The GM Moratorium needs to be extended until long-term, generational studies become part of the OGTR regulations for approval. GM has to be treated as an introduction of a self-reproducing chemical. Marketing and trade of Australian products will be severely affected once health and environment impacts of GM become quantified and public. R&D has to be directed to a productive and resilient biological agriculture producing mineral dense food for the health and wellbeing of citizens in a regenerated landscape with biodiversity. Such farming systems are profitable, drought tolerant and able to adapt to climate change. In a world with diminishing oil supply they markedly reduce the dependence on synthetic chemicals and fertilisers, and can feed the world.
Consumers are becoming aware of the good taste and health benefits of organic food and demand is increasing. Organic farmers and gardeners recognise negative factors in our industrialising food production systems. They actively undertake soil fertility management by improving soil biology and soil organic carbon.
As managers using the soils, what do we look at, what do we (want to) see? After decades of regular use of single-super phosphate some farmers and graziers stopped using it when they became aware of the detrimental impact it had on soils and trees, caused by the acidic nature of the fertiliser; use of muriate of potash (potassium chloride) has similar impact and also needs to be avoided. We can learn to use the power of nature rather than fighting it with synthetic chemicals and unproven new technologies in a war we can’t win. .
As managers using soils for production, what do we look at, what do we (want to) see? After decades of regular use of single-super phosphate some farmers and graziers stopped using it when they became aware of the detrimental impact it had on soils and trees, caused by the acidic nature of the fertiliser; use of muriate of potash (potassium chloride) has similar impact and also needs to be avoided.
Maarten Stapper gives talks and workshops about Biological Farming related topics to practitioners for a fee and to community groups and schools for costs of travel. They can vary from one hour to two hours or covering a day with or without paddock walks looking at soil health indicators.
On-farm trials, farmer practice observations and literature help Maarten improving local understanding of biological agriculture and the management of soil health to strengthen plants and reducing inputs of synthetic fertilisers and chemicals while maintaining yield.
Talks he has given:
Soil fertility management – towards sustainable Farming Systems and landscapes
Farming Systems in Transition – towards better soils in cropping and pasture
Farming Systems in Transition – examples from practice
Farming Systems in Transition – change in thinking and management
Moving from Industrial to Biological Farming Systems
Contribution of Agricultural Science to productivity gain in the cropping industries – reflecting back and looking forward
Wheat plant growth stages as a diagnostic tool for management
Managing irrigated wheat canopies for high yields and quality
High-yielding wheat for grain – learning from irrigation
Managing irrigated wheat with uncertain water availability
Assessing the productivity of wheat genotypes in a Mediterranean climate, using a crop-simulation model
Sense and nonsense of modelling for sustainable agriculture
How we use the Earth’s resources
Feeding a green earth
Organics, GM & Science
Secret Plant Business: GM sneaking into our food chain
Nourishing Children – Weston A. Price Foundation
Where does our food come from? Bread? Milk? Healthy food?
Dr. Stapper is a farming systems agronomist who’s main focus is helping farmers improve the profitability of their operations by harnessing the power of natural healthy soil processes.
Maarten believes that by improving the use of inputs and understanding those practices that negatively impact on soil health farmers can have a positive impact on their land and production.
Dr. Maarten Stapper was recently featured on ABC’s “Australian Story”. Click here to view the television appearance and special features “Back to Earth”.
Message
Through Maarten’s research work, discussions with Landcare groups and a wide range of farmers, he has come to the belief that science must take a broader view to achieve the sustainable development of agricultural industries.
To achieve this we have to look at the whole farming system – where every thing is linked to everything else.
Background
Dr Maarten Stapper has lived, studied and worked in the Netherlands, Canada, USA, Iraq, Syria, and, since 1982, in Australia.
He has an agricultural engineering degree from Wageningen University, the Netherlands, in farming systems and catchment management in semi-arid tropics.
He did his PhD with the University of New England, Armidale, on wheat production systems, linking crop physiology with agronomy and daily weather in simulation modelling. Maarten was then employed by the International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA) at Aleppo, Syria, where he did his field work.
Maarten worked from 1983 to 1988 at CSIRO, Griffith, on irrigated wheat and introduced irrigation scheduling, a nitrogen fertilizer calculator and the first crop monitoring program for farmers to support their management decisions. He then moved to CSIRO, Canberra, to work on dryland wheat systems and the management of high-yielding irrigated wheat, which led him to the principles of biological agriculture.
After working for 30 years as a research agronomist in four continents, Dr Maarten Stapper has turned into an advocate of biological-organic farming systems.
With experience from the inside, he is a critic of GM technology and current agricultural science paradigm that both strengthen the moribund industrial agriculture as it continues to degrade soil, environment and food.
Maarten now works as a private consultant assisting farmers in the transition from industrial to biological farming systems.
As a farming systems agronomist Maarten has quantified production in many wheat paddocks in dryland and irrigation districts in southeastern Australia. In that work he has become aware that most problems start with the soil, and thus the search for solutions should commence there. Current soil problems are the result of gross oversimplification of fertilization and ‘plant protection’ practices that use harsh chemicals and ignore the delicate balance of microbes, trace minerals and nutrients in the soil. Hence GM technology is not the solution to our problems as it only treats individual symptoms and not the wider cause of soil degradation.
The main focus of Maarten’s work is helping farmers improve the profitability of their operations by harnessing the power of natural soil processes, improving their use of inputs and understanding those practices that negatively impact on soil health.
A healthy soil produces better crops and pastures, requiring less fertilisers and agro-chemicals for similar productivity, and resulting in healthier feed for animals and healthier food for humans.
Through Maarten’s research work, discussions with Landcare groups and a wide range of farmers, he has come to the belief that science must take a broader view to achieve the sustainable development of agricultural industries. To achieve this we have to look at the whole farming system – where every thing is linked to everything else.
Biological agriculture leads to higher biodiversity on farms and a greatly reduced impact on catchment environments. This process can achieve a doubling of the organic carbon content of the soil, and, if practised Australia-wide, could capture most CO2 released in the country and slow climate change.
Maarten is an expert in dryland and irrigated wheat production in semi-arid tropics and developed management guidelines associated with plant and crop development using the Zadoks Decimal Code.
He has been following world food production & consumption and Third World issues for more than 40 years.
Maarten loves cooking and is worried about food quality. He advocates least refined and processed, wholesome, nourishing traditions.
Maarten’s hobby is tracing family history back to the 17th century in Holland, Old Zealand, Frisia and Utrecht. He lived in the Middle East, with a strong interest in the history of Mesopotamia, and is a frequent visitor to India.
Dr. Maarten Stapper is a farming systems agronomist who’s main focus is helping farmers improve the profitability of their operations by harnessing the power of natural healthy soil processes.
Maarten believies that by improving the use of inputs and understanding those practices that negatively impact on soil health farmers can have a positive impact on their land and production.
His Message
Maarten believies that by improving the use of inputs and understanding those practices that negatively impact on soil health farmers can have a positive impact on their land and production.
Dr Maarten Stapper describes a holistic picture of sustainable biological agriculture and how to get there through practice, science and thinking, to enable feeding the world and to slow climate change.
That is, ecological agriculture with biological-organic-biodynamic practices in holistic, whole, healthy farming systems producing wholesome food for healthy people. Healthy soils are the foundation of such systems, making our current genes productive and eradicate the need to play the dangerous game of GM.
Harnessing over 30 years experience as a scienetist and agronomist Dr Maarten Stapper now works as a private consultant assisting farmers in the transition from industrial to biological farming systems.
Maarten speaks regularly across the continent and can provide a range of consulting services to groups and individuals.
Dr. Maarten Stapper is a farming systems agronomist who’s main focus is helping farmers improve the profitability of their operations by harnessing the power of natural healthy soil processes.
Maarten speaks regularly across the continent and can provide a range of consulting services to groups and individuals.