Day 090 - 16 Feb 95 - Page 55
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2 Q. For what, sorry?
3 A. I presume it is exported for animal feeds.
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5 Q. Some such waste gets sprayed on land as well sometimes?
6 A. I think it would be very unlikely that meat and
7 bonemeal could be spread on land. I do not think that
8 would be a very good idea.
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10 Q. The spreading of large quantities of environment/index.html">litter on land can
11 have ecological implications, can it not?
12 A. Yes. The function of the manager who handles our
13 environment/index.html">litter sales is to advise farmers as to how much they can
14 actually put on the land. The fertilizer value of the
15 poultry environment/index.html">litter is determined, the nitrogen, phosphorus and
16 potash, NPK values, and the from the NPK value of the
17 environment/index.html">litter the farmer is advised as to how much he should put
18 on land for particular purposes. It is very important that
19 excessive nitrates are not put on to agricultural land.
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21 Q. That can cause particular damage in rivers and water
22 courses?
23 A. Yes, it can.
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26 Q. Killing fish?
27 A. Yes, excessive nitrogen if it is leached out of the
28 soil can get into water courses which increases the growth
29 of algae and things which use up oxygen in the water and
30 that can be detrimental to fish.
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32 Q. This is a problem of intensive farming?
33 A. Well, it is a problem, I think, of farming in general
34 whether you are using artificial or organic fertilizers.
35 I think it is just an indication which I think farmers are
36 becoming well aware of now that they do not need to use or
37 they do not want to use any more nitrogen than is really
38 necessary.
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40 Q. Is it something that is becoming more of -- it was not
41 something that was really considered much a few years ago?
42 A. I think in the past the dangers of it or the
43 consequences of it really were not fully understood.
44 I think now they are being understood it actually means
45 that farmers are measuring much more carefully the amount
46 of nitrogen they put on land. In fact, the use of organic
47 material such as animal manure is greatly beneficial rather
48 than using artificial fertilizer where it is much easier to
49 put on excessive nitrogen.
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51 Q. But it is still possible to put on and it does happen or it
52 certainly has happened within the last five, 10 years that
53 is excessive quantities of animal manure have been causing
54 ecological damage?
55 A. Well, I think maybe that is a possibility. The
56 responsibility of our company is to advise farmers how much
57 environment/index.html">litter they can spread on the land in the light of their
58 current best knowledge of agricultural practice. I think
59 that is really as far as we can take it.
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