Greenpeace gets a visit from the Police

After the recent attack on the GM crops by Greenpeace in Canberra, the police made a visit to their offices in Ultimo and locked the office down. Greenpeace claim that their motives for the destruction of the GM crops were concerns for health and environmental reasons.

A police spokesman said they were in the process of executing a search warrant on Greenpeace's headquarters over and alleged trespass and property damage incident at CSIRO in Canberra. The crop that they damaged had no connection to Monsanto. CropLife, a body which represents the science plant industry, last week condemned Greenpeace's attack, saying it delayed valuable scientific research. Read more ...

This blog is written by Martin Little, The Global Miller, published and supported by the GFMT Magazine and the International Milling Directory from Perendale Publishers

Farmers condemn attack on GM crop

Recently a group of Greenpeace protesters destroyed a crop of GM wheat at the CSIRO farm in Canberra. This destruction which has caused CAN$300,000 (€219,936.395) and a years worth of research. The New South Wales farmers Association condemned the action.

Mark Hoskinson, says "not only is it illegal, but it has destroyed valuable research which has been paid for by levies on Australian grain growers".  “Greenpeace has shown how completely irresponsible it is and has shown contempt for the biosecurity protocols that have been put in place in a controlled environment by the trained and professional CSIRO staff,” he says.  Read more ...

This blog is written by Martin Little, The Global Miller, published and supported by the GFMT Magazine and the International Milling Directory from Perendale Publishers

Ants and termites boost dryland wheat yields

Ants and termites have a significant positive impact on crop yields in dryland agriculture, according to a paper published in the journal Nature Communications by scientists at CSIRO and the University of Sydney."

Ants and termites perform the same ecosystem service functions in dryland agriculture that earthworms perform in cooler and wetter areas, but the potential for ants and termites to provide these benefits has received little attention until now," said CSIRO's Dr Theo Evans.

"We already knew that the activities of ants and termites affect soil structure, aeration, water infiltration and nutrient cycling in natural ecosystems but we wondered whether they also perform these services in agricultural landscapes." Read more ...

This blog is written by Martin Little The Global Miller, published and supported by the GFMT Magazine from Perendale Publishers.