Well what can I say....This Government has no idea what the farmers are facing here in WA... We have farmland thats barely profitable for growing crops, ideal for this commodity and for landcare. I live in the wheatbelt of WA and we need trees fast...This government is paying people to remove trees...i.e Willows...Whats this state doing? Willows are great for erosion problems in creeks and feed and shade for stock.

I think the Jatropha would be excellent here for areas of farmland needing attention. Wouldn't it be great if it grew on salt! We have plenty of that around. I think we could use it to benefit ally farming and organic matter and also shade for stock.

They need to get out of there stuffy offices and look around at the devestation of our land thats rapidly appearing and find bio diversity fast! I'm all for it what a great crop...It didn't take the idiots long to bring in GM canola...what a bunch of small minded pen pushers...Get out here and have a look we need this for our future generations sustainability.

Jodi,
I agree that Jatropha has promise as a fuel feedstock.
While I do not know of the reasons for it being on the Declared Plants list, but I do believe that it can be rampant in certain conditions and you may not be able to control it in some cases. This may be one of the reasons.
Jatropha also requires manual picking, although with Australian ingenuity, someone will surely come up with an invention to mechanise this function.

I suggest that you contact the Department of Agriculture (WA) to seek an explanation of why it is on the list and to determine what you need to do to seek an exemption, to allow you to trial this tree as a oilseed crop on your property.

You may find that there are other good reasons why it is banned (I am sure AgWest believe there are). If you manage to obtain permission, I am sure there will be a number of conditions imposed to minimise any perceived risk to the environment.

Regards,
Tony

__________________
Searching the Biofuels Forum using Google
Adding images and/or documents to your posts

Darren, it is people like you that are the reason there is so much misinformation on the internet. IMHO, you're not a freak. Just an idiot with NFI what he's talking about.

Why should we plant jatropha in the wheatbelt, when we can plant Mallees? It is Mallee country after all.

There is a LOT of money spent trying to solve the problems we have in the wheatbelt. Planting a noxious weed is unlikely to be considered the solution to any of them.

Why do people insist on thinking there is only ever one, simple answer, to massively complex problems like the degradation of farming land?

Yes, Jatropha can be grown on marginal land. However there isn't much evidence, that I've seen, to suggest it can be grown in a commercially viable way in a country like Australia. Australian farmers don't have the same requirements as poor farmers in India, so you can't assume that a viable crop there will be viable here.

Why not fix the degradation, rather than just learning to live with it?

__________________

Im glad your here troy so i dont have to waste my breath with these people that really don't look beyond the surface of the topic of the month. Anybody thats done any real research will know that the cost of harvest for jathropa is prohibitive here and the fact that it has weed like characteristics makes me glad they haven't allowed it here. Look at parramattagrass, fireweed,blackberries, lantana etc etc do we need any more???

__________________
Cheers
Nick.

Roidio 2001 Holden Rodeo 4x4 2.8L TD. 2.5" exhaust sytem, H/E shower system. 4" Lift, Airbags, And lots of fruit, B100 for 35,000 .

Elsa 1983 Mercedes-Benz W123 300D. Still The Fastest Merc in Oz, Self built and Female proofed.

i totally agree. In fact we have articles re that.

Check htttp://www.biofuelshub.com

thanks.

I do know that Jatropher oil is inedable and tankeridge would need to be seperate from edible oil feedstocks. You can't put jotropher into tanks meant for Canola / Sunflower oil.

Uncle Slabs

__________________
Vauxhall Combo 1.7d non heated filter, using HDUCOME B50-B100. Bodywork mods: Rust & dents!

The problem is one of control, while yes there are many good features with some of these plants the, the prolific nature of some plants (and I am speaking universal) is such that they overwelm the native species and become uncontrolable. If you look at footage of the prickly pear you will see vast areas of land which was inundated.

I am a firm believer in Biodiesel but not at any cost, Australia canot be all things to all plants, we need to know where to draw the line and on occassions we may get it wrong, but is better to get it wrong occassionally then like now we have a problem with RATTAIL another introduced species.

There are so many other safe species for Australia that need development lets at least exhaust them first.

And if these regions like India can do it so well then let them use this and be glade for them.


Gene