Organic news archive: December 2005
The Scotsman takes a looks at the organic egg market and "how demand is likely to outstrip supply when new legislation hatches in the New Year [requiring any pullets destined for an organic farm to be certified prior to arrival]". The article refers to figures from the Soil Association's Organic Market Report 2005 which show the market is 'booming' and recommends readers check out the SA online directory for information about organic suppliers. (7/12/05)
'Wild Harvest - Britain's Wildlife Farming Revolution', a BBC 2 documentary looking at wildlife and farming issues as part of the BBC Natural World documentary series, will be broadcast tonight. Peter Melchett, policy director of the Soil Association is interviewed on his organic farm about how organic farming benefits wildlife population. He says, "In this country organic farming covers about four per cent of the farmland and it's growing very well. I don't think there's any reason why it should stop at any particular point, and certainly something like a quarter or a third in the next 10 or 20 years is a reasonable guess and that will have huge benefits for wildlife." It is one of the Daily Mail's 'Pick of the Day' - "as this gentle, beautiful film reveals, the return of organic methods and the introduction of the environmental stewardship scheme have prompted a reverse in wildlife's decline." (14/12/05 - 8pm to 8.50pm and repeated on Sunday 18/12/05 - 6pm)
"At the heart of the negotiations over the European Union budget lies the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). At the heart of the world trade talks in Hong Kong lies the CAP. Both sets of talks are deadlocked because of the CAP, whose subsidies keep millions of farmers in the developing world mired in poverty. ... In 2003 the richest 6.5 per cent of European farmers claimed 55 per cent of total CAP subsidies. In Spain, the richest 18 per cent received 76 per cent. About 37,000 Spanish family farms disappear each year. The EU is reaping what it sows." (The Times (and here) - 14/12/05)
Some of the UK's bestselling apples are being treated with a chemical that enables them to be stored for a year before going on sale in supermarkets and grocery stores. The chemical, 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) allows producers to put apples in cold storage for months before they are shipped to Britain. Its manufacturer says it is designed to enhance the taste of an apple, but confirms that it also significantly prolongs shelf life. Tim Lang, professor of food policy at City University, London, said: "The golden rule is that good food goes bad" and if it doesn't you have to ask what has been done to it. "This is a brilliant, but surreal, use of science. They are using technology to play around with the seasons, and the food may look fresh but it isn't. The problem is that companies don't tell us this is being done." (The Sunday Times - 11/12/05; Daily Mail - 13/12/05)
A British doctor at the forefront of treating the east Asian bird flu outbreaks has said fears of a world pandemic may be exaggerated. "It may never happen," said Dr Jeremy Farrar, director of Oxford University's clinical research unit at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Farrar believes there may be weaknesses inherent in the virus, which explain why it has not killed more people and has not been passed from human to human in the two years since the first outbreak. Farrar's views contrast with those of the government, which has warned of the disaster. Last month Sir Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer, said a pandemic, probably from a mutated form of Asian bird flu, was a "biological inevitability". (The Sunday Times - 11/12/05)
Richard Sandbrook OBE, a founder member of Friends of the Earth, former Director of the International Institute of Environment & Development, and latterly treasurer of the conservation charity Plantlife, has died aged 59. He was one of the key thinkers behind conceiving and communicating what sustainable development was. A great friend of the earth and a generous and likeable mentor to younger colleagues. John Richard Sandbrook, environmentalist. OBE, 1946 -2005.
Spending on "ethical goods" in the UK rose by nearly a sixth to almost £26 billion last year, a report by the Co-operative Bank has found. The ethical consumerism report examines the way that ethics affects spending on goods such as petrol, clothing, transport and financial services. Spending ethically on food, including Fairtrade items and organically grown produce, surpassed £4 billion for the first time; and spending on ethical fashion reached £680 million. (The Times, The Independent - 12/12/05)
A new pressure group dedicated to making the National Farmers Union stand up to supermarkets and get better process for Britain's loss-making farming businesses is launched today. 'Better NFU' is led by Derek Mead, an NFU council member, and Derek Handley, the chairman of Farmers for Action.
An article by Zac Goldsmith, editor of the Ecologist, in The Times titled 'Why the NFU should be culled' discusses the role of the NFU and why he supports new pressure group Better NFU. He writes, "the NFU's reluctance to stand up for its members doesn't end with the supermarkets. Time and again the organisation has backed away from supporting commonsense measures to revive the rural economy. For instance, while almost every farmers' organisation has called for a shift in government policy to enable schools, hospitals and barracks wherever possible to buy locally produced food, the NFU has remained silent."
"Given that the NFU is the single most powerful organisation purporting to represent farmers, with a whopping £20 million income, an estimated £40 million stashed in the bank and continual statutory access to the key decision-makers, the organisation's mostly supine behaviour is inexcusable. But not inexplicable. The clue lies in the word statutory."
"This relationship between the NFU and the Government
The Scotsman takes a looks at the organic egg market and "how demand is likely to outstrip supply when new legislation hatches in the New Year [requiring any pullets destined for an organic farm to be certified prior to arrival]". The article refers to figures from the Soil Association's Organic Market Report 2005 which show the market is 'booming' and recommends readers check out the SA online directory for information about organic suppliers. (7/12/05)
'Wild Harvest - Britain's Wildlife Farming Revolution', a BBC 2 documentary looking at wildlife and farming issues as part of the BBC Natural World documentary series, will be broadcast tonight. Peter Melchett, policy director of the Soil Association is interviewed on his organic farm about how organic farming benefits wildlife population. He says, "In this country organic farming covers about four per cent of the farmland and it's growing very well. I don't think there's any reason why it should stop at any particular point, and certainly something like a quarter or a third in the next 10 or 20 years is a reasonable guess and that will have huge benefits for wildlife." It is one of the Daily Mail's 'Pick of the Day' - "as this gentle, beautiful film reveals, the return of organic methods and the introduction of the environmental stewardship scheme have prompted a reverse in wildlife's decline." (14/12/05 - 8pm to 8.50pm and repeated on Sunday 18/12/05 - 6pm)
"At the heart of the negotiations over the European Union budget lies the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). At the heart of the world trade talks in Hong Kong lies the CAP. Both sets of talks are deadlocked because of the CAP, whose subsidies keep millions of farmers in the developing world mired in poverty. ... In 2003 the richest 6.5 per cent of European farmers claimed 55 per cent of total CAP subsidies. In Spain, the richest 18 per cent received 76 per cent. About 37,000 Spanish family farms disappear each year. The EU is reaping what it sows." (The Times (and here) - 14/12/05)
Some of the UK's bestselling apples are being treated with a chemical that enables them to be stored for a year before going on sale in supermarkets and grocery stores. The chemical, 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) allows producers to put apples in cold storage for months before they are shipped to Britain. Its manufacturer says it is designed to enhance the taste of an apple, but confirms that it also significantly prolongs shelf life. Tim Lang, professor of food policy at City University, London, said: "The golden rule is that good food goes bad" and if it doesn't you have to ask what has been done to it. "This is a brilliant, but surreal, use of science. They are using technology to play around with the seasons, and the food may look fresh but it isn't. The problem is that companies don't tell us this is being done." (The Sunday Times - 11/12/05; Daily Mail - 13/12/05)
A British doctor at the forefront of treating the east Asian bird flu outbreaks has said fears of a world pandemic may be exaggerated. "It may never happen," said Dr Jeremy Farrar, director of Oxford University's clinical research unit at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Farrar believes there may be weaknesses inherent in the virus, which explain why it has not killed more people and has not been passed from human to human in the two years since the first outbreak. Farrar's views contrast with those of the government, which has warned of the disaster. Last month Sir Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer, said a pandemic, probably from a mutated form of Asian bird flu, was a "biological inevitability". (The Sunday Times - 11/12/05)
Richard Sandbrook OBE, a founder member of Friends of the Earth, former Director of the International Institute of Environment & Development, and latterly treasurer of the conservation charity Plantlife, has died aged 59. He was one of the key thinkers behind conceiving and communicating what sustainable development was. A great friend of the earth and a generous and likeable mentor to younger colleagues. John Richard Sandbrook, environmentalist. OBE, 1946 -2005.
Spending on "ethical goods" in the UK rose by nearly a sixth to almost £26 billion last year, a report by the Co-operative Bank has found. The ethical consumerism report examines the way that ethics affects spending on goods such as petrol, clothing, transport and financial services. Spending ethically on food, including Fairtrade items and organically grown produce, surpassed £4 billion for the first time; and spending on ethical fashion reached £680 million. (The Times, The Independent - 12/12/05)
A new pressure group dedicated to making the National Farmers Union stand up to supermarkets and get better process for Britain's loss-making farming businesses is launched today. 'Better NFU' is led by Derek Mead, an NFU council member, and Derek Handley, the chairman of Farmers for Action.
An article by Zac Goldsmith, editor of the Ecologist, in The Times titled 'Why the NFU should be culled' discusses the role of the NFU and why he supports new pressure group Better NFU. He writes, "the NFU's reluctance to stand up for its members doesn't end with the supermarkets. Time and again the organisation has backed away from supporting commonsense measures to revive the rural economy. For instance, while almost every farmers' organisation has called for a shift in government policy to enable schools, hospitals and barracks wherever possible to buy locally produced food, the NFU has remained silent."
"Given that the NFU is the single most powerful organisation purporting to represent farmers, with a whopping £20 million income, an estimated £40 million stashed in the bank and continual statutory access to the key decision-makers, the organisation's mostly supine behaviour is inexcusable. But not inexplicable. The clue lies in the word statutory."
"This relationship between the NFU and the Government