Today's News
06 September 2012
“I think we’re kind of erecting a straw man and then knocking it down, the straw man being that the whole point of organic food is that it’s more nutritious. The whole point of organic food is that it’s more environmentally sustainable. That’s the stronger and easier case to make.”
Food author Michael Pollen on the Stanford study – KQED News – 4 September 2012
Organic food may not have a big nutritional edge – but how much does that matter
Grist food editor Twilight Greenaway brings together all of the most articulate media responses from the US about a Stanford study on the nutritional value of organics.
Grist (5 Sept)
Read the Soil Association’s comment.
Read Soil Association Certification CEO Rob Sexton’s blog – Organic Food: Beyond the headlines.
The Organic Trade Board’s Catherine Fookes talks about the Stanford study, organic standards and the organic market
BBC Radio Devon, The Shep & Jo Show, listen again (5 Sept – 2:21:38 – 2:27:30)
Aspall bags its fifth Soil Association award
Suffolk-based cyder and vinegar producer Aspall has received an award from the Soil Association Organic Food Awards for its Organic Cyder Vinegar. The award follows on from Aspall’s success across several other national competitions this year, such as its gold star performance at the Great Taste Awards for both its cyders and vinegars.
HotelOwner.co.uk (6 Sept)
Read more about the winners of the 2012 Organic Food Awards
No ban on pesticides despite links to sharp declines in bees
Nerve-agent pesticides should not be banned in Britain despite four separate scientific studies strongly linking them to sharp declines in bees around the world, Government scientists have advised. An internal review of recent research on neonicotinoids – pesticides that act on insects' central nervous systems and are increasingly blamed for problems with bee colonies – has concluded that no change is needed in British regulation.
The Independent (6 Sept)
Find out more about the Soil Association’s work to protect the bees.
Morrisons stripped of Good Egg award over cage back down
Supermarket giant Morrisons has been stripped of its prestigious Good Egg Commendation award following its decision to re-introduce eggs from caged hens across its own brand range. Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) announced it was taking away the away the award to encourage the retailer to ‘get back on the right track’.
Farmers Guardian (5 Sept)
Climate change will drive food prices up, Oxfam warns
Flooding and drought will wipe out wheat and maize harvests, triggering 'dramatic' rises in prices, the report said. Oxfam said the full impact of climate change on prices is underestimated and will affect British consumers who are paying more for food before extreme weather is factored in.
The Metro (5 Sept)
If we want food to remain cheap we need to stop putting it in our cars
Timothy Wise, director of the Global Development and Environment Institute, writes that biofuel production, rather than the rising demand for meat-based protein, is to blame for the global food crisis the world is facing; and that the solutions are relatively straightforward.
The Guardian (5 Sept)
Coping with increased food prices: people’s panel
Food prices are climbing across the globe and the Guardian wants to know how you’ve dealt with higher grocery bills. Share your stories on their people’s panel.
The Guardian (5 Sept)
Farming Today
Charlotte Smith discusses the new order at DEFRA and what it might mean for rural Britain. The RSPB, NFU and CLA are invited to comment on their views - for and against. Farming Today hears of the prospects for beef farming. And forget the cattle shed, Robin Markwell finds cow igloos designed to house calves!
BBC Radio 4, listen again (6 Sept)
And finally…Life under the sea: David Fleetham underwater photographs
The Telegraph (5 Sept)
