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  Mission statement
To provide magazine, newspaper and website editors with content about Australia and Asia-Pacific. To assist corporations and individuals with their communications needs.
Current focus
David's current focus is on the promotion and marketing of his book, 'Should meat be on the menu?'. This deals with the issue of farm livestock and the global warming gas emissions widely attributed to them.The main thesis of the book is that there is a huge amount of public mis-information about this issue. Far from being villains in the gobal warming debate, livestock and their owners have the potential to be environmental heroes.
In the closing months of 2011 David has been working on a further book which is aligned to this issue. This book, the working title of which is, 'Why didn't my Grandmother get fat? ... and why did I?' will deal with the health benefits of consuming animal products in one's diet. In particular, the book will explain why the consumption of animal products from grass finished animals is so good for you. This includes the consumption of reasonable quantities of saturated animal fats from grass finished animals. The term 'grass finished' refers to animals that have eaten grasses from pastures all their lives and never been 'finished' on a grain based diet in intensive feedlots. The book will also deal with a range of other dietary issues about the way we eat today. The completion of this book will also be a major focus in the early months of 2012.
In 2012 David will also continue to perform contracts with clients to produce magazine articles and other writing tasks One such writing task is a ghost writing contract he commenced in late December, 2011.
Recent corporate work
In January 2011 David commenced a contract with Object Consulting Pty Limited, a Sydney based software development company. His role is to provide content and act as site editor for an important website Object Consulting is developing.
The site will contain information and software to enable landholders to measure, validate, monitor and audit carbon levels sequestered in the soil on parcels of land they control. The website will facilitate the widespread use of this technology among farmers, graziers, other land holders, government and parties interested in authenticating and validating the level of carbon in their soil.
Through his work as a journalist and writer, David has extensively researched the matter of soil carbon sequestration on farms. He has visited farms where carbon farming is being developed and has a good working relationship with many of the leaders who are developing the techniques to do it.
David's book - Should meat be on the menu? (ISBN 9780646531373)
In April 2010, David completed research on, and published, an 85,000 word book titled 'Should meat be on the menu?' The Dewey Number for the book is 363.7387 - Atmospheric carbon dioxide - Australia; Meat industry and trade - Environmental aspects - Australia; Global warming; Food chains (Ecology).
This book – available for purchase on this website – has been well received and has led to a number of speaking engagements throughout Australia. The book has also achieved sales in Argentina, United Kingdom, Canada, United States, Brazil, New Zealand, South Africa and Russia – all of these countries having substantial livestock industries.
During 2011, David placed a strong emphasis on the promotion of this book and the other writing opportunities and speaking engagements that are arising from it.
The book deals with the issue of the global warming gases emitted from farm animals. It points out that, far from being net emitters of carbon, sheep, cattle and other livestock only emit the same amount of carbon as they source via plants. The plants, in turn, source their carbon from carbon dioxide in the atmosphere through photosynthesis. The net result is, carbon-in equals carbon-out. There is no net gain.
David's book points out that, not only are farm animals neutral with respect to the atmospheric carbon cycle, they can actually be the agents of significant carbon dioxide draw down from the atmosphere and its long term sequestration in the soil.
Other corporate work
In 2012 David continues his contract with Media Mate Publishing Pty Ltd as editor of Small Farms Magazine, a nationally published rural magazine in Australia. This role has involved him with researching and writing farm-based stories about issues in farming as well as the latest innovations farmers are making to meet the challenges of our day.
During 2010 David completed a writing contact with CommInsure, a fully owned subsidiary of one of Australia's largest banks - Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX:CBA). The work was to tell the story of a Melbourne businessman who had become a quadriplegic in a bicycle riding accident and had been supported by a disability insurance contract with CommInsure. The individual contract was a new product from CommInsure and the claim made by the businessman was the first claim under this new product. The work was a detailed case study of how the insurance worked and how the man used its proceeds to help meet the challenges of quadriplegia.
In 2008 and 2009 David completed two major contracts with leading corporations in Australia.
The first was with CommInsure, a fully owned subsidiary of one of Australia's largest banks - Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX:CBA). The work was for the production of a history of CommInsure from its inception as The Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society Limited - 135 years ago to the present. In particular the work stressed the solid track record and financial stability of the company in the light of the current global financial crisis.
The second major contract was with the largest membership organisation in the Australian grains industry - Grain Growers Association (GGA) an unlisted public company. This was a 50 year history of GGA and traced its growth from a small farmer organisation in Northern NSW to the present day. In particular this book related the leadership role GGA played in establishing wheat segregation in Australia according to quality. In the early days this was resisted by the State run grain handling authority but, with persistence, the organisation achieved agreement on segregating high protein wheat from average quality wheat in the grain handling system. Segregation according to quality has now become common throughout Australia. It is now fundamental to the way in which wheat is marketed both domestically and internationally. The system of grain testing and segregation established by the organisation has also become the basis of worldwide quality grading in grains.
In 2008 David’s other corporate work included writing content for, and editing, the China and Hong Kong HR Handbook published in Hong Kong by Key Media International Limited. This handbook was distributed to HR Consultancies and Recruitment firms throughout Greater China.
A recent private contract
In November, 2010, David completed the final draft of a 95,000 word biography of the man who was the founding Commanding Officer when the Australian SAS was formed as a Regiment in 1965. This book includes fascinating details of the subject's experience in both conventional warfare and special forces operations during the Second World War. This work was a private contract with the family as a matter of family history and family record. It is not intended that this book will be published.
David is interested in finding other private individuals who want biographies written or other stories told. The payment for this type of writing is a fee-for-service basis.
Speaking engagements
Since publishing his book, ‘Should meat be on the menu?’ in 2010, David has accepted a number of paid speaking engagements to provide audiences with information about the relationship between livestock and the atmospheric carbon cycle.
These functions and other speaking engagements have included; The Gresford Landcare Group in the Hunter Valley, The Annual Landmark Brahman Bull Sale at Nebo, Qld, The National Dorper Forum at Dubbo, NSW, a Regional Landcare and meeting at Benalla, VIC, an on-farm Field Day at Braidwood, NSW, the Annual General meeting of the Western Australian Lot Feeders Association in Perth, an on-farm Field Day at Miriam Vale near Rockhampton, QLD, a separate Landcare full day seminar at Rockhampton and a board room presentation to the Wool Carbon Alliance – a wool producer organisation based in Sydney.
In April 2011, David attended the Annual Conference of the Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association as a guest speaker on the issue of livestock and emissions of global warming gases, including methane.
David is interested in talking with other groups – including Green groups, Landcare groups, Catchment Management Authorities, Service Clubs, Chambers of Commerce, academic groups, schools, other educational bodies, political groups, student groups, environmental activists and anyone interested in understanding the relationship between farm animals and the atmospheric carbon cycle. This includes the emission of global warming gases, the carbon dioxide cycle, methane production and the methane cycle, enhanced food security, soil carbon sequestration and the restoration of sound ecological systems in farming landscapes.
David Mason-Jones … publication background
David’s articles have appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, The Australian Financial Review, The Courier Mail, The West Australian, The Canberra Times, The Jakarta Post, The New Zealand Herald, The Post (NZ), The Bulletin, Human Capital magazine (Australia), Human Capital Asia magazine (Singapore), Human Resource Management magazine (Singapore), Chief Officer (CO) magazine, Australian Broker, Asian Maritime Business magazine, Shipping World and Shipbuilder magazine, Commodities and Trade to Asia magazine, The Australian Investor (Website), Hoof Beats Magazine, Cattle Country Magazine, Small Farms magazine – Australia’s largest independently owned rural magazine – as well as providing content for company newsletters, websites and other smaller magazines.
He has previously held consulting editor contracts with Human Capital Asia magazine, The Australian Investor website and Chief Officer magazine.
From his base in the Hunter Valley, a well known wine growing region just north of Sydney, David has the skill, technology and experience to communicate with clients and sources in Australia, Asia-Pacific, South Asia and the rest of the world.
David understands deadlines and, with more than fifteen years of freelance journalism experience, has the discipline and commitment to ensure they are always met.
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