R[0]="1385";

T[0]="Study trip shows Brazilian agriculture developing at an enormous rate";

A[0]="By ... Editor";

Dn[0]="20060918";

Dt[0]="Monday 18 September 2006";

Acats[0]="a08a58";

B1[0]="      While Australians might think Australia is a big country, Brazil is huge and agriculture there is developing at an enormous rate, according ";

B2[0]="to NSW Department of Primary Industries Director at Wagga Wagga Agricultural Institute, Dr Alison Bowman... ";

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S1[0]="      While Australians might think Australia is a big country, Brazil is huge and agriculture there is developing at an enormous rate, according ";

S2[0]=" to NSW Department of Primary Industries Director at Wagga Wagga Agricultural Institute, Dr Alison Bowman.<BR> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; She has just returned from a three-week ";

S3[0]=" study trip to Brazil, which she undertook as part of the Australian Rural Leadership Program.<BR> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Dr Bowman said Brazil has 27 per ";

S4[0]=" cent of the world's agricultural land, and 12 per cent of the world's water.<BR> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 'In 2005, Brazil was the world's largest producer ";

S5[0]=" and exporter of sugar, coffee and orange juice.<BR> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; It is also the largest exporter of soy bean complex, beef, tobacco and broilers.<BR> ";

S6[0]=" &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 'Agricultural production during the past 15 years has doubled using approximately the same area of land,' she said.<BR> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; A ";

S7[0]=" significant amount of her time in Brazil was spent studying the beef cattle industry.<BR> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 'One highlight was a visit to the beautiful ";

S8[0]=" 15,800-hectare property 'San Francisco', one of 12 farms comprising CFM, otherwise known as the Vestey Group,' Dr Bowman said.<BR> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 'Currently this particular ";

S9[0]=" farm runs 17,000 cattle; but given the returns from sugar cane are more than 10 times those of the cattle, this property will all be ";

S10[0]=" converted to cane within the next four years, and the cattle enterprise shifted north to where land prices are cheaper.' She said given there was ";

S11[0]=" limited capacity for increasing the domestic consumption of beef, Brazil was eager to expand its export markets.<BR> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 'Already supplying 25 per cent ";

S12[0]=" of the world's beef, the 10 per cent annual growth rate of Brazilian beef exports suggests exports are likely to further expand, particularly if foot ";

S13[0]=" and mouth disease is brought under control and quality measures are introduced,' Dr Bowman said.<BR> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; She said Brazilians greatly admired Australia for ";

S14[0]=" the quality assurance of its agricultural production systems and wished to learn from our experiences.<BR> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 'Brazil is also the world's largest producer ";

S15[0]=" of ethanol, most of which is produced from sugar cane.<BR> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Production has doubled during the past decade to 380 million tonnes of ";

S16[0]=" cane (more than 10 times the Australian industry).<BR> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 'Furthermore, the area of land under cane is expected to grow from six million ";

S17[0]=" hectares to 90 million hectares in the short to medium term.<BR> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; To accommodate this, it is expected that 100 new mills will ";

S18[0]=" soon be built taking the total to approximately 500,' Dr Bowman said.<BR> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; In 2003, Brazil developed a Flex Fuel vehicle which can ";

S19[0]=" run on either ethanol or gasoline (or any combination).<BR> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 'It is amazing what they are doing with bio fuels and Australia could ";

S20[0]=" learn a lot from Brazil in this respect,' Dr Bowman said... ";


R[1]="1111";

T[1]="Some NZ maths teachers just don't add up";

A[1]="By ... Editor";

Dn[1]="20060714";

Dt[1]="Friday 14 July 2006";

Acats[1]="a53a58";

B1[1]="&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Nearly one in 10 primary school maths teachers is failing in the job, a study has revealed.... ";

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S1[1]="&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Nearly one in 10 primary school maths teachers is failing in the job, a study has revealed.<BR> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;  The ";

S2[1]=" Education Review Office found 9 per cent of teachers reviewed were 'less' effective in 'all aspects of good quality of teaching of mathematics'.<BR> &nbsp; &nbsp; ";

S3[1]=" &nbsp;  The ERO identified six areas of good quality maths teaching and across its study of 121 schools found 51 per cent of teachers ";

S4[1]=" were effective or highly effective in all six areas of teaching maths to year four to eight students.<BR> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;  A further 40 ";

S5[1]=" per cent were effective in some areas but not all.<BR> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;  'Therefore, although about half of the teachers reviewed were effective, or ";

S6[1]=" highly effective, in their teaching of mathematics, a large proportion had areas for development in aspects of their teaching,' the report says.<BR> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; ";

S7[1]="  One notable finding in the report was that 23 per cent of maths classes had low student motivation.<BR> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;  'In most ";

S8[1]=" of these classes, students were working on tasks, but many students appeared to lack motivation and challenge.<BR> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;  'Their lessons were not ";

S9[1]=" stimulating, did not incorporate practical ideas, or match the students' interests or skill levels.'  But the review found most students enjoyed their maths lessons... ";