SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE Second Edition JOHN MASON National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication: Mason, John, 1951– . Sustainable agriculture. 2nd ed. ISBN 0 643 06876 7. 1. Sustainable agriculture. 2. Sustainable development. I. Title. 338.16 Copyright © John Mason 2003 All rights reserved. Except under the conditions described in the Australian Copyright Act 1968 and subsequent amendments, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, duplicating or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Contact Landlinks Press for all permission requests. Published by and available from: Landlinks Press PO Box 1139 Collingwood Vic. 3066 Australia Telephone: +61 3 9662 7666 Freecall: 1800 645 051 (Australia only) Fax: +61 3 9662 7555 Email:
[email protected] Website: www.landlinks.com Cover design and text design by James Kelly Set in 10.5/13 Minion Printed in Australia by BPA Print Group Front cover photograph courtesy of John Mason Contents Acknowledgements v Introduction 1 1 Different things to different people 3 2Sustainable concepts 9 3 Soils 23 4Water management 49 5 Pest and disease control 77 6Sustainable natural weed control and cultivation 101 7 Management 113 8Managing plants – Crops and pastures 129 9Managing plants – Tree plantings and windbreaks 155 10 Managing animals in a more sustainable way 171 11 Understanding products used in sustainable agriculture 191 Appendix 197 Index 203 This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments Research and Editorial Assistants: Iain Harrison, Peter Douglas, Paul Plant, Andrew Penney, Kathy Travis, Naomi Christian, Mark James, Alison Bundock, Rosemary Lawrence, Peter Douglas, Lisa Flower.