[Annatar]

Did anyone in Australia watched the documentary, 'A million acres a year', on SBS, 18/11/04?

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he southwest of Western Australia is one of the world's most bio-diverse areas. But in the last 50 years it has been the scene of environmental destruction on a massive scale. This documentary tells the story of the way a region now recognised as one of the top 25 biological hotspots on the planet was opened up for broad-acre farming, unleashing an environmental and social nightmare. During the 1960s, a million acres a year were opened up, despite the fact that much of the land was unsuitable for farming. Nevertheless, the new landholders were obliged to bulldoze and burn the native bush or risk losing their allocation under the 'conditional purchase scheme'. The long term consequences have been devastating, with industrial farming and salinity turning most of this priceless natural heritage into a biological desert.

[woodies]

hi iron fist, those pictures ripping up the natural vegetation were brutal. I found it more sickening than almost anything ive seen. Good to see the farmers who are actively restoring the land though one gets the impression that these marginal lands can never be that productive without huge chemical inputs.
WA farm land is incredibly cheap, personal energy plantations are viable, could the land be restored and sustainably used using local crops and permaculture techniques?
SBS has a number of riveting doco's every week, funny that only our public broadcasters keep us informed, as against our commercial stations

[Bytesmiths]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Iron_Fist_Consumerist', 'E')ven though salinity was recognised as a consequence of land clearing by Europeans in the 19th century...