Newsletter – July 2009 (This email is sent to all those registered on the NSF site) ‘Building Bridges’- The Future for Natural Sequence Farming Natural Sequence Farming (NSF) Update First and foremost, the ABC is to run another completely new, double episode on Peter in their flagship program ‘Australian Story’. The two new episodes will be seen on the 6th and 13th July 2009 and will trace what has happened in the intervening 4 years since the last programme was shown. Please inform all of your networks, friends and family about this new Australian Story. The National Body of NSA Inc has recently applied for funding under the Caring for Our Country Second Round of Grants. The project is the restoration of the Mulwarre Chain of Ponds and floodplain system covering 150,000 acres and 1500 landholders. The bid was made in partnership with the Goulburn Mulwaree Council, Sydney Catchment Authority and the Hawkesbury Nepean Catchment Management Authority. If successful, the project aims to secure Goulburn’s water supply and to make Goulburn the first inland city to have a sustainable water supply. Many developments have been occurring in the last 6 months with Natural Sequence Farming. Support in getting Peter’s work recognised into the broader community has been coming from a number of high profile individuals. This has been a major boost for Peter Andrews. On June 12th, a team of senior bureaucrats came to Tarwyn Park, the property where Peter carried out all of his original research. The assembled group had presentations of the scientific validation of NSF By Professor David Goldney and Professor Richard Bush. The outcomes from this meeting will be closely watched as the various Federal Minister’s are briefed on the visit. Support has been coming in from many overseas countries including Saudi Arabia, Argentina, New Zealand and China. All of these countries are suffering from similar land and water issues as we in Australia and Peter’s ideas and solutions are being sought from interested parties all around the world. It has been very frustrating to see the slowness of the take up of Peter’s work by Government’s here in Australia when the efficiencies of the Australian landscape are being recognised by people elsewhere in the world. Apart from the immediate benefits to land and water restoration that an understanding of these landscape processes would bring is the longer-term positive outcome on climate***. By watching these new episodes of Australian Story you will get a much clearer picture of the outcomes and actions that have occurred over the last four years and there will be an opportunity for everyone who watches the program to participate in efforts to bring this information to the closer attention of Government and the broader community. You will be able to ring the ABC or contact them online after each show goes to air as well as send emails of support and queries or questions raised on the show. The following has been set up to assist people with queries after the shows: You can email tv@nsfarming.com As well, there are several ways to interact with us, the one most likely to get a quicker response to any question you may have is our forum at http://www.naturalsequencefarming.com/forum There are many NSF experts there who would be able to assist in most questions that are asked. The forum is free and after registering when you log on, you can ask or comment on anything to do with NSF. Look at the various areas on the site and post to the one most suitable to your inquiry. There may also be an opportunity to vote on a subject or two and if you see them, we ask you please do so, as they provide us with a better idea as to the overall thoughts of our visitors. There have two main NSF sites and a supporting NS Association Inc., site. The original site, which also features information on Peter's Bylong property Tarwyn Park, can be found here at. http://www.naturalsequencefarming.com The site which was set up specifically to spread the word about NSF has a lot of information which we have gathered over the years and may help introduce you to this process. The site can be contacted here at. http://www.nsfarming.com On both sites you will see a link where you can join our mailing list. Because all this work is done on a voluntary basis, it is sometimes hard to find the time to get newsletters out to you quickly and as often as we would like to. However, the web sites are updated often, especially the forum, which at times is updated daily. If you already convinced of the benefits of NSF and would like to start a local Natural Sequence Chapter in your area you might look at our Association website. http://www.naturalsequenceassociation.org.au/ On the other hand, if you have a property on which you would like to initiate the NSF consultation process, please send an email to consult@nsfarming.com and someone who deals with this specific area will be in contact with you. On behalf of Peter Andrews, I want to thank all of you for your ongoing support and trust that you will feel even more committed to improving the outcomes for our Nation after viewing the upcoming programmes on Australian Story. Duane Norris NSF Coordinator duane@nsfarmimg.com ***Notes on Climate. By Peter Andrews. To understand simply how climate works we need to apply some common sense to our understanding of basic physics and then apply that to compare present and past historical, archaeological evidence on climate change. Consider this, 1. Vegetation in the landscape manages water. Water, is the most effective manager of heat. In basic physics, we know that in the process of transpiration, water turns from a liquid to a gaseous state and in doing so, the latent heat of evaporation causes a cooling effect. When the reverse process happens and water condenses back from a gas to a liquid, heat is released. 2. So, it then follows that physics tells us that that HEAT always wants to move from a hot/warm state to a more stable cooler state. Thus, vegetative landscapes that are not cleared are COOL and hence receive more rain from the warmer areas above the sea. If we remove the vegetation the landscape gets HOTTER and rainfall is reduced over land. 3. We are told also that El Nino influences climate and rainfall because of minor changes to sea temperature (+ or - 3ºC). Whereas, we are not tpld, in fact, that temperatures over cleared land, barren of vegetation, can be as much as 30-60ºC warmer. Water as vapour over these areas will simply travel to where it is cooler i.e., to the sea. 4. Evaporation over a fully vegetated landscape is greater than that which occurs over water or the sea. We know from Science that in most rainfall events 70% of rain comes from evapo-transpired water, given off by plants. Warm air evaporated over the sea will head to the cooler land if vegetative cover has cooled that landscape by this process. 5. In Australia, we have removed 95% of the original vegetation that was here on settlement. Is it any wonder that we are now receiving LESS rainfall as a consequence? From Webmaster Lonnie Lee. As you can imagine our online database has really grown over the last few years, especially since the airing of ABC TV’s first Australian Story on Peter Andrews and NSF! It has been very inspiring for Peter and all of us, to know that many thousands like you have shown interest in NSF and the incredible benefits it offers. However, it has been a hard slog over the years to get to this point and there have been many personal costs and sacrifices along the way. This whole exercise never was and is still not, about Peter or anyone else becoming zillionaires. It was always for Australia. There have been however, those individuals and corporations along the track who saw it as their own path to riches, but Peter has always fought tooth and nail to keep it free from them, so that the country of Australia would be the major beneficiary of his work. An analogy to this story would be like the miner who has found the most incredible gold and diamond mine. Instead of taking the claim for himself, he offers it to the government so that everyone could benefit. All he asks for is was what it has cost him. On the way to sign the claim over to the government, he is approached by many with shining offers, as long as he gave them the map to the mine. Whilst the miner rejects all these offers, and eventually arrives at the government’s office, he is told they are not interested and won’t let him in. The miner knowing how valuable his find is, keeps on beating on the door and windows but to no avail. Eventually some passers by who hear his story do believe him, and so they too start banging on the doors. In a way, this is where NSF is now. By joining our newsletter and forum you have become one of those banging at that door!! Hopefully one day, thousands of farmers and others who will be the recipients of a rejuvenated and sustainable environment triggered by NSF, will thank you, whether by name or as one of the many silent ‘angels’ who believe in NSF. Here are some ideas to help spread the word!! a) Check that your local libraries have copies of Peter’s books. b) Make sure your local community radio station knows about NSF and if they are interested in doing a radio interview with Peter or some NSF representative, have them contact Duane who will look after their request. c) You might write a letter to the editor of your local or national paper requesting they take a serious look at writing a story about Natural Sequence Farming. Once again, Peter or an NSF representative will be happy to assist them. d) Let your local Real Estate Agent know about NSF. Even by utilising some of the smaller processes of NSF, it may help the sale of some degraded properties which are hard to move. e) Make sure everyone in your circle knows about NSF. Suggest they go to the websites, read the books so they can decide for themselves. The main thing is we let as many people know about NSF as possible. THE NSF DISCUSSION FORUM Our discussion forum is the place to ask any question or inquiry you have about NSF. Once you complete the short free registration form, you can login in at anytime to read what others are saying or join in the discussion. Even if you are not sure about NSF, please let your concerns be known here. You can take a link to it from most areas of our websites or copy/paste this link into your browser. http://www.naturalsequencefarming.com/forum. WEB SITE PROBLEMS Whilst it hardly ever happens, there may be times when you experience some problems during your visit to our websites. We are sorry about this, however there are many reasons why this could occur. If the problems persist, please email us at webmaster@nsfarming.com and we will do our best to assist you. We would not like to see you go, however, if you want to unsubscribe to this newsletter, please send an email to unsubscribe@nsfarming.com. Please be sure you give your name and the email address which was used to deliver the newsletter to you. Thank you.