Letter From Europe

A uniform system of weights and measures makes good sense within a common market. But European lawmakers have reckoned without minor rebellions on almost every farm

by NORMAN DUNN

It had to come. The European agricultural administration in Brussels has long moaned about the continued existence of “archaic” units of measurement in various member countries.

Schemes in several European countries are paying farmers to return cropland to marsh, permitting vanished or endangered species to come home

by NORMAN DUNN

In Europe’s coastal areas, some farmers are being encouraged to break drains and block ditches, letting their fields fall back into natural wetlands. The rewards include a richer wildlife – and payments of up to $500 dollars per acre!

Only 10 years ago, few would have taken these animals seriously as a livestock enterprise in the north. Now buffalo herds are proving profitable as providers of tasty and healthy meat

by NORMAN DUNN

In the not too distant past, livestock farmers in Europe tended to stay lifelong with the same species.

Once a dairy farmer, always a dairy farmer. When a young farmer went down the swine production road, he tended to follow it to retirement.

It’s high time for an EU-wide organization to keep a close eye on marketing and price agreements for home-grown food and energy, says France. And, for once, nearly everyone in Europe agrees

by NORMAN DUNN

Where national food markets are dominated by just a few giant retail chains, producers of milk, meat and vegetables lose out when the high street price wars start. Now, a European Union (EU) initiative aims to curb the pricing powers of the mighty supermarkets. 

Already in vogue in Australia, CTF offers better soil care with reduced inputs and higher yields – and with a carbon footprint that promises to be the lowest of all crop growing methods

by NORMAN DUNN

One reason Danish producers are outstripping their European counterparts – and pleasing their bankers in the process – may be the country’s tough inheritance laws

by NORMAN DUNN

While the hog sector in most of Europe struggles to produce 20 slaughter pigs per year from each breeding sow, the Danes already manage 25 and are confident that 30 will soon be the accepted average. This outlook is pleasing Danish bankers just as much as the hog producers. Read on to find out why!

An outspoken critic of European beef quality, this Angus cattle breeder is using DNA testing, among other tools, to guarantee quality and tenderness for his customers

by NORMAN DUNN

One of Europe’s top agricultural engineering researchers predicts a farming future with soil protection laws, robots that recognize and eliminate weeds and electric drive instead of pto power for farm machinery.

by NORMAN DUNN

Prof. Karlheinz Köller, a precision farming expert from Stuttgart’s Hohenheim University, is convinced that the most important challenge facing farmers is the protection of soil and water, while still producing as much food as possible.

The rush for more land is pushing up rents in free-market England, while in France’s more regulated environment, tenants are paying substantially less

by NORMAN DUNN

Soaring grain prices, which as we all now know have less to do with ethanol demand and much more with dramatically reduced wheat and barley reserve stocks the world over, have sharpened the appetites of grain growers for renting more land this fall.

Biogas production from corn, grass and cereal wholecrop harvests swallowed up over 800,000 acres of this country’s farmland this year – and income from biogas electricity was beating earnings from milk production

by NORMAN DUNN

Only a year or two ago seeing a farmyard biogas production plant when driving through
the German countryside was so unusual that it called for a stop and a chat with the farmer if he happened to be around. Most were on cattle and pig farms at that time. Fermenting the manure and collecting the produced methane for running a gas motor
and generator was providing electric current for the farmhouse and farm buildings. Then came an innovative renewable energy law from Berlin that promised farmers a fair price if the biogas electricity was fed straight into the mains network – actually a tick more per kilowatt than the price householders had to pay for their current. This triggered a revolution on the land. By last year there were some 3,500 biogas plants producing a total 5 billion kiloWatt (kWh) hours. And a 30 per cent output expansion is expected for 2007!