Public Address | Cafe | Hard News: Drugs, development and reality

Matt Graylee

Sat, 15 Mar 2014 15:13:45 +1300

You're definitely correct. Unless we imagine his plot in some sort weird vacuum, with magic sides and amazing yield in the corners.

Kyle Matthews

Sat, 15 Mar 2014 09:15:28 +1300

How about green tea

A lot less. Tea uses much more of the plant than coffee. And tea plants grow close together I think. Might only be a couple of square metres to feed your tea habit.

ChrisW

Fri, 14 Mar 2014 21:37:10 +1300

then about 16 trees is you for the year.
.... anyway, that is 81 square meters dedicated to you annually. (4x4 grid under shade with 3m between each tree)
;)

I reckon Ben will need to double that 81 sq. metres to supply his coffee habit.

The trees on the…

Matt Graylee

Fri, 14 Mar 2014 20:28:30 +1300

That's a good point Stephen, mechanical harvesting does mean there must be a percentage of under and over ripe cherries collected at the same time. So to help solve this issue the first thing people try to achieve is a simultaneous ripening across entire plots, using a genius system of…

Matt Graylee

Fri, 14 Mar 2014 20:09:42 +1300

Sweet as Ben!

Matt Graylee

Fri, 14 Mar 2014 20:06:51 +1300

Sorry Richard, about green tea I do not know much. Other than it is delicious. I did happen to live in northern Japan when I was 17-18 years old, and we used extremely finely ground green tea in the same way that Turkish coffee is prepared. A bit sludgy but…

Stephen Judd

Sat, 08 Mar 2014 18:06:38 +1300

the development of a mechanical harvester in Brazil. That is the way around the expensive labour for flat areas.

Huh, interesting. I thought mechanical harvesting only produced low-grade results because of uneven ripening of the cherries?

BenWilson

Fri, 07 Mar 2014 16:23:11 +1300

Wicked, thanks Matt.

alobar

Fri, 07 Mar 2014 10:37:45 +1300

I wouldn't want to give up my green tea , but maybe you should Stretch and Eat an Apple ....
http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/nutrition/healthy-eating/5-caffeine-substitution-ideas.html

Richard Aston

Fri, 07 Mar 2014 10:24:00 +1300

Great info on coffee Matt thanks.
How about green tea , I have moved over from coffee, 4 cups a day , double bags in each, steeped for 5 mins. Feeling the need for a triple bag cup .

Russell Brown

Thu, 06 Mar 2014 18:16:27 +1300

;)

That was actually quite awesome.

Canniwire

Thu, 06 Mar 2014 17:59:22 +1300

With the trend to legalize cannabis in the US there may be an large and legal emerging market for hemp there.

Matt Graylee

Thu, 06 Mar 2014 14:12:34 +1300

If you are rocking two double shot espressos each day, with 20g pucks, and the coffee is of a high milling factor, 0/20 defect prep, roasted medium, and from an older Arabica variety in great growing conditions... then about 16 trees is you for the year. The math will change…

Matt Graylee

Thu, 06 Mar 2014 14:05:49 +1300

You're right, coffee production is easier when labour is cheap – however coffee is indeed grown in Australia commercially. Around 1980, commercial interest in coffee growing in Australia regenerated due to high world prices and, more importantly, the development of a mechanical harvester in Brazil. That is the way around…

Sofie Bribiesca

Thu, 06 Mar 2014 14:02:12 +1300

It’s scary to think just how many square meters of land must be dedicated to my coffee habit, somewhere out there.

Ha! And how few is needed for my pain relief in hospital this week with so many names I don't know which ones I had :)

BenWilson

Wed, 05 Mar 2014 16:38:32 +1300

It's scary to think just how many square meters of land must be dedicated to my coffee habit, somewhere out there.

Stephen Judd

Wed, 05 Mar 2014 15:02:51 +1300

Coffee beans only make sense if you have very cheap labour. That's why it's not grown in Australia commercially, for example. I would think the risk-adjusted cash yield per acre needs to be comparable (ie I'd accept a lower cash payout for a lower risk of legal consequences etc).

Russell Brown

Tue, 04 Mar 2014 22:10:14 +1300

Once you have farmers that you can talk to, with a regular income, you can start on substitution programmes.

Yes. Sanho's point about economic security is quite crucial.

Gregor Ronald

Tue, 04 Mar 2014 21:05:51 +1300

If you make selling the village's opium crop attractive enough (i.e. a Hilux ute and satellite TV for the headman, and cellphone access for everyone in a village) then anyone who breaks ranks and risks cancelling the deal will be a pariah. Once you have farmers that you can talk…

poffa

Tue, 04 Mar 2014 16:50:23 +1300

Khun Saa tried that, he only wanted $50 Million. Its a bumper crop this year and perhaps a few yet. http://www.english.panglong.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5729:govt-militias-say-poppies-can-be-grown-until-2019&catid=89:drugs&Itemid=286

Richard Aston

Tue, 04 Mar 2014 15:35:30 +1300

Yes Ian the war on thinking is winning . I despair at times.
To what end is bloody good question, I fear I may descend down the rabbit hole with that one.
It doesn't help that I have been reading The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli . Man his ideas were…

Ian Dalziel

Tue, 04 Mar 2014 11:47:26 +1300

Which is why the “war on drugs” thinking is so dumb.
But the 'war on thinking'
is going pretty well,
don'tcha think?
...and we're only just starting to get a glimpse at how much may have been diverted and spent, on that particular area of governmental paranoia!

To what end?

81stcolumn

Tue, 04 Mar 2014 11:37:07 +1300

Which does beg the question about the value of these middle men and the "value added" services they provide.

Ian Dalziel

Tue, 04 Mar 2014 11:35:53 +1300

the ‘numbers’ add up…
Why doesn’t the US just buy the lot …
I think they probably do
one way or another
just off-the-books

good ‘ol boys’ hooks
in to click the ticket
as it passes through
to explode in silence –
dead fingers don’t talk…

Luke Williamson

Tue, 04 Mar 2014 11:28:53 +1300

The Helena project appears to work by cutting out the 'middle man', i.e. the commodities markets where people like our glorious Prime Minister will trade both sides to death. In any of these cases of alternative crops, they are going to come up against subsidies and protectionism in the countries…

Richard Aston

Tue, 04 Mar 2014 11:10:11 +1300

The nightmare scenario would see massive growth in synthetics, which should scare everyone.

+1
Which is why the "war on drugs" thinking is so dumb.

Richard Aston

Tue, 04 Mar 2014 11:08:19 +1300

So a billion dollars would buy the whole crop? Cheaper than one Stealth bomber. Why doesn't the US just buy the lot and process it into morphine for pain relief in the developing world?

There was talk of that in 2001 but it never seemed to happen .

Buying up…

81stcolumn

Tue, 04 Mar 2014 11:06:08 +1300

Why doesn’t the US just buy the lot and process it into morphine for pain relief in the developing world?

I suspect it has something to do with the profits from a stealth bomber being linked to the ability to hire security for the altogether too common gated communities in…

Rich of Observationz

Tue, 04 Mar 2014 09:39:03 +1300

5,500 tonnes [of production] at $US181 [/kg]

So a billion dollars would buy the whole crop? Cheaper than one Stealth bomber. Why doesn't the US just buy the lot and process it into morphine for pain relief in the developing world?

George Darroch

Tue, 04 Mar 2014 09:27:33 +1300

Excellent stuff. I'm glad to hear of some success in a sea of sorrow.

The destruction of Afghanistan's opium crop is a legitimate human tragedy. We take it for granted that if we suffer a medical emergency, when we reach medical attention we will be given appropriate pain relief and…

Public Address

Tue, 04 Mar 2014 09:27:33 +1300

Discussion from blog post.