Greetings from Club Marama, where the spring has, on balance, been kind to us and, as a result, the animals are looking very well, which we are quite chuffed about!
The book review is Plan B 4.0, written by Lester Brown, who is the head of the Earth Policy Institute. The book is in support of his views on global warming and agriculture. In my view, he paints (inadvertently) a compelling case for getting really serious about agricultural reform and forget about global warming in the meantime.
His portrayal of the decimation of aquifers in the US, China, India and Africa is profound. His reporting on the scale of the sale of land between countries to secure wheat-growing land complete with water is astounding.
The best illustration would be the Saudi Government, which has secured the rights to hundreds of thousands of hectares in both Ethiopia and the Sudan - about Nos1 and 2 on the world food aid programmes. On this land, the Saudis will grow their wheat and rice. The Saudis will cease growing wheat at home in 2016 because they have denuded their aquifers and soil.
My take is that grain prices, within cycles of course, are only going up and with them, the price of all factory-farmed animals - which is brilliant for NZ Inc but a disaster for about another 10% of the world population (on top of the current 14%) who will not be able to eat. The resulting global unrest will make the events of the last year seem very tame, I believe.
It might be worth dusting off the Skyhawks and sending the chaps off on a sortie or two to discourage those who would like to own us!
Seldom has the humble strawberry been the cause of such a fuss and rightly so. You could argue that, given our fearless leaders are happy to have field trials for GMO (genetically modified organisms) of the plant variety, perhaps we shouldn't be too concerned about some Chinese "soil" coming here in The Warehouse-sold Chinese Buzzy Strawberry Mini Grow Kits.
I find it incredible that, to date, The Warehouse has not been charged with something only a notch or two down from treason, and indeed the words of Jeremy Clarkson come to mind, when he was chatting about the striking government employees in England last week. It beggars belief that this sort of thing can happen, and it makes the impending animal ID scheme, Nait, seem even less relevant, which is down from a low base.
At a time when lamb prices are double what I have averaged for my farming life and securable for several years, beef is solid, wool is back to where it was 25 years ago and dairy prices are also great, we should enjoy the impending festive season while our luck is in.
That said, barring global meltdown and invasion, we are entering a fantastic period for Kiwi farming, as not only will there not be enough food for the supposed doubling of consumption, but I think it is much more probable world production will decline.
Have a really great Christmas and thanks to the many who have given their kind support over the past eight months - I am looking forward to next year already!
As always, I am happy to hear your views.