'Should meat be on the menu?' 'Carbon issues in our food: Paddock to plate'
It deals extensively with the issue of farm livestock and the attack that has been made upon sheep and cattle with regard to their gas emissions. As editor of a farming magazine I became concerned about the issue at the time the UNFAO report 'Livestock's Long Shadow' came out. Without setting out to defend the livestock sector, I decided last year to research the issue so that I was fully informed about it as a rural journalist. I was impartial in my approach.
In this research project I very soon became aware of the appalling misunderstanding of the atmospheric carbon cycle that underpinned the report by the UNFAO as well as other reports including one by Worldwatch. These reports did not understand the role of photosynthesis in plants to draw down carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. They did not understand that, via plants and photosynthesis, all of the carbon in a cow, and all of the carbon it ever emitted in whatever form, came from the atmosphere in the first place. A cow - or other ruminant animal - could not therefore add one single atom of carbon to the atmosphere that did not previously exist in the atmosphere. This is the basic start point of the book
I then go on to develop the soil carbon story and how ruminant animals are actually the critical facilitators of the soil carbon sequestration process. The book contains a large number of practical on-farm case studies to support my line of argument. These case studies range from 70 ha properties in the Hunter Valley, through 10,000 ha properties in NSW to one case of a 50,000 square kilometre station in the Northern Territory.
I believe the information in the book will be of interest to you personally and to people in your sphere of influence.
The per unit price is $29.50. A postage and handling fee of $6.50 is charged for the first book. If you make a multiple order, the postage and handling fee is only charged once per order no matter how many books are ordered. Payment methods can be by credit card over the phone or I can send you an invoice with the order for payment by cheque or direct bank deposit. There is more information on my website if you should need it. I am also happy to talk on the phone at any time if you wish.
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