drought, poor returns and global competition can eradicate local food industries.

To deal with such issues requires forethought and planning on time-scales ranging from decades to half a century or more.

It requires the integration of water policy with land policy, energy policy, science policy, health and food policy and climate policy. (Anyone who doubts the scale of the task has only to reflect how long it is likely to take to regenerate the Murray-Darling Basin alone, its industries, communities and ecosystems).

Based on the key impending scarcities in global food production, here are some essential measures Australia ought to be taking now in order to head off food insecurity in future:

Recarbonise, rehydrateWe need a nationwide plan to rebuild the fertility, carbon and water retention of our landscapes, agricultural,

FoodRenewing�our�focus�on

“Humanity does not have to bow to a growing cycle of scarcity and crisis”

Editor’s note: This article is reproduced with kind permission of On Line Opinion. It first appeared on www.onlineopinion.com.au on 12th January 2011

• Soil microbiology with a view to enhancing the biological potential of our landscapes and crop and pasture yields.

• Building bridges between organic and high-intensity farming with the goal of developing science-based low-input eco-agricultural systems that recycle, re-use and conserve.

• Developing food systems (including urban ones) which are cushioned against climate shocks.

• Research into frontier science areas such as re-engineering of the photosynthetic pathways in crops and trees, to boost yields and lock up more carbon.

Share knowledgeTo help stabilise our neighbouring region against food insecurity (and ease the disturbing trend to foreign acquisitions of Australian land and water) we need to build a new multi-billion dollar knowledge export industry, based on our expertise in areas such as Landcare, dryland farming, water management, drought strategy etc.

The mining sector has already done this, so it is perfectly feasible for agriculture and NRM.

Reinvest in peopleOur agricultural education system is falling apart and is in desperate need of reinvestment and revitalisation.

We need to train a new generation of farmer and urban food producers equipped to overcome the scarcities ahead. We need to encourage our best youth back into a field which will be central to the human destiny this century.

Re-educate Australians about foodUp to half of all the food produced in Australia is wasted or sent to landfill, calling for an urgent effort to end the waste, through education, technology and recycling.

Up to half of all Australians, including our children, now die from diet-related disease. This calls for national education about healthy eating, both to save lives and to rein in the biggest budget blowout in Australian history, in healthcare.

We should educate our children to eat healthily, sustainably and with a renewed respect for food. This can be assisted by introducing a Food Year in every junior school in Australia, teaching all subjects through the lens of food.

Reinvest in foodFAO points out that massive global reinvestment will be needed to head off food scarcity in the mid-century – yet warns this will not happen while farm incomes are so bad and farm productivity sliding. This is due to a market failure driven by the growing imbalance in market power between 1.8 billion producers and the handful of corporates who now dictate the world price of food. Finding a solution to this economic distortion, without harming price signals, is a key challenge – otherwise new technologies and sustainable systems will not be adopted fast enough. One option is to compensate farmers for their stewardship, on behalf of society, of land, water, atmosphere and biodiversity. Others should be explored.

If Australia can successfully address the challenges outlined here we will earn the right to be a leader of the endeavour to sustain the global food supply. It is a role for which our farming, scientific and technical expertise equips us well. All that is presently lacking is awareness of the scale of the risks we face – and the political and societal will to overcome them.

pastoral and natural. In particular we need to find ways to retain more of the 50% of rainfall now lost to evaporation continent-wide to carry agro-ecological landscapes through warmer times ahead and maximise our ability to lock up and retain carbon in the soil.

Recycle, re-nourishMined nutrients are finite and likely to become costlier than oil in future, so we need a national plan to harvest fresh water and nutrients as they pass through our great cities and return them to food production: agricultural, peri-urban, urban and to novel intensive industries such as biocultures which will in turn produce food, feed, fuel and other valuable products.

Re-energiseWith oil already heading for $100 a barrel again we need a crash national R&D program to develop the farm and long-distance transport energy sources and systems of the future to sustain food production. Whether it is algal biodiesel, second generation biofuels, hydrogen fuel cells, solar electrics or boron ion batteries we need to start right now, to avoid being caught unprepared by the next oil shock and massive food price inflation.

Reinvest in knowledgeAfter two of three decades of disinvestment in agricultural science, technology and extension, policymakers need to understand that these hold the key to our future food security, and maybe that of our region also. Instead of continuing slashing the public investment (as the Productivity Commission has blindly recommended) we should double it.

In particular we should invest in:

• Irrigation and land and water science – areas that have suffered irrational demolition in recent years.

Continued...

I n S I g n I f I c A n c e

Once again , Helen Aver y enchants us with her musings on a specia l par t of our wor ld …

I spent three shor t summer weeks at Lark Quarr y in a smal l va l ley on the broken s ide of a hard plateau. I learnt rocks and t iny plants and the cur ves and gouges of landscape. I s t ruggled to get my mind around the concept of ‘mi l l ions’ – tens and hundreds of mi l l ions – and I t r ied to put that into some k ind of perspec t ive. Time became meaningless or, at the ver y least , immeasurable. I learnt that my words are less than a scratch mark on sand; so much less than marks on stone.

I n that val ley, on the s ide of a l i t t le mesa, i s a scraped excavat ion as smal l as a tennis cour t , and they cal l i t a quarr y. There’s a pic ture exposed there, l ike an old f i lm negat ive, of an event that occurred about 90 mi l l ion years ago. A herd of smal l , sk i t t ish dinosaurs came in across the sof t s i l t pan to dr ink , then scattered in panic as a large predator set amongst them, their c lay- cast footpr ints then preser ved for eons.

I t was an event that we can only guess at . We can prod and poke, analyse and measure, reconstruc t , deduce, ca lculate and computer ise. The magic is that we can wonder ! These t racks have been exposed to human eyes for a mere f i f t y years. We can look at these impr ints and k now that , somehow, reaching across 90 mi l l ion years i s the convoluted thread of a stor y that we can see and wonder at .The tracks appear pale and faded compared to when we brought our chi ldren to explore them more than t went y f ive years ago. The edges have sof tened. They are housed and protec ted by an enormous high tech, environmental ly susta inable, architec t des igned ‘shed’. But they now have that look of … under exposure. That pale, sof t look of feet too long in boots, bodies too long ins ide. That place – the val ley and the i ronstone plateau and the red c l i f fs and the ragged gul l ies – i s a place of l ight … l ight and heat of incredible strength and c lar i t y. Those old, o ld marks in stone, with a l l the ver y best

“The magic is that we can wonder”

I t ’s about 300 metres f rom the Big Shed to the cottage where we l ive. Some days i t took me for t y minutes to walk home … there was so much to explore, so much to look at .I n the ear ly morning and late af ternoon we walked. The l ight was constant ly changing. When the storms broke, gul l ies were charged with water ; there were water fa l ls and pools, and the red and yel low and purple and white of the rock , and the ol ive and gold of p lants was intensi f ied to the point where the beaut y hur t . I am convinced that the rocks and the hi l l s absorb l ight and emanate i t back f rom deep within .Zebra f inches and f i reta i ls and spini fex birds l ive in the shelter of gul l ies, and swal lows and smal l song-birds wake us in the morning, but there are no large birds, not even crows. We were excited when we saw a fami ly of fa lcons soar ing of f a bluf f on the R im Walk . They cur ve and t i l t before s l id ing across the a i r towards the f loodplain of the Diamantina and back again to their eyr ie. The heat st i l led ever ything, even the l izards, but dusk brought movement, the thud of wal labies, and ever y morning there are numerous echidna tracks. At n ight , insec ts beat against the cottage gauze screens and smal l bats come in to feed. One night we had a burrowing f rog as big as the palm of my hand; another, a b lack headed python

of intent ion, have been caught and caged l ike a wi ld animal in a zoo.Each day brought a few vis i tors brave enough to bear the ex tremes of summer in the Outback , or those thrown into an a l ternat ive route by f loods and storms tear ing much of Queensland apar t . They came from Cairns and Per th, Braz i l and Sweden. One l i t t le gi r l had brought her wel l - loved toy dinosaur – as wel l as a pet rat in a bi rd cage. The rubber T-rex swung f rom her hand by i ts e longated neck and then l i s tened attent ively f rom where she had careful ly set i t bes ide the ply wood mock-ups of Coelurosaurs. I spoke of Gondwana, the Great Ar tes ian Bas in , ancient coni fers and prehistor ic seas. Outs ide the thermometer c l imbed towards for t y degrees, the spini fex melted, and the c louds c l imbed the sk y, s tack ing up for late af ternoon convec t ion storms.Lark Quarr y can be harsh and barren. I t i s a lways beaut i fu l , but this year i t i s magnif icent … the wet season came ear ly.

I n S I g n I f I c A n c e

g l e a m i n g w i t h health .And the stars sang …The val ley became our wor ld, and we mapped i t with our feet , possess ing i t to the point of naming the features specia l to us. Ear ly one morning we took a thermos of coffee, c l imbed the R im Walk and perched on the edge of an outcrop of rock over look ing the rol l ing out of the break away countr y towards the r iver. I t was ear ly enough to be cool . Fi rst l ight unfur led across the val leys beneath us. The s i lence was intense, expec tant . There was a feel ing of immers ion, and a deep sense of humil i t y and grat i tude that that wor ld spread before us accepted our presence absolutely, without even bother ing to ack nowledge our existence.There was a f reedom in our ins igni f icance.

Continued...

J E N N Y J A U C Z I U S

Cash for ChristmasFive feet high and rising… Well, the rails are washed out north of town

Yes, the ‘Man in Black’, country music icon, the fallen and resurrected, film hero of Walk the Line - that’s the Cash I mean. His music and image were part of my childhood; we didn’t have many records but we did have Johnny Cash, who sang about: “… kickin’ and a gougin’ in the mud, and the blood and the beer”. Later, like all teenagers, I found other musical heroes but Folsom Prison Blues and Hey, Porter always meant something to a railwayman’s daughter.

When I met my husband, a Cash devotee, I discovered more about America’s ‘singing storyteller’. Born in 1932, the son of poor Arkansas cotton farmers, Cash grew up singing gospel and folk songs. After a stint in the US Air Force he became a rockabilly star at Sun Records, followed by a long, often controversial, career as a legendary country performer.

In a remote Nullarbor settlement, my husband took up guitar, and we learnt the stark, troubadour ballads of Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie and Johnny Cash. Here, too, began the tradition of Cash for Christmas. Over the years, festive offerings included his songbooks, tapes, records, t-shirts, biographies, CDs, and DVDs.

Once, I gave my parents a rare recording of the electrifying Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, and it became their Christmas Day soundtrack. Another year, concert tickets allowed us to finally see Kristofferson’s “… dark, dangerous hero” in the flesh.

He died in 2003, but the biopic, Walk the Line has led to renewed interest in his life and legacy. This Christmas we received The Man in Black, Tex Perkins’ brooding tribute to Cash. As torrential rain fell across Queensland we listened to:

How high’s the water, Mama?

Five feet high and rising.

… Well, the rails are washed out north of town;

We gotta head for higher ground.

We can’t come back till the water goes down.

Five feet high and rising …

Writing about struggle, love, sin and redemption, Johnny performed with a simplicity and honesty that continues to fascinate long-time admirers, and win him new fans.

You just can’t go wrong with ‘Cash’ for Christmas.

Well,� Christmas� has� come� and� gone� and� more� memories� are�added� to� our� seasonal� store.� � It� may� sound� mercenary� but�there’s� nothing� like�‘Cash’� for� Christmas.� � Not� the� money� my�Gran�or�aunties�put�in�cards�-�although�I�loved�those�crisp�five�dollar�notes�-�I�mean�Johnny�Cash.

Regular contributor, Jenny Jauczius, reveals another side …

Choosing between work and family is usually not difficult, but when the work team has become a second family, it makes the choice hard. For 7 years, Lisa Winter has been leaving her family behind and making the weekly pilgrimage from Barcaldine to manage our finances. Not only has she kept our books, she has kept us entertained, and put two of her 6 girls through university.

“I hate Mondays,” she’d say. “I never get anything done.” Let’s see, arrive just in time for morning smoko, spend half an hour relating the stories of the weekend then saying, “well, it’s time for lunch”. No wonder she burns the midnight oil.

Lisa was always positioned closest to the birthday boys when they cut the cake and their knife touches (or even goes close to) the plate, and can turn a 1 minute anecdote into 15 minutes of the latest Winter family saga that has the smoko room bursting with laughter. Whether it is the difficulty of finding the car in the shopping centre car-park (when the remote lock was in her hand and

she didn’t think to use it); driving around the car-park 15 times until she finds a park on the left-hand side because she can’t park to the right; or the epic adventures of her morning trip from Barcaldine.

Ever-cheerful, Lisa’s arrival in the office was signalled by “morning little beavers”, even when she arrived in the afternoon. She kept the office entertained, the lolly-jar full and the books balanced. There has never been a warmer, more generous-hearted person – if she had nothing, she would still share it. Everyone’s friend, Lisa will be sorely missed. Her one departing request is that we hold all our social events on a weekend so she can still attend.

“morning little beavers”

ONE OUT; THREE IN

This is a sad/happy month for the team with the departure of long-time finance manager, Lisa Winter who returns to Barcaldine to work in the family business. On the flip side, we welcome the return of Christie from her stint in contract management with Condamine Alliance in Toowoomba. As well as advertising for a new finance manager, we have also called the position of project officer for our new RTEK project (see below).

DC SOLUTIONS

Senior team members recently participated in an intensive 2 day workshop on the science of consulting and to develop a consulting business plan for DC Solutions. Victorian-based guru of not-for-profit consulting, Michael Goldsworthy (Australian Strategic Services), took the group through ulitisation rates, billable hours, conversion rates, cost codes, work types, pipelines, proposals and the 12 tenets of consulting, as well as changing the mindset from government funding to the commercial world.

Michael, an avid photographer, got to shoot some of the many frogs that are thriving in the aftermath of a great wet season. He also did his bit for the environment with enthusiastic participation in a toad hunt.

RTEK UNDERWAY

In conjunction with our Georgina Diamantina Cooper Aboriginal Group (GDCAG), we have successfully gained funding for an exciting project to record Indigenous ecological knowledge. One step back; two steps forward (Recording Traditional Ecological Knowledge) aims to step back to past ecological knowledge and record it to assist in carrying us forward. This one year project will be overseen by the GDCAG, and will work among the Indigenous community to capture with video, traditional knowledge that relates to land management.

The project has already commenced and will appoint a project officer shortly. A strong response, from as far away as New Zealand to the advertised position, demonstrates the strength of this project and the interest in it.

RECOGNITION AND TRAINING

The Group’s commitment to professional development and up-skilling is highlighted in two areas. Firstly, 10 team members are being put through a federally funded diploma of management course that recognises prior learning. Sally Healey of Jigsaw Consulting says that while the aim of the course is to enhance skills and provide a nationally accredited qualification, she likes to look at strengthening an individual’s entire life, both professionally and personally.

Four team members had their skills enhanced with an agricultural chemical training course. The Agricultural Chemicals Distribution Control course covered several units of competency including the preparation and application of chemicals; the transport, handling and storage of chemicals; and controlling weeds. Successful completion earns a commercial operator’s licence which allows participants to spray, spread or disperse any herbicides, or any preparation containing a herbicide, from ground equipment.

GRAZING PRESSURE AND RANGELANDS

About 50 representatives from around Australia chewed over submissions and case studies on a range of issues at the national total grazing pressure forum in Adelaide last week. Sue Akers (NRM Consultant) and Mike Chuk (Principle Consultant) from our team submitted a position paper on macropod grazing pressure issues as prepared last year by local Landcarers and featured in the February 2010 issue of the Basin Bullet.

There was recognition that while feral animals contribute significantly to grazing pressure, macropod numbers have a major impact on groundcover. Forum attendees resolved to establish a network for sharing issues, information and ideas across the rangelands. They also recognized the need to lobby for, and develop, national policy and legislation relating to total grazing pressure issues.

The Rangelands Alliance meeting saw 9 of Australia’s 13 rangelands NRM groups represented. These Rangelands Alliance groups cover 80% of the continent and meet (in person and by teleconference) several times a year to exchange information, consider national issues and give a united voice on concerns unique to the less populated parts. Two major subjects covered were rangelands carbon and the development of a national rangelands initiative.

The first is entwined with the second as the principal focus of the rangelands initiative will be protecting/improving groundcover, putting forward the case that managing groundcover (particularly total grazing pressure) and inappropriate fire regimes will lead to improved soil condition, more diverse ecosystems and improved carbon storage/reduced greenhouse emissions.

Desert Channels Group Update

Hold that thought!

REAL FOOD; REAL THOUGHT

Does your not-for-profit or community group know how to make the most of the media? Are you as good as you can be at getting your message out, improving your profile, enhancing your chance at precious funding? If you answered no to any of these, our online media training workshop can help you.

Written by Bruce Honeywill (long-time working journalist and tertiary educator), designed for remote delivery, and available 24/7, these online workshops allow you to learn at your own pace, review and revise as much as you like and, best of all, until the end of March, get a 50% discount.

Get your head around the media, The ABC of a cracker media release, and An e-newsletter that won’t get binned can give you the edge. Check them out for yourself at www.onlineoutback.net/moodle/.

Informative, interesting, ingenious, inspirational, and in my own time! Thanks! – Judy Couttie

… thoroughly enjoyed this workshop … content is in small, easy, snack-sized bites … very ‘of the minute’, accessible and time convenient – Karen Tully

CONNECTING WITH THE NExT CROP

In further developing our relationship with the next generation of land managers, Peter Spence (NRM Facilitator) and Michael Castrisos (Business Development Officer) had a yarn with the first year intake of 20 students at the Longreach Campus of the Australian Agricultural College Corporation.

Peter, a former student, was able to chronicle his working life and show, first hand, how study at various times had helped progress his career. He encouraged them to always look to the future but to enjoy their days together and to make every moment an opportunity to learn. He also reiterated the value of doing courses, and being persistent and resilient in their drive to succeed.

In addition, Chris Rosin (Landcare Facilitator) made a visit to the tiny schools of Stonehenge and Jundah where an enthusiastic group of students wanted to know everything about looking after the land for their future. They learnt what the Desert Channels Group is doing to encourage Landcare groups and activities across one-third of Queensland, and how they can be involved in something as simple as growing a water-wise garden. It’s heartening to know that they will become ambassadors for their own future.

A Channel Country Cocky once told a vegetarian to eat beef, cattle only ever eat grass. His bovine world may get turned upside down if more of the world’s people turn to entomophagy, the practice of eating insects or insect protein.

In almost half the world’s countries, people eat insects: baked, fried, roasted, grilled, in the omelette or the sauce. In Thailand, for instance, there are around 20,000 insect farmers, breeding nearly 200 types of insects as snacks and treats. This highly nutritious food source is largely untapped in western countries, apart from the odd swallowed fly.Many insects are rich in vitamins, minerals and other elements necessary for a healthy diet. Gram for gram, some have double the protein of fish or meat. Their real edge is the efficiency with which they convert food into protein: if you take into account their rapid breeding rate, some insects may be 20 times as efficient as cattle, and they aren’t nearly as selective in what they eat.

With as many as 10,000,000,000,000,000,000 insects buzzing around at any given time, they are a huge potential food source, particularly in the face of growing global food shortages. And, if you’re into reducing greenhouse emissions, making the change to entomophagy would be a winner, reducing the estimated 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions from livestock production.It shouldn’t be too difficult to bite into a bug burger; after all, veal doesn’t look like a calf.

O n l I n e m e d I AWorkshops

It’s not every day I share a recipe, not even with my family, but I thought I’d make an exception for my first edition of the Bullet.

These cornflake biscuits are not only top shelf they are easy to make and always manage to bring about a

nostalgic moment.

The Nose Bag

D E S I G N A N D L A Y O U T B Y D C S O L U T I O N S

The Desert Channels Group is funded by

S p I c e d u p S p O n g e

YOU WILL NEED:

1 cup SR flour1/3 cup cornflourpinch of salt4 eggs¾ cup sugarvanilla2tbs cocoa1 tsp each of cinnamon, ginger and mixed spice3 tbs boiling water

cream – whipped and sweetened to taste.

Set your oven to 190°C. Beat eggs and sugar until thick and creamy. While they are beating, (assuming you have a free standing mixer), grease and line two sponge tins and sift dry ingredients. Carefully fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture with a spatula. Mix in the vanilla and boiling water. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Let them cool in the tins for a few minutes then turn onto a rack. Fill with cream once they are completely cooled.

With cake bakers being a dying breed, the old sponge is not seen as much as it used to be. This is not quite your classic sponge but, it uses the same simple technique. Don’t be daunted by it. Rise to the occasion and give it a go.…