On Sun, 27 Jul 2003 20:20:56 GMT, "Gordon Couger"
wrote:


"Moosh:]" wrote in message
.. .
On 27 Jul 2003 05:19:55 GMT, Brian Sandle
wrote:

Jim Webster wrote:

"Oz" wrote in message
...
Gordon Couger writes

"Oz" wrote in message

I suspect you may have a problem with jim's climate.

It's a rare month indeed when transpiration exceeds precipitation.

I wouldn't know what to do with that. I just want to get wells dug
that
make
enough water that I don't care if it rains.

Jim just want's field drains and ditches that can take it away
quickly..

--

yes, I have land that I will not take cattle on between October and
March,
even though I can silage it in May.
I do find it fascinating reading when everyone is discussing the
advantages
of no-till and struggling to retain soil moisture, round here ploughing
is
used to dry the land out a bit. You plough and let the sun and wind
take
away some of the moisture so you can get a tilth.

Funny old world

What are various types of trees like at extracting water from the ground?

I suppose evergreens keep the sun off the land, but they might shelter
animals from wind.

I am thinking that the surface area of roots in contact with soil is
greater than the area exposed to wind by ploughing. Then the leaves
contact the wind. Also the trees could be a crop.

You could plant several types of trees, each working better in slightly
different conditions. Diversity is much better against troubles. You can
have the diversity within each farm, or else you use the govt to buffer
against loss as with BSE, or both. I hate to think who will bear the
brunt
of troubles with the huge GM reduced diversity scheme.

The tree idea seems a good one, so long as Jim can keep his family
alive with it.

How is GM reducing biodiversity? Conventional breeding exploded
diversity early on, then refined it to those varieties that the
customer required. Where is the problem?

If anything it increases biodiversity by being able to put the desirable
traits into more crops instead of switching to the one crop that has that
trait. For example the potato that was just found with resistant to the
blight that depopulated Ireland and still costs millions today can be put in
every cultivars instead of developing one resistant strain by conventional
methods.

But don't let the facts get in the way, Gordon