Growing 30% more rice with 40% less water

October 4, 2007 on 2:04 pm | In agriculture | 1 Comment

The WWF website reports that a new highly efficient method to grow rice could save huge amounts of water while increasing food security, has been found. The method uses 40% less water, increases crop yields by over 30% and substantially reduces the methane emission. Read the full article: Grow more rice with less water.

Piping water from the bush to the city

September 26, 2007 on 10:10 pm | In agriculture | No Comments

The Victorian Governments recent decision to pipe water from the bush to the city (Melbourne) has caused a stir with locals in the town of Koondrook, and why wouldn’t they be angry.  Why on earth would the state government be taking water from drought ravaged country Victoria and piping it to the city when Melbournians are only on stage 3a water restrictions.  Surely crops and animal stock are more important than non-essential city water requirements.

Hydroponic systems in Greenhouses save water and energy

September 24, 2007 on 1:17 pm | In agriculture | 1 Comment

According to one of Australia’s largest growers of tomatoes, hydroponic systems in green houses use around 20% of water compared to field grown produce.  No only is there a massive water saving for hydroponic greenhouse produce, but there’s also large energy savings due to the controlled climate in greenhouses. Greenhouse Experiments by Department of Energy (DOE) Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico may confirm this.