Letter From Europe
Letter from Europe: Europe gets rid of the acre – but hangs on to the pound
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.
Letter from Europe: Reclaiming wetlands – Europe’s about-turn in countryside policy
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!
LETTER FROM EUROPE: Water buffalo get a foothold on north European farms
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.
Letter from Europe: Curbing the pricing powers of the mighty supermarkets
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.
Letter from Europe: Controlled traffic farming winning favour with European farmers
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
Letter From Europe: Denmark’s target: 30 pigs sold per sow in five years
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!
Letter from Europe: A Bavarian breeder’s quest for beef tenderness
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
Letter From Europe: Robots, electric drive power and mechanical weed control start to come into favour
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.
Letter From Europe: French cropland rents remain stable, while England’s bust the bank
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.
Letter From Europe: The law that changed the German countryside
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!



