AG
FACTS & FIGURES
Over a 14 year
period in Canada, cultivated brown prairie soils lost 26%
of their soil organic matter and 33% of their N (Campbell
et al, 1975 in Blaine 1993).
Waste production?
There are over 73,000,000 pigs in North America. On
average, each pig produces 10 - 12 lbs. of manure per
day. Using 10 lbs. per day, pigs produce a minimum of
365,000 tons of manure each day or 133,225,000 tons per
year.
Yield Increasing
Technology:
In the opinion of an international conference of experts
convened by the World Bank, UNDP and FAO, a solution to
the problem of ensuring world food supplies while
preserving the environment is inconceivable without
biotechnology.
The Population Reference Bureau
projects a world population of more than 7 billion in
2010 increasing to almost 8.4 billion in 2025. To ensure
an adequate food supply for this ever increasing
population, food output will have to more than doubled by
2010.
Population by regions in
1994
|
Region
|
Population
|
Projected Population
|
|
1994
|
2010
|
2025
|
|
Africa
|
700
|
1,078
|
1,538
|
Latin
America
& Caribbean
|
470
|
584
|
679
|
Asia
excl. Japan
|
3,257
|
4,123
|
4,981
|
Total
|
4,437
|
5,784
|
7,108
|
We are losing about
1,000 tons of topsoil every second and year after year
arable land shrinks by 20,000 hectares. Erosion alone has
made a billion hectares of soil unusable for agriculture.
Legislation
The 1997 Indiana State Legislature passed legislation
(H.B. 1915) that affects approximately 3800 Indiana
livestock producers. Operations with confinement
facilities who have more than 600 hogs or sheep, 300
cattle or 30,000 poultry at any one time (or those who
have been found to have caused a water quality violation)
will need to develop a manure management plan and submit
it to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management
(IDEM) by July 1 of the year 2000.
BOD5
The pollution strength of the organic matter in manure or
waste water is expressed as the Biochemical Oxygen Demand
(BOD5). A comparison of the BOD5 values for livestock
wastes and municipal wastes reveals that the pollution
strength of raw manure is 160 times greater than raw
municipal sewage. For example, in undiluted livestock
waste BOD5 in (Mg/1) is around 40,000 while in raw
municipal sewage BOD5 in (Mg/1) is about 250.
Controlling and or eliminating odor:
There are many compounds available with claims as to
their effectiveness in controlling and/or eliminating
odors. There are four general types of chemicals. The
masking agent is a "perfume" odor to override
the offensive odor. Counteractants are chemically
designed to block the sensing of particular odors.
Odor-absorption chemicals are reactive compounds to
change the odor-causing chemical. Biological compounds such as enzymatic or bacterial
products alter the decomposition pathway so that the
odorous compounds are not generated. These compounds can
be added directly to the manure storage, and some are
available to add to the feed.
The latest research:
Smoke appears to be the missing link in understanding the
horticulture of some plant species. It has been known for
many years that fire has played a significant role in the
evolution of plants and habitat burning triggers
germination in many plants.
Recent experiments have shown that
smoke from the burning of plant material enhances seed
germination in a wide range of native species. Smoke can
either be applied directly or as smoked water; however,
smoked water is more practical for people propagating on
a small scale.
Smoked water and details on its use
are available from:
Friends of Kings Park
Kings Park and Botanic Garden
West Perth WA 6005
Manure
- a Valuable Resource
Let's assume that a producer handles his livestock manure
in a manner which prevents the loss of nutrients. If we
assess a value of $0.22 per pound for nitrogen, $0.20 per
pound of phosphorus and $0.10 per pound for potassium:
-
A 500-head swine
finishing herd produces $4,370 worth of
fertilizer per year.
-
A 100-head beef herd
produces $4,410 worth of fertilizer per year.
-
A 100-head dairy herd
produces $4,810 worth of fertilizer per year.
-
A 10,000 layer flock
produces $3,580 worth of fertilizer per year.
Source: Ohio State
University Extension
Department of Horticulture and Crop Science
Livestock Facility Site Selection
Three factors to consider when selecting a livestock
facility site that minimizes odor nuisance potential.
None of these factors is controlling in itself.
-
Isolation of the
facility site
-
Direction and
distance to neighbors
-
Prevailing wind
direction
In 26 of the 40 low-income
countries listed by the World Bank, and in 26 of the 50
reporting countries in the middle and higher income
category, per capita food output decreased substantially
in the period from 1979 to 1991.
In most African countries south of
the Sahara and in the Middle East the degree of
self-sufficiency in grains continues to decrease.
Annual growth rates in yields per
hectare of rice and wheat fell off in some of the most
productive areas of cultivation in Asia, mainly in areas
that practiced intensive agriculture. In the opinion of
FAO, the UN Food and Agricultural Organization, this
trend will continue well into the 21st century. The FAO
anticipates that by 2010 many developing countries that
were previously net exporters will have become net
importers of agricultural products.
In China arable land is getting to
be scarce and the use of chemical fertilizers and plant
protection agents is nearing the ecologically tolerable
limit.
As a result of soil erosion, air
pollution, soil compaction, aquifer depletion, the loss
of soil organic matter and salting of irrigated land
yields are decreasing.
EcoChem's
yield
increasing technology can lessen dependence on chemical fertilizers, lower input
costs, increase yield and bring us closer to solving our
agricultural problems.
Sustainable Development -
Biotechnology
Living as we do at the onset of the first global
revolution, on a small planet which we seem hell-bent to
destroy, beset with conflicts, in an ideological and
political vacuum, faced with problems of global
dimensions which the fading nation states are impotent to
solve, with immense scientific and technological
possibilities for the improvement of the human condition,
rich in knowledge but poor in wisdom, we search for the
keys to survival and sustainability. Sustainable
development and sustainable food security will not be
achievable without biotechnology.
(club of Rome)
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