Interesting that the catchment areas for most of the proposed Nuclear sites are in the areas experiencing the decline in rainfall.

What could possibly go wrong.

freediver wrote on Jun 27^th, 2024 at 10:22am:




really?

i think you suffer from "imaginitis"

Jovial Monk wrote on Jun 27^th, 2024 at 11:38am:


The Bradfield scheme is one big waste of time and resources. It won't be implemented. Better to spend billions on developing an inland river system so that the rainfall that is received out west will not pool in few locations. Make some dams and have river systems that do exist to be channeled into them. Ideally, this can be near townships.

lee wrote on Jun 27^th, 2024 at 12:57pm:


Better farming practices.

lee wrote on Jun 27^th, 2024 at 1:33pm:


Our farmers developed a work ethic that they have to be obsessive-compulsive about how they farm. They cannot just rely on it raining every week to keep from suffering drought conditions.

The only way our farmers would have better crop yields would be if a volcano sprouted up off the west coast of Australia and started spewing volcanic ash for a week of every year.

UnSubRocky wrote on Jun 27^th, 2024 at 1:00pm:



yields are ok but the price of crops (and hence the price of food for urban consumers ) is going to climb very steeply.

1 the AVERAGE age of a farmer in australia is now 60 and many are about to retire
2 the younger generation DO NOT want to work the land
3 energy prices are the main cost of input now, electricity for running irrigators is extremely expensive
4 water prices are going to go up a lot (i am currently on a licence to pump whatever i like, this is changing in the next few years to compulsory meters , which we have to pay for, and a charge per megalitre
5 fertiliser and herbicide costs have increased a lot as these are generally relient on the petro chemical industry
6  the biosecurity costs around fire ants which are being passed over to the producer are significant
7  labor is hard to secure
8  the value of the land is very high (farmers are very asset rich and cash flow poor).  as urban folk continue to bid up rural prices with a tree change, many productive farmers will cash out and the land will become non productive back yard 

aquascoot wrote on Jun 27^th, 2024 at 1:55pm:


This has been going on since the industrial revolution. Food has gotten cheaper. It used to be that close to 100% of human effort was devoted to feeding ourselves. No-one is taking up farming because that number is now just a few percent and still dropping.

freediver wrote on Jun 27^th, 2024 at 3:44pm:


garbage food has gotten cheaper.

and hence health has suffered

The University of Southern Queensland associate professor says Australian farmers are seeing steep increases in expenses.

Dr Lyons said costs had increased roughly 30-to-60 per cent in the past five years, largely due to fuel and stronger industrial relations laws.


In comparison, Dr Lyons said tinned produce was typically done very cheaply overseas in enormous quantities by large conglomerates.

He said canned food had a much longer shelf life, meaning it was easier to produce and store in bulk without worrying about spoilage.