Selling Australia as "clean and green"

"Green and clean" has been used as a key marketing tool to promote Australian products overseas. The rationale is that consumers are generally concerned about personal health and the environment and will choose, and pay price premiums, for products that are perceived to be clean (good for them) and green (good for the environment) over alternative products. But is Australia seen as clean and green? Is it really why people buy Australian? This paper attempts to investigate such questionsexport marketing, clean green image, Marketing,

Selling Australia as ‘clean and green’

‘Clean and green’ has been used as a marketing tool by Australian governments to promote agricultural products overseas. But how valid are these claims? Is the ‘clean and green’ image campaign effective? And should government be involved? We conclude that Australia may have had a ‘clean and green’ image in some markets, but in the future, concrete proof of environmental and quality credentials will be required to satisfy increasingly better-informed and more demanding customers. We argue that governments cannot, and should not, continue to promote Australian products based on an undefined ‘clean and green’ image. Rather, more resources should be directed to the development, promotion and wide adoption of integrated, credible and well-defined environmental management and quality assurance systems if Australia is to compete effectively in export markets, especially in the longer term.clean and green, EMS, export marketing, food production, food quality, QA, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Selling Australia as 'Clean and Green'

'Green and clean' has been used as a key marketing tool to promote Australian products overseas. The rationale is that consumers are generally concerned about personal health and the environment and will choose, and pay price premiums, for products that are, or perceived to be, clean (good for them) and green (good for the environment) over alternative products. But is Australia seen as clean and green? Is it really why people buy Australian products? And how effective is it as a marketing tool? This paper attempts to answer some of these questions. The study found that Australia may have a clean green image at present in some of her overseas markets, but to maintain such an image over time, concrete proof of environmental and quality credentials need to be provided to satisfy increasingly more educated and better-informed consumers. Wide adoption of integrated EMS and QA systems by Australian producers and food companies appears to be a means to establish such credentials and substantiate any 'clean and green' claim. Therefore, government policies should focus more on developing a range of tools to encourage good environmental and quality management practices, rather than on promoting the 'clean and green' image. Such campaigns may be counter-productive in the long run as it leads to complacency, rather than raising environmental and quality awareness.export marketing, clean and green, EMS, QA, Environmental Economics and Policy, International Relations/Trade,

Soil phosphorus status in organic and conventional vegetable farms in Southeast Queensland, Australia

The soil phosphorus (P) status (0-10 cm) of two farming systems (organic (OF) and conventional (CF) vegetable farms) at two locations (Gatton and Stanthorpe) was examined amongst a suite of soil fertility indicators. The P status was similar between farming systems, in contrast to some broad-acre organic systems. Examination of farm management records revealed substantial overlap between P inputs at both localities with CF systems also receiving organic inputs, e.g. green manure and composts. A statistical analysis of the effects of different inputs also indicated that P fertility did not vary significantly between farms. Soil P levels were medium to high across farm types indicating a potential environmental risk for vegetable producers particularly in sandy well drained soils. The three methods of extraction Colwell, Olsen and Resin were well correlated with each other and produced similar results indicating the similar nutrient pools exist between farming system

Sustainable Weed Management in Organic Herb and Vegetable Production

Weed management is a major constraint in organic production. It can be expensive and time-consuming and severe crop yield losses may be incurred when weeds are not adequately controlled. Research on organic weed management (OWM) in herb and vegetable production is increasing internationally, although very little work has been done in Australia to assess current OWM knowledge among growers, and to test the efficacy and cost effectiveness of the weed management practices used by organic growers. The project described here sought to fill these knowledge gaps by reviewing the existing industry and scientific literature, conducting a national mail survey of organic growers regarding OWM attitudes and practices, and by carrying out field and glasshouse experiments investigating a range of pre- and in-crop weed control methods. A mail survey of 219 organic herb and vegetable producers in Australia (43% return rate) indicated that respondents were very concerned about weed control, had smaller farms and less experience than other organic growers, and were mostly troubled by perennial weeds with persistent underground parts and some heavy seeding annuals. Growers used hand weeding mostly, and mulches, tillage, rotations, cover crops and slashing were also common. With more experience, growers were less concerned about weeds and there was a shift from physical to cultural weed control methods. Respondents were not primarily motivated by the cost of a weed control method, but were more concerned with effectiveness. The survey produced new data that will be useful for planning research in Australian organic agriculture. The field and glasshouse trials evaluated the effect of various weed control techniques on weed growth (density, relative ground cover and biomass), crop growth (size, relative cover, biomass and flowering) and cost effectiveness of the treatments. The pre-crop treatments were a bare fallow (rotary hoed), a green fallow (unweeded) and three different cover crops; Indian mustard (Brassica juncea [L.] Czern. cv. Fumus F-L71), fodder radish (Raphanus sativus L. cv. Weedcheck) and Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam. cv. Conquest). Hand weeding, tillage, hay mulch, pelletised paper mulch and an unweeded control treatment were used for the in-crop treatments and the test crops were lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) and echinacea (Echinacea purpurea Moench. [L.]), selected for their contrasting growth habit, growing season length and wholesale value. In the field, the cover crops and bare fallow controlled weeds effectively during the pre-crop phase compared with the unweeded green fallow, but did not affect weed and lettuce growth in the following in-crop phase and there was no interaction between pre- and in-crop treatments. Reducing the delay between the pre- and in-crop phases from four weeks to one day did not affect weed and lettuce growth. The brassica cover crops performed poorly when they failed to establish adequately or when sowing rates were too low. Cover crops reduced pre-crop weed levels by suppressing weed growth rather than weed emergence, while the bare fallow also lowered weed emergence. Weed control was positively correlated with reduced light transmission by the cover crops, but competition for nutrients and water was not correlated with weed suppression. In glasshouse trials, brassica cover crops grown and incorporated in pots had a positive effect on subsequent lettuce seedling growth when extra fertiliser was added during the cover crop phase, but not when no fertiliser was added. These results indicate that nutrients, rather than inhibitory phytotoxins, were determining plant growth in the species tested. In-crop weed management in lettuce (smaller plant size, shorter season, lower value than echinacea) was cost effectively achieved using cheaper weeding methods such as tillage. The unweeded control was also cost effective, indicating that good weed control prior to planting could be sufficient to achieve reasonable yields in lettuce. More expensive methods such as hand weeding and hay mulching produced low weed levels and good yields, but were less cost effective. Paper mulch provided excellent weed control, but was very expensive and severely reduced crop yields. More bolting occurred in bare, tilled plots (hand weeding and tillage) than covered, undisturbed plots (mulches and weedy control). The increased bolting was related to higher soil temperature maxima and diurnal fluctuations in the disturbed plots. For echinacea (larger plant size, longer season, higher value), cheaper in-crop weeding methods (e.g. tillage, unweeded control) had poor weed suppression and low crop yields, while the more expensive weeding methods, hand weeding and hay mulch, controlled weeds well and were cost effective. Paper mulch controlled weeds very well but, again, had lower yields and was therefore not cost effective. The poor crop yields under paper mulch were investigated further and found to be caused by nutrient immobilisation, particularly nitrogen. Leaf nutrient analyses indicated that nitrogen was limiting in lettuce (though not echinacea) in the field, and mulch nutrient analyses showed that the carbon:nitrogen ratios were 39:1 and 171:1 for hay and paper mulch respectively. A pot trial showed that lettuce growth was inhibited by paper mulch but not unmulched (bare soil) or hay mulch treatments, i.e. similar results to the field trials. In the pots, the inhibition by the paper mulch was not overcome by additional nitrogen fertiliser, indicating that the extra nitrogen was also immobilised, whereas the unmulched and hay mulch treatments had positive lettuce growth responses to additional nitrogen fertiliser. Bioassays using aqueous mulch extracts showed that paper mulch extract was only weakly inhibitory to lettuce and echinacea seedlings, while hay mulch extract was extremely inhibitory, the reverse of what would have been expected had allelopathy been responsible for the results in the field. This result suggests then that paper mulch phytotoxins were not responsible for lower crop yields. More generally, these findings highlight the limits to extrapolating bioassays results to the field. This research has provided a glimpse of the attitudes of organic herb and vegetable growers to weeds and the practices and principles used in managing weeds in Australia, and has highlighted several important advantages and disadvantages of currently used OWM methods in the field

Honest elementary degrees and degrees of relative provability without the cupping property

An element a of a lattice cups to an element b>ab>a if there is a c<bc<b such that a∪c=ba∪c=b. An element of a lattice has the cupping property if it cups to every element above it. We prove that there are non-zero honest elementary degrees that do not have the cupping property, which answers a question of Kristiansen, Schlage-Puchta, and Weiermann. In fact, we show that if b is a sufficiently large honest elementary degree, then b has the anti-cupping property, which means that there is an a with 0<Ea<Eb0<Ea<Eb that does not cup to b. For comparison, we also modify a result of Cai to show, in several versions of the degrees of relative provability that are closely related to the honest elementary degrees, that in fact all non-zero degrees have the anti-cupping property, not just sufficiently large degrees

SOME WEED SPECIES AFFECTING SOYBEAN NODULATION AND NODULE FUNCTION

Experiments aimed at examining the effect of aqueous extracts of three weed species on nodulation and nodule function of soybean cv. Melrose have been carried out at the Laboratory of Plant Physiology and Biotechnology, Department of Agronomy and Soil Science, University of New England, Australia. Aqueous extracts of fresh weed material (Amaranthus powellii, Cyperus rotundus and Paspalum dilatatum) at the concentration of 10% (w/v) were added to a minus-nitrogen Hoagland’s nutrient solution in which the soybean plants were grown with 14 hours day length, day and night temperatures of 28 and 20°C, respectively, light intensity of 790 mol/m2/s, and the relative humidity of 65%. The plants were kept for three weeks prior to the measurement of activity of nitrogenase enzyme and ammonium content of the root nodules. All weed extracts tested resulted in impairment of soybean nodulation and nodule function as indicated by reduced activity of nitrogenase enzyme activity (acetylene reduction assay - ARA). Although amaranth extract was most inhibitory to the nitrogenase enzyme activity, it was less inhibitory than nutgrass extract in reducing the total ammonium content of the soybean root nodules

Some Weed Species Affecting Soybean Nodulation And Nodule Function

Experiments aimed at examining the effect of aqueous extracts of three weed species on nodulation and nodule function of soybean cv. Melrose have been carried out at the Laboratory of Plant Physiology and Biotechnology, Department of Agronomy and Soil Science, University of New England, Australia. Aqueous extracts of fresh weed material (Amaranthus powellii, Cyperus rotundus and Paspalum dilatatum) at the concentration of 10% (w/v) were added to a minus-nitrogen Hoagland\u27s nutrient solution in which the soybean plants were grown with 14 hours day length, day and night temperatures of 28 and 20°C, respectively, light intensity of 790 mmol/m2/s, and the relative humidity of 65%. The plants were kept for three weeks prior to the measurement of activity of nitrogenase enzyme and ammonium content of the root nodules. Results demonstrate that all weed extracts reduced the nodulation and nitrogenase activities (ARA) of soybean cv. Melrose. Amaranth was most inhibitory to nitrogenase enzyme activity. However, amaranth extract was less inhibitory than nutgrass extract in total ammonium content

Producer-Driven Marketing of 'Clean, Green and Humane' Lamb

Research indicates growing consumer interest in food that has minimal impact on human health, the environment and animal welfare. Such credence attributes may be commonly described as 'clean, green and humane' (CGH) however, the meaning remains vague to consumers and producers until a production standard is specified. This study addresses the lack of production standard by investigating consumer preferences and by evaluating the feasibility of producing and marketing the stated preferences for CGH. Value adding, direct marketing and other entrepreneurial activities to gain a premium are often reported as an option for conventional producers seeking to improve farm revenues. This study addresses a gap in the research by investigating whether the premiums gained are likely to cover the costs of producing and marketing a differentiated product, and the manageability of uncertainties that arise in producer-driven marketing (PDM). The focus of the research was on lamb meat production for the domestic market in Australia

Factors affecting biocontrol of Rhizoctonia diseases and growth promotion of potato by Trichoderma species

Rhizoctonia solani AG-3PT causes stem canker and black scurf disease of potato which results in economic yield loss of up to 35-50% around the world. Until now, progress in the management of these diseases has been slow. This study looked at the effects of biological control strategies for stem canker and black scurf of potato caused by R. solani AG-3PT using soil organisms alone or in combination with resistant potato varieties or fertilizers or intercropping systems with Brassica plants. Trichoderma species were studied because they have a known role in minimising the impacts of pathogens and improving plant growth. Eight isolates of Trichoderma obtained from healthy tubers and soil reduced the severity of disease and promoted growth of potato plants in laboratory and glasshouse experiments. T. harzianum strain T5 and T. hamatum strain T8 had the best performance in prevention of disease and enhancing the plant growth and potato yield. The information on comparative sensitivity of varieties of potato will assist farmers to make informed decisions in terms of black scurf disease management. Six potato varieties utilized in this study showed a range of sensitivity reactions to R. solani AG-3PT, but none of these varieties were completely resistant to the disease. The Sapphire and Royal Blue varieties showed the lowest level of infection of tubers by sclerotia of R. solani AG-3PT at harvest, whereas Sebago and Desiree varieties showed the highest level of sclerotia on tubers. Laboratory experiments showed that Sebago sprouts contained materials that reduced the pathogen growth and prevented the growth of biocontrol agents compared with other potato varieties. The interaction between two Trichoderma isolates (T5 and T8) and the pathogen in glasshouse experiments with three potato varieties (Sebago, Desiree and Sapphire) showed the same disease reduction and plant growth promotion for all varieties. There was therefore no interaction between plant resistance and biocontrol. In culture experiments, there were small but significant effects of seven nutrients (N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe and Mn) on the interactions between Trichoderma species and the pathogen. One series of pot trials on the effects of N, K and Mn on biocontrol did not detect an interaction between the nutrients and disease control or growth promotion. However, a field trial did show that the effect of T. hamatum T8 on growth promotion of potato in the presence of the pathogen was greater at low levels of NPK fertilizer. As a result, farmers may reduce fertilizer level when the biocontrol agent is applied. Biofumigation has been used as an alternative method for controlling soilborne plant pathogens. Biocontrol agents T5 and T8 were not pathogenic to broccoli or cabbage and promoted their growth. R. solani was sensitive to compounds from the root tissues of broccoli and cabbage, whereas Trichoderma isolates, especially T8, were tolerant to compounds from root tissues. In a glasshouse experiment either intercropping with cabbage or broccoli, or inoculation with T8, prevented disease symptoms on potatoes. In a field trial, intercropping with cabbage or treatment with T8 controlled the stem canker and black scurf disease caused by R. solani AG-3PT. Isolate T8 also greatly increased the growth rate of the cabbages. The growth of potato plants was reduced by competition with the cabbage, indicating the need for further work on refining the intercropping system. Overall this study provides insight on the efficacy of Trichoderma isolates for biological control, and the effect of Trichoderma isolates on potato varieties resistance, fertilizers and cropping system to control stem canker and black scurf of potato caused by R. solani AG-3PT