More on waste disposal and climate change

Here's a bit more on climate change and methane from landfill and those rubbish mountains:
I cycled past one of these at Frampton, Glos., UK the other day and dropped in on it to see how the capture of methane generated from all that food and packaging thrown away by the good people of Gloucestershire was getting on.
Bad News.
A site inspector informed me that:

1. the initial biogas-fired generator which had been installed there had been deemed "too big" for this site and had been re-deployed elsewhere;
2. that the three parties involved - landowner, dump management, and the power company - could not agree on how to share the revenue from the sale of electricity so generated;
3. that consequently no smaller replacement unit had been installed, leaving
4. all the biogas to be flared off so that
5. one third of a megawatt of power was being used to heat the atmosphere and add yet more carbon dioxide to it.  (Better than methane, admittedly)

Big Biz once again does a bit more for climate change...

Soil organic matter content and the future of climate

Attended an informal talk by Dr Robin Chadwick of the Hadley Centre (Met office, Exeter), at Cafe Scientifique on Monday, 7th April - "The Future of our Climate". He is an optimist so it won't be too bad. But in reviewing the carbon balance of earth:atmosphere, which will be the future climate's main determinant, he was not aware of the key role arable farming can have on the positive side. See my post on my "Farm Walk" on Tony Reynolds's farm in Lincolnshire on 29th March where he reported an increase in soil organic matter (SOM) from 2% to 6% over 10 years: such an increase represents

Microfarms' website updated at last

themicrofarm website has now been completely overhauled and updated. The basic practical work has been done and it is now time to draw some conclusions, look at their broad implications for Sustainability, Climate Change, Global Food Supplies, Health and the New Economic Disorder. So have a look at it here. And then please post your comments below.  Or you can email me here.

No-till Farming

No-till farming: attended a seminar (IIED, London) and went for a farm walk (Thurlby Grange Farm, Lincs., UK - Tony Reynolds) 28-29 March with Bill ("No-till Bill") Crabtree ( www.no-till.com.au ). The IDEA is to plant seed of annual crops (wheat, maize, oilseed rape etc) direct into the stubble/residue of previous crop without any tillage or burning at all and depend entirely on herbicide for weed control. Huge economy in diesel and tractor use, but requires a very special planter/drill - expensive. Also benefits from use of a combine with a stripper head rather then the usual reel and cutter bar which takes the straw as well. Am nervous about long-term effects of such steady herbicide applications, but am deeply impressed by resulting increase in soil organic matter up from 2% to 3% in SW Australian semi-arid and from 2.1% in 2003 to 6.2% in 2013 on Thurlby Grange. The heavy soil "feels" much better, many earthworms, moist soil doesn't stick to boots (!), infiltration so good that there was no evidence of there having been standing water on the wheat and rape during the recent wet winter (450 mm rain in 3 months approx). There are big economies in fertilizer application as a result as well. We Microfarmers could think of not digging our plots any more, just spreading organic material (mulch, compost, manure) on the surface and planting through it and being extra careful to do our weeding.

Update coming soon on themicrofarm.com website

My website has not been updated for several years, and as a result, it is more a history than a statement of what is/has been going on at my place in the Eastern Cape in South Africa. I am therefore re-writing the text and adding some photos to broadcast not just the results (crop production stats etc) but the implications for the current global debate on sustainability. My website can be found here. www.themicrofarm.com