My plan for 2011 was to write at least one entry here each week - as you can see thus far my plan has been a major failure. I've had a few big things happen in my life over the last month and a half that have pretty much halted any creativity but usually these things only spark a little more so fingers crossed I can stick to the plan from here on in. I also have about a dozen articles half written, and while some of these are now dated I'll try and get them up here for good measure anyway.
There has been a whole lot going on in Australia recently that is sure to affect our food industries, and a few other things that are a bit more lighthearted going on in and around Sydney that I'll cover very briefly below!
Natural Disasters
It would have been pretty hard to escape the news of devastating floods that caused havoc right up and down the East Coast of Australia, as well as further inland. This has, and will have a major effects on a number of crops, particularly those grown in and around the Lockyer Valley of South East Queensland and prices have and may be expected to increase over the coming months for products such as potatoes, brocolli, ginger, carrots, sweetcorn and celery. Fortunately for us, the major retailers did initially absorb much of the higher costs of transport of these goods and the effects should be minimal. But over future years we can expect to see smaller yields of a number of crops in these regions due to the amount of top-soil and fertilisers that have been washed away in heavy flooding. It'll certainly affect the farmers more than it will affect the rest of the population, so spare a thought for those guys.
And fortunately for us, Cyclone Yasi was nowhere near as devastating to our plantations in North Queensland as Cyclone Larry was 5 years ago. Bananas will still rise in price slightly, in part due to greedy profiteering from farmers who were unaffected, but the Australian government should be able to offset any rise in prices through import of other agricultural products. No doubt this will cause another storm surrounding issues of Australian Made.
Food Security and Foreign Investment
The University of New South Wales published this fantastic article about Australia's food security issues and our position in the world with regards to food security: Click Here
What it doesn't cover too well is issues surrounding the purchase of much of Australia's agricultural land, particularly by foreign investors from our Asian neighbours. I plan on writing about this shortly, so will leave it open to your own research for now.
BP drilling in our waters
About a month ago, the world's favourite company BP was granted 4 off-shore oil exploration permits to search for oil south of the Great Australian Bight. I don't think I really need to go into detail surrounding this issue but South Australia is a major fishing state, and with permits allowing BP to drill even deeper than they did in the Gulf of Mexico this is a disaster waiting to happen. To be fair though offshore drilling has always been part of Australia's energy conversation, and exploration happens on a yearly basis, but in my opinion it is just another reason for Australia to make use of the fantastic natural resources - biggest coastline in the world, huge amounts of sun - to power our population.
Home Grown Veggies
I have just started a formal vegetable and herb garden in my new place. In about 6 weeks if all goes well I should have some fresh bok choy, and in a little longer I should have some carrots and brocolli. Fingers crossed the slugs don't get to them - I'm trying to avoid the use of any pesticides at this stage but will reevaluate this if necessary. I have also planted some basil, mint (which I'm being relatively careful to contain so it doesn't get out of hand) and parsley which have all come in very handy in recent cooking adventures.
Malaysian Kitchen Food Market
This starts tomorrow and runs from tomorrow night until Friday evening (Wed 6–9pm; Thu & Fri 12 noon–3pm & 6–9pm). It is being held at the State Theatre laneway, entry via George Street, and your $10 entry includes food.
Happy Eating!
