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HARVEST DELIGHT
JUNE, 2013
PAGES 8-9
486 Whitehorse Road, Surrey Hills, 3127
FARM TREES AND FORESTRY
PAGES 18-19
FEEDSAFE FEATURE
PAGES 15-17
Drums unMustered Lack of interest in vital recycling program frustrates consultant By DAVID PALMER VEGETABLE growers across much of the state are failing to recycle agvet chemical drums in any meaningful way, according to drumMuster’s northern Victorian consultant, John Knight. Based at Quambatook, he manned a stand for the organisation over the two days of the recent National Vegetable Expo at Werribee, where he was disappointed in the lack of interaction he had with vegetable growers. He said just a trickle of growers visited his stand, a strong indication of the poor agvet container recycling rate in the Werribee area. Mr Knight said only 47 farmers around Werribee had recycled drums at the Wyndham City Council recycling centre,in the past 13 years. In that time, just 5598 drums had been returned. In comparison, Mr Knight said broadacre cropping areas had enthusiastically engaged with drumMuster, to the extent the scheme had to date picked up 21.5 million returned drums at 762 sites nationwide. “There has been a marked surge in returns in broadacre cropping areas because of the dry start to the cropping year,� he said. At the end of last year, drumMuster celebrated the recycling of its 20 millionth drum. The situation is not the same with all vegetable growers in other states.
For example, at Bundaberg, Queensland, an area notable for vegetable growing, Peter Radel, known as the Dump Rat, has collected 151,000 used containers and 45,000 this year alone on behalf of drumMuster. Mr Knight said if Werribee area growers were not recycling their containers, he could only assume they were burning, storing or burying them. “In an increasingly urban area – the Vegetable Expo will move to a new site in two years because this year’s site is earmarked for housing – that is pretty unfriendly behavior,â€? he said. An unrelated published comment by northern NSW drumMuster consultant Phil Tucker suggests that Werribee growers might be operating in a time warp. Mr Tucker said in the early days of working for drumMuster at ďŹ eld days, “people would walk down the rows and look at drumMuster sideways; they didn’t want anything to do with itâ€?. Mr Knight said other Victorian vegetable growing areas were similar to Werribee. “For example farmers east of Melbourne and Wangaratta are also poor returners of used agvet containers,â€? he said. However, throughout the broadacre cropping areas west of Wangaratta, return rates are excellent.
WAGYU IS WAY TO GO DAVID Blackmore’s Wagyu herd at Alexandra is producing what could be the best beef in the world. Mr Blackmore has a long history in working with the breed and believes in sticking with traditional Japanese style rations and Japanese Wagyu traditions.
„ See full feature story on pages 6-7
„ Continued page 2
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