The State Govts. need to step in.

Farmers have to be forced.
They may "own" the land but it doesn't give them the right
to totally destroy that land and turn it into a dust bowl.
Make it a law - they have to plant say one tree per acre at least
and if they don't,  they get a heavy fine of say $5,000 per acre.
If they don't pay that fine the farm is confiscated by the Govt.
and sold to a farmer who will do the right thing.

Gordon wrote on May 24^th, 2019 at 7:56pm:



Farmers should be there as caretakers of Australia's land -
not destroyers of our land.
What we have is environmental vandalism beyond belief.

John Smith wrote on May 24^th, 2019 at 8:01pm:



Are you going to re-hydrate it and make them whole again?

A long time ago I actually voted for the Greens - maybe 15 years ago?
But - that party was hijacked by homos and Marxists so they lost their original & correct ideas.

lee wrote on May 24^th, 2019 at 9:19pm:



for what purpose? I told you, we don't need trees.

Dont the government pay for trees to be planted as carbon sinks

https://www.environment.gov.au/land/20-million-trees

http://www.nrm.gov.au/national/20-million-trees

Carbon farming scheme pays money to plant trees

First gold, then iron ore and coal. Now carbon farming is shaping as a new boom industry for regional Australia.

While critics of the $2.55 billion Emissions Reduction Fund have lampooned the idea of paying farmers to grow trees rather than stop big polluters from cutting their emissions, proponents say it could help create much needed jobs in the regions.

West Australian Indigenous elder Kado Muir says the $40 million contract won by the Goldfields Carbon Group to grow millions of trees near Kalgoorlie will not only help save the environment, but also deliver hundreds of jobs for Indigenous Australians.

cont

https://www.afr.com/news/politics/carbon-farming-scheme-pays-money-to-plant-tree...

Redmond Neck wrote on May 25^th, 2019 at 12:53pm:


you can't call the libs idiots ... if there is a way to divert taxpayers funds to their mates, you can bet that they'll find it.

It's the people who vote for them who you can call idiots.

Bias_2012 wrote on May 25^th, 2019 at 1:01pm:



Thanks - it's good to see someone agreeing with me.

That is weird I can access it and am not a subscriber!
https://www.afr.com/news/politics/carbon-farming-scheme-pays-money-to-plant-tree...

First gold, then iron ore and coal. Now carbon farming is shaping as a new boom industry for regional Australia.

While critics of the $2.55 billion Emissions Reduction Fund have lampooned the idea of paying farmers to grow trees rather than stop big polluters from cutting their emissions, proponents say it could help create much needed jobs in the regions.

West Australian Indigenous elder Kado Muir says the $40 million contract won by the Goldfields Carbon Group to grow millions of trees near Kalgoorlie will not only help save the environment, but also deliver hundreds of jobs for Indigenous Australians.

Traditional owner Kado Muir says planting trees will save the environment and create jobs. Tyne Logan

The federal government has awarded more than $1.7 billion from its $2.55 billion Emissions Reduction Fund with most of the money being allocated to land-use projects.

"This is a full-grown commercial employment opportunity for Aboriginal people that has massive environmental outcomes and about bringing youth back to old pastoral lands that have partly been abandoned," Mr Muir told The Weekend Financial Review.

"If land has been damaged after generations of farming, the environment suffers – this is a way to fix it up."

Mr Muir, who is running on the WA Nationals Senate ticket in the July 2 election, says the Walkatjurra Rangers will be contracted to do the seed collecting, planting and maintaining of the land which is on former and current pastoral leases. Some planting machines will also be used.

Entrepreneur Rod Carter, a former school teacher in Kalgoorlie, is behind the Goldfield Renewal Project which is aiming to plant 40 million trees on 200,000 hectares during the first 10 years of the scheme.

The first stage of the project has been contracted to deliver almost 4 million tonnes of carbon abatement from the planting of Mulga and sandalwood trees. At an average contract price of just over $10 a tonne, that could deliver $40 million over the 10-year contract.

He has ambitions to plant 1 billion trees on 3 million hectares on "The "Woodlines" land which was cleared through the Kalgoorlie goldfields over the past 150 years.

"Hundreds of millions of trees were cut down during an 80-year period. It's the largest area of deforestation in Australia. It's our intention with this project to basically replace those trees that were cut down," says Mr Carter.

"We're not looking at the Emissions Reduction Fund as a panacea, just to get started. This will create a massive footprint of carbon for Australia."

Big business has shied away from the first three auctions by the Clean Energy Regulator with 47.2 million of the 50.5 million tonnes allocated from the latest auction from vegetation programs.

Farmers, companies and Indigenous groups have won contracts to reduce carbon emissions by growing trees, burning savanna woodland or collecting and burning gas from landfill.

Climate Friendly director Josh Harris, who is co-ordinating more than 60 projects across Australia, says the Emissions Reduction Fund had spurned a new industry.

He says smaller companies are jumping in because they can make key decisions relatively quickly without waiting for the board of a publicly listed company to decide which price to bid in the twice-yearly silent auctions.

"There is a bunch of big industrial projects but they just haven't been successful in these auctions. Farmers are turning to these projects because things like cattle aren't paying the bills anymore," he says.

"We think carbon will be the next wave of economic development for these rural communities. We've seen gold and iron ore, now it's carbon. There's been huge growth for us."

Climate Friendly uses Google Maps and project officers to help keep track of carbon farming projects, measuring trees (for how much carbon they are absorbing) and filling in the paperwork for the federal government. They are using methodology provided by the CSIRO and the Department of Environment.

The information is then audited and sent to the Clean Energy Regulator. Proponents are not paid their annual instalments unless targets are reached.

Clean Energy Regulator chairwoman Chloe Munro said while the legislation focused on purchasing carbon abatement at the lower cost, there were other benefits from the scheme.

"We are single-mindedly focused on carbon abatement but these schemes do have other benefits such as encouraging entrepreneurial activities and innovation. We are seeing new business arise that weren't there before," she says.

But Climate Institute chief executive John Connor said the Emissions Reduction Fund was not doing enough to stop Australia's carbon emissions from continuing to rise and more needed to be done to reach the Coalition's target of 26 to 28 per cent reduction by 2030.

"We now urgently need to get down to the policies that matter – this process should start with a closure plan for Australia's old and inefficient coal-burning power plants so they can be replaced with clean energy alternatives over the next 20 years," he said.
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Mark Ludlow writes on politics, energy and infrastructure based in Brisbane. Connect with Mark on Twitter. Email Mark at mludlow@afr.com.au
Mark Ludlow

Bobby. wrote on May 25^th, 2019 at 1:29pm:


I have always thought they should plant trees around the edges of their paddocks which would also reduce to some degree the land drying out by strong winds and provide some shade to the grass growing near the trees .

Redmond Neck wrote on May 25^th, 2019 at 1:34pm:



Yes - there should be trees around the edges of farms but
also some in the middle.
There shouldn't be 100s of kilometers of no trees at all.
Some farmers say that - ohh the trees will shade some of the areas & grass won't grown in the shade.
they have all sorts of excuses.
In fact - if you take a look in summer -
the grass grows better with a bit of shade from the hot sun.
It survives better in a drought.

Rider wrote on May 26^th, 2019 at 4:48pm:


You are a deadshit!

Rider wrote on May 26^th, 2019 at 4:48pm:



You don't have to be Einstein to know that cutting every tree is wrong.

DonDeeHippy wrote on May 27^th, 2019 at 8:02am:



Thanks - that's a good story to support cattle & trees.

Rider wrote on May 27^th, 2019 at 5:10pm:


No Australians are listed amongst the world's best farmers. The best is Chinese.

https://agronomag.com/wealthiest-farmers-world/

Quote:


Quote:

Laugh till you cry wrote on May 27^th, 2019 at 5:32pm:



Best farmers in the world. Not talking about wealthiest you dolt.

Rider wrote on May 27^th, 2019 at 7:32pm:



I was referring to the 3 links - try again.

DonDeeHippy wrote on May 28^th, 2019 at 7:08am:



You have heard of mixed farming?

DonDeeHippy wrote on May 28^th, 2019 at 5:18pm:


"Broadacre cropping mainly wheat in rotation, easy worked, minimal cost farming with livestock production. "

https://www.realestate.com.au/sold/property-mixed+farming-wa-morawa-7921882

Broadacre cropping AND livestock. Who woudda thunk.

http://www.grainandgraze3.com.au/resources/18_PK071331.pdf

A good read on a bunch of Mixed farms... it doesn't look like any multi use the  land but use different percentages of the land to do cropping and pasture.....I think permaculture is what your thinking of Lee

DonDeeHippy wrote on May 28^th, 2019 at 6:26pm:



Perhaps you prefer the OECD definition? -

"Broadacre is a term used, mainly in Australia, to describe farms or industries engaged in the production of grains, oilseeds and other crops (especially wheat, barley, peas, sorghum, maize, hemp, safflower, and sunflower), or the grazing of livestock for meat or wool, on a large scale (i.e., using extensive parcels of land)."

https://stats.oecd.org/glossary/detail.asp?ID=235

So broadacre doesn't describe so much the use to which the land is put but to "using extensive parcels of land".

BTW- You do understand that 1.5 tonne is per hectare not their total tonnage?

Also 12 inches of rain a year is pretty good in WA. We get about 11 -12 where I am.

Baronvonrort wrote on May 28^th, 2019 at 6:31pm:

https://www.economist.com/asia/2018/02/24/queensland-is-one-of-the-worlds-worst-...

MOST deforestation takes place in poor countries. In richer places, trees tend to multiply. Australia is an unhappy exception. Land clearance is rampant along its eastern coast, as farmers take advantage of lax laws to make room for cattle to feed Asia. WWF, a charity, now ranks Australia alongside Borneo and the Congo Basin as one of the world’s 11 worst “fronts” for deforestation.

The worst damage occurs in the north-eastern state of Queensland, which has more trees left to fell than places to the south, where agriculture is more established. It has been responsible for over half of Australia’s land clearance since the 1970s. Its bulldozers are at present busier than they have been for a decade. They erased 395,000 hectares of forest, including huge tracts of ancient vegetation, between 2015 and 2016—the equivalent of 1,000 rugby pitches a day. As a share of its forested area, Queensland is mowing down trees twice as fast as Brazil.

and nice if you didn't post stuff that's 6 years old.... Doesn't change the fact that many pastures are out there that are baron of tree's 

Bobby. wrote on May 28^th, 2019 at 7:18pm:

Yes the Labor government in QLD has really done some damage to the environment and destroying our state, along with wanting Adani too.

Bobby. wrote on May 28^th, 2019 at 7:18pm:


What a complete load of bovine excrement. Is there a topic on this planet you know less on?

Go give yourself an uppercut for being so completely stupid.

Rider wrote on May 28^th, 2019 at 9:15pm:



Apologise and get an education from Bobby:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desertification




From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Not to be confused with Decertification or Desertion.
Global desertification vulnerability map
Lake Chad in a 2001 satellite image, with the actual lake in blue. The lake has shrunk by 94% since the 1960s.[1]

Desertification is a type of land degradation in which a relatively dry area of land becomes a desert, typically losing its bodies of water as well as vegetation and wildlife.[2] It is caused by a variety of factors, such as through climate change (particularly the current global warming)[3] and through the overexploitation of soil through human activity.[4] When deserts appear automatically over the natural course of a planet's life cycle, then it can be called a natural phenomenon; however, when deserts emerge due to the rampant and unchecked depletion of nutrients in soil that are essential for it to remain arable, then a virtual "soil death" can be spoken of,[5] which traces its cause back to human overexploitation. Desertification is a significant global ecological and environmental problem with far reaching consequences on socio-economic and political conditions.[6]




Preventing man-made overgrazing
Goats inside of a pen in Norte Chico, Chile. Overgrazing of drylands by poorly managed traditional herding is one of the primary causes of desertification.
Wildebeest in Masai Mara during the Great Migration. Overgrazing is not caused by nomadic grazers in huge populations of travel herds,[33][34] nor by holistic planned grazing.[35]

The immediate cause is the loss of most vegetation. This is driven by a number of factors, alone or in combination, such as drought, climatic shifts, tillage for agriculture, overgrazing and deforestation for fuel or construction materials. Vegetation plays a major role in determining the biological composition of the soil. Studies have shown that, in many environments, the rate of erosion and runoff decreases exponentially with increased vegetation cover.[36] Unprotected, dry soil surfaces blow away with the wind or are washed away by flash floods, leaving infertile lower soil layers that bake in the sun and become an unproductive hardpan.

Many scientists think that one of the most common causes is overgrazing, too much consumption of vegetation by cattle. Controversially, Allan Savory has claimed that the controlled movement of herds of livestock, mimicking herds of grazing wildlife, can reverse desertification.[37][38][39][40][41]

Bobby. wrote on May 28^th, 2019 at 10:50pm:



Ah yes. The great dam conundrum. Dam the inflow. Lake Chad is shallow. The water is warmer in shallow lakes. Evaporation rises.

Nothing to do with farming.

"How Big Water Projects Helped Trigger Africa’s Migrant Crisis"

https://e360.yale.edu/features/how-africas-big-water-projects-helped-trigger-the...

Rider wrote on May 29^th, 2019 at 7:51pm:

yup and then when it turns into a dust bowl during the first drought because there are no tree's or checks to keep viable, these same people scream at the urban dwellers to dig deep and donate them money to feed those cattle... Disgraceful land management and unsustainable...

lee wrote on May 30^th, 2019 at 1:11pm:


Define native forests in this context please.  Can't see where this goes.....like no one was out there clearing national parks.....but privately owned land, grazing or farming land was impacted immediately by the largest state sponsored property rights theft known in Australia's history.

lee wrote on May 30^th, 2019 at 5:59pm:


Do you mean forestry operations?

The oak tree gifted by the French president to the US president as a symbol of their friendship has died.