This week's compendium

Here’s this week’s compendium. This week…

1. Treehugger pointed to new data favourably comparing the yield from organic agriculture with that from non-organic agriculture [1]. The former’s bigger in a drought.

2. still talking organics, I liked an old Nutrition Diva piece titled Are Organic Foods Worth the Cost? [2]. Very sensible.

3. still talking eating, recent research confirms that a little dirt’s a good thing – because colonisation with a variety of microbes from early childhood appears important for balanced immunologic development [3]. Yep.

4. Meander Valley Radio, a community station, began broadcasting [4]. Also its home page has a link for internet streaming.

5. a US study showed best-performing nursing homes are sued only marginally less than worst-performing ones [5]. Which, interestingly, demonstrates that litigation doesn’t occur rationally.

6. I discovered bicycletutor.com which has 48 bike maintenance video tutorials [6a, 6b]. A picture’s worth…

7. I learnt what an aptronym is [7]. Did you know of this word – before now?

8. I read of how to hack any elevator to go direct to your floor without stopping [8]. Worth knowing.

Finally, I wish you, dear Farmdoc’s Blog readers, a wonderful week.

This week's compendium

Here’s this week’s compendium. This week…

1. search engines Bing and yahoo!7 listed their top searches for 2010 [1]. Banal. Who’s Kim Kardashian?

2. Australia’s top-rating TV programs for 2010 were announced [2]. Banal.

3. Canada pipped Australia for top spot on the Country Brand Index 2010 [3a, 3b]. Don’t you dare gloat, Canadian friends.

4. gizmodo ran a fine piece on ‘Why Batteries Die’ [4]. Oh.

5. I read about a functional object [5]. It’s beautiful too. I want one.

6. after last Saturday’s Victorian election, activist Stephen Mayne’s likely to hold the Upper House balance of power [6]. With 1.06% of the primary vote! Good on him.

7. a fellow grumpy old doctor lamented the use of nouns as verbs [7]. I do too.

8. I saw an item about high salt levels in bought bread [8]. So bake your own.

9. I read that organically managed cows emit much less methane [9]. Look at all the other benefits, too.

10. I saw that from 1951 to 2009 Hobart’s MS incidence doubled [10]. The authors haven’t considered MRI scanning greatly improves MS diagnostic accuracy.

11. a report says the best diet for keeping weight off is a high protein/low GI one [11]. Interesting.

12. I loved this item about the ultimate clothes peg [12]. Good on you, EcoForce.

Finally, I wish you, dear Farmdoc’s Blog readers, a wonderful week.

Lists: ‘15 Reasons to Eat Organic Food’ & 10 tips for optimum vegetable storage’

Today’s ‘List Friday’. After pitifully pathetic lists on the past two Fridays [1, 2], I promised you, dear readers, a much less soporific list today. And I’m a man who stands by his promises. Sometimes at least.

The book I read last week, about men’s health, was big on diet and eating habits [3]. And this week I’m on to a book about Gi [glycaemic index] foods and food preparation [4]. So health, food, cooking, and eating are on my mind right now. Front and centre.

To atone for the last two lists, today I’m offering you two: the first is planetgreen’s ‘15 Reasons to Eat Organic Food’ [5]. And what a broad list it is – embracing nutritional, safety social, environmental and biodiversity factors. Given all this, buying and eating organic food’s a no-brainer. Nutrition Diva agrees [6]. But if you’re a doubter, at least invoke the precautionary principle [7].

Today’s second list, courtesy of darling Emily’s heads-up, is also food-related. But not limited to organic food. It’s thestonesoup’s ‘10 tips for optimum vegetable storage’ [8]. Of these 10, the main one is ‘Don’t refrigerate your tomatoes’.

P.S. Thanks to darling Kate and Brendon for today’s photograph – of Daylesford Organics’ prize winning heirloom beetroot [9].

farmdoc's blog post number 37

Tasmanian Country – the local rag for Tasmanian farmers – arrives gratis in my mailbox each Friday. Weekly I do its crossword and then scan the classified advertisements. Then I read the few articles catching my eye. Last Friday two did: The first announced, ‘About one fifth of the world’s cropland is considered degraded, according to a Word Resources Institute study. Scientists say improving the world’s soils is part of the solution to feeding the poor…the degradation of the world’s soil is a disaster in slow motion…even the quick, short-term fix of fertilisers is unaffordable for many farmers…’. The second article, titled ‘Fertiliser a growing pain’, bemoaned, ‘Prices for some fertilisers have increased by 300 per cent in the past year and soaring prices are expected to continue…strong demand across the globe was putting upward pressure on prices…’ Even I – a novice farmer – know that the effectiveness of chemical fertiliser diminishes year by year, so each year more must be applied for the same result. And even then, chemical fertiliser doesn’t improve the soil holistically. Applying more, and more expensive, fertiliser to produce only a partial fix is madness. But to almost all broad acre farmers, chemical fertiliser use is like an addiction. I agree with those prophets who see the food-growing future as smallholding and backyard organics. But will the penny drop too late?