Category Archives: Agriculture

Edi Australian red meat and the environment – sustainable agriculture

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As custodians of nearly 50 per cent of Australia’s land mass, the Australian red meat and livestock industry recognises its responsibility to agricultural sustainability – sustainably managing the environment for all Australians while providing a nutritious, quality food product.

A focus on sustainable agriculture is a priority for the Australian livestock industry, with improved environmental practices having benefits for not only the environment, but also productivity. At every stage of the process from the paddock to the plate, there are opportunities for continuous improvement in environmental management and sustainable agriculture practices.

The red meat industry invests over $13 million annually in research and development to better understand the environmental impact and to further improve the environmental performance of the industry and sustainable farming.

The industry has initiated research and development into sustainable production to reduce emissions and water use, improve biodiversity, create energy efficiencies, minimise waste and implement environmentally sustainable land management practices.

In Australia, cattle and sheep are mostly grazed on large areas of semi-arid and arid rangelands.

As with all primary food production the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices is essential in ensuring that Australia is able to feed a growing population with minimal environmental impact.

Sustainable agriculture – The Australian livestock industry

Agricultural sustainability in the Australian livestock industry is best understood in the context of: – Environmental sustainability – Economic sustainability, and – The sustainability of regional communities

Ensuring the industry employs sustainable farming practices has benefits for not only producers, processors and the supply chain but for the regional and rural communities that rely on the employment and economic stimulation of the livestock industry.

To ensure economic sustainability, farmers need to sustainably manage the environment. After all, it’s the soil, grass and water on farmers’ properties that enables them to graze cattle and sheep.

Improving environmental sustainability

Over the past 10 to 15 years the livestock industry has been focused on improving its environmental sustainability. Farmers have been managing the twin challenges of environment sustainability, at the same time as striving to increase productivity in the context of a highly variable climate.

The red meat industry acknowledges that prior to this time that many practices had a negative impact on natural resources across the country. Early Australian agriculture tried to farm the country in a European manner, as a result, a range of government policies and on-farm practices led to environment degradation in some areas.

Today most farmers understand that to be sustainable they need to manage the environment in a sustainable way and employ sustainable agriculture practices.

The industry has invested significantly in research and development to ensure environmental sustainability, including: – Grazing strategies – Soil and groundcover management – Water management – Reducing emissions – Revegetating

The livestock industry is proud of the improvement it has made in sustainably managing natural resources. Right across the country the improvement in soil health, groundcover, vegetation and biodiversity can be seen on farms.

agriculture sustainability is an important topic to consider for all farms in australia. Find out more at www.redmeatgreenfacts.com.au

Practical Paleo Guide – The Caveman Way

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Practical Paleo Guide – The Caveman Way

That’s right you are taking a journey back to the stone age. To be more exact, the Paleolithic Era, long for Paleo. Why is the caveman visualized as such a strong, viril, healthy hunter? Well he ate Protein, and anything else he could find to put in his mouth that wouldn’t kill him and hopefully would taste good.

Modern day man is bombarded with a plethora of diet options. Many diets discourage large amounts of meat intake, restrict carbohydrates, or focus largely on fruits and vegetables. The Paleo diet, however, is unique because it is based on the diet of the very first humans.

The Paleo Diet is also referred to as the Hunter Gatherer Diet because it consists of food that can be hunted (such as meat or seafood) and gathered (such as fruits, nuts, vegetables, etc.). Which translates to running down his source of protein and killing it – Great Exercise combined with healthy fresh food. Unlike man today who jumps in his car, drives to the closest fast food source and gobbles down a couple Hamburgers, Fries and Shake. No exercise and food loaded with preservatives, fillers and who knows what else. Essentially, the Paleo diet takes the diet used by early humans prior to tractors or farm animals and applies it to modern-day foods.

The core principle of the Paleo Diet is that humans are genetically suited to eat the foods that our ancestors consumed. A concise, to the point definition, the Paleo diet imitates the foods that every single human on earth consumed before the rise of agriculture. The Paleo diet contains foods that have very high nutritional value, such as lean meats, seafood, fruits, and vegetables. And NO, you don’t have to run down your prey and kill it or spear fish in the nearest body of water. Wow, isn’t that great. However we do suggest other means of exercise more suited to modern man. The diet also shuns food ingredients that were created after the agriculture revolution, such as grains, dairy products, sugar, and salt because these products can lead to an increase in weight and a higher chance of developing health problems such as diabetes.

It is no wonder that athletes are fans of the Paleo Diet because of its high protein content. Some foods that are basic to the diet are meat, chicken, fish, fruits, vegetables, and nuts. Paleolithic man would like you to keep these fundamentals in mind when choosing which vegetables to eat. You should look for root vegetables, but make sure to stay away from potatoes and sweet potatoes. One reason these foods are healthy for you is because they are free of additives, which most modern men now know are proven to be harmful to your health.

Why Portable Air Conditioning Hire for Agriculture is Essential

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Portable air conditioning for hire is not only an essential option for hotels, pubs and clubs, leisure centres and gyms, but also in the agriculture industry. Read on to find out why portable air conditioning is essential for the agriculture industry.

Article body: Portable air conditioning for hire is not only an essential option for hotels, pubs and clubs, leisure centres and gyms, but also in the agriculture industry. Why? Because without the option of hiring portable air conditioning units and chilling units (-chillers’), many arable farmers and dairy producers would simply go out of business.

What consumers expect Customers can be demanding at the best of times, but never more so than when it comes to food. They want fresh, good quality produce that not only tastes good, but is also reasonably priced and always available when they desire it (seasonal factors notwithstanding, of course).

So what does all this mean for people working in farming and agriculture? And how does hired portable air conditioning play a crucial role in keeping arable farmers and dairy producers in business, and their customers satisfied?

The potato storage process The British are renowned for loving their potatoes (mashed, boiled, roasted, baked, fried-), but there is much more to successfully growing, picking and taking to market a healthy potato crop than one would think (be that a small crop, or one that is grown in fields consisting of hundreds or even thousands of acres, and is managed by a major arable farming company).

The potato storage process must be managed expertly, or the potato crop will be ruined, meaning the arable farmer may well also be. Unless potatoes are stored in a temperature-controlled, well-ventilated environment, then the lot could fall victim to fungal disease, as well as viral and bacterial agents. Storing potatoes at temperatures near 4C / 39F is usually best.

Hiring portable air conditioners is the -perfect insurance’ By hiring the right cooling equipment (portable air conditioners and chillers) and placing the units in the right locations in a potato storage facility (or indeed, a facility used for the storage of other -cornerstone’ vegetables grown on arable farms) the terrifying prospect of losing an entire crop to the aforementioned threats can be removed.

Protecting dairy produce Portable air conditioning and chiller units for hire are no less effective when it comes to protecting dairy produce. Fully cured Cheddar, for example, is a hard, natural cheese that is hugely popular not only across the UK, but also worldwide. The export market is a multimillion pound one, in fact; so imagine how catastrophic it would be for a dairy farmer to lose most or even all of his stock, simply because the existing cooling system failed overnight, or, by some oversight, the system was set at the wrong temperature – a mistake that was only discovered when it was too late.

High quality Stilton is also -not just a cheese’. It is a very valuable commodity, as are most speciality cheeses. A large dairy company can produce tonnes of it (and other dairy foods/products) annually; however some of the biggest producers fail to place enough importance upon having a contingency plan in place, should their built-in cooling system let them down, and all their dairy produce is rendered inedible before it even makes it to the maturing room.

Being prepared is the key Of course, the vast majority of arable farmers and dairy producers take steps to protect their produce from harm, but the smartest ones also have a contingency plan in place, should the unthinkable happen: a cool storage system failure suddenly occurs, and before the crop(s) can be saved, the -rot’ has already set in, and thousands of pounds’ worth of produce is inedible and worthless (sometimes in just as a few hours). The hiring of portable air conditioning units and chillers provides the best solution, a genuine safeguard against every arable farmer and dairy producer’s worst nightmare becoming a reality.

As well as being the ideal emergency back-up option, portable air conditioning units for hire for agriculture applications can be:

– Used immediately; – Easily stored; – Hired on a short contract basis, and then returned. (This is ideal when it comes to getting extra air conditioning and cooling systems in place in, say, the run up to Christmas, when food production is significantly increased to meet massive consumer demand) – The perfect -stop gap’ between the removal of an existing (fixed) air conditioning system, and the installation of a new one at an arable farm or a dairy farm; – Added to an existing air conditioning solution when extra air conditioning is required.

Food for thought indeed. Article submitted by Steve Reeve, Sales Director at Andrews Sykes. Andrews Sykes is the UK’s largest specialist air conditioning hire company, with over 25 years’ experience. The company serves virtually all industry sectors including agriculture and farming using machinery sourced from the world’s top manufacturers.

Finding Your Agriculture Jobs Online

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When we are searching a job, the most important thing before all steps is the clear objection. And today, there are variety kinds of ways to find jobs, people can go to the job fair as tradition, while searching jobs on line is becoming more and more popular, In the past few years, Internet has emerged as a major source for people looking for jobs in any field. There are thousands of agriculture jobs posted all across the internet. Among all jobs today, agriculture has emerged as a major destination for growth-oriented job opportunities. A large number of individuals are searching for it.

Well, the opportunity seems attractive, but in fact searching for agriculture jobs is a daunting task. This is because the recruiters are usually located at different parts of the globe, it makesdifficult for the individuals to get access to a large number of agriculture jobs. What’s more, because there are various employer jobs and they are not posted anywhere, so it is a plan to search for those employer jobs.

Different to other jobs, the job titles of agriculture career is based on experience and education level. A good job website usually can help you to find the hidden agriculture jobs that exist all over the Internet. At any particular moment of time, there are thousands of jobs get posted all online. In order to find information about these entire job postings, take the help of a professional job site for you. We say Internet is amazing because we can be linked to all kinds agriculture jobs and other related jobs. Internet make the job searching extremely easy that individuals can get access to jobs posted anywhere. Recruiters in the agriculture field fall into different categories such staffing, retained search, permanent placement, and temporary placement. The various job positions under agriculture field may include Agriculture Credit Analyst, Agriculture Associate Buyer, Agriculture Manager, Production Supervisor, Food Processing, Agriculture Clerk, Senior Agriculture Analyst, Audit Manager, Agriculture Assistant, and Agriculture Supervisor.

All in all, finding a agriculture job by Internet is a trend. There are many advantages of it. But the job hunter should also careful when select the career because there are also many fake information on the Internet. Hoping everyone could find a satisfying work.

The Uses Of Interactive Maps For Crop Management For Agriculture

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Agriculture and its benefits are various and with the advancement in technology there are many tools and methods that can improve the methods of agriculture. Scientists have been using satellite remote sensing technology or flash maps with the aim to enhance water balance and farming yield appraisal on a huge geographical scale throughout the world. Therefore the current sensing algorithms being utilized have become so reliable and accurate that it provides detailed crop information for precise agriculture management to improve crop health and production with the availability of several high resolution maps and satellite sensors.

According to the data collected by FOA, almost 70 percent of freshwater resources is used for crop production. Therefore it is necessary to optimize the right use of water resources and yet increase agriculture production with the global population continuing to grow at a high rate. The agricultural resources are however the most dynamic and renewable natural resources. Therefore reliable, comprehensive and timely information on the agricultural resources is very necessary for countries who’s main economy lies in agriculture. Sometimes, there are agriculture surveys conducted throughout the nation to gather information and the statistic on livestock, crops and rangeland, also including other agriculture resources with the help of these advanced satellite remote sensing technology and maps.

Satellite images through these maps can show variations in organic m matter sand the drainage patterns. The soil higher in organic matter can easily be differentiated from the lighter soil which has lower organic content. So flash maps and the satellite image date has the potential to provide real time or live analysis for big areas of attributes of growing crops that can really help in making timely management decisions which may affect the outcome of the current crop. The technology is so advanced that the satellite images and maps can even import graphics or fields of the agricultural land to offer better crop management. These maps can even create custom regions which can indicate what crop has been currently planted in the region. If you have your own agricultural land, it lets you add additional details as well to show your farming information such as the target harvest time or the last time or next date to apply insecticide.

Moreover the satellite imagery maps analysis for agriculture management and production also allows for
Quantitative green vegetation assessment
Accurate and fast overview
Tree grading
Underlying soil characteristics

This remote sensing satellite imaging and maps is however an evolving technology with the potential to contribute to studies specific to land cover and change detection just by globally making comprehensive evaluations of several human and environmental actions as possible. These changes would thereby influence policy and management decision making. The maps and satellite image date also enables direct observation of the land surface at repetitive intervals and so lets mapping of the extent and assessment and monitoring of storm water runoff, crop health, air quality, change detection environmental analysis, irrigated landscape mapping, energy savings, yield determination, carbon storage and avoidance and soil an fertility analysis.