Sowing Seeds Of Change

Newcastle Herald

Saturday January 17, 2009

Frances Thompson

THEY are self-described "blow-ins" to the area but people like Ken Johnson and other members of the Gloucester Project have ambitious and creative solutions to the apparent conflict between farming and energy production.

The Gloucester Project was initiated in 2007 by Johnson, who wants the Gloucester area to become a centre for climate change research and development.

Alternative energy and food production are priorities of the project and while many people say open-cut coal is not compatible with agriculture, Johnson firmly believes horticulture, in particular, can ride on the back of coal seam methane gas production.

Before AGL bought the AJ Lucas/Molopo Gloucester coal seam gas project last year, Johnson and his colleagues had an agreement with the companies to use their land, south of the town, for experimental planting.

He's confident the ideas will come to fruition with AGL but is waiting for the company to settle down after the sale.

"The critical element is land use and availability," Johnson said.

"If we access coal we have to destroy the food capability of the land."

The "footprint" of gas, on the other hand, was very small, he said.

Johnson envisages a greening of land around each well-head, watered by purified wastewater from gas production.

He admitted there were hazards with gas that needed to be dealt with.

"Let's turn a couple of bad things into a good thing," he said.

The plots around the wells could produce food and at the same time soften the visual impact of the well infrastructure, he said.

Gas from the wells could also be a source of energy to drive generators for local power production and complement the CSIRO's experimental virtual power station technology that turns individual houses or farms into power sources for small communities.

Johnson said food produced around the well-heads could add to existing products of the region and be sold locally through growers markets, before being sent to larger markets such as Newcastle.

"We know there is a worldwide problem with food and we know the cost of food is going up because of the increasing cost of fuel."

Johnson said the Gloucester Project plan created a source of income and allowed energy to be extracted while producing food for the immediate community and potentially consumers throughout the Hunter.

Frances Thompson

© 2009 Newcastle Herald

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