Today's News

17 September 2012

“A vastly bigger organic market awaits the UK, but it will only be unleashed when organic food in Britain receives the same priority as in wider Europe.”
Ian Proctor, director of Hi-Peak Organic Feeds, on the need to support organic food in the UK – Farmers Guardian – 17 September 2012

Soil Association Woodmark win Timber Trades Journal award
The Soil Association’s Woodmark Scheme has won the Timber Trades Journal’s Environmental Achievement Award for its work in ensuring that all of the wood used in this year’s Olympic Park was sustainable.
Timber Trades Journal (17 Sept)
Read more about the Soil Association’s Woodmark Scheme

Campaign is baaa-ck for organic food
Wales’s first advertising campaign to promote organic produce has returned to mark the start of National Organic Month in the UK, as posters featuring two new ‘characters’ start appearing in supermarkets around Wales.
Powys County Times & Express (14 Sept, p.33)
Find out more about Organic September.

Campaign for organic milk to be used in schools
Organic milk, as the cheapest entry into organic food, should be served in schools, says the managing director of an organic feed company.
Farmers Guardian (17 Sept)

France to maintain ban on GMO crops: PM
France is to maintain a temporary ban on the cultivation of genetically modified crops, Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said on Saturday, dealing a blow to farmers and seed companies who say the move is unjustified and economically harmful. The ban, which targets Monsanto's MON810 maize, the only genetically modified organism (GMO) currently allowed in Europe, was introduced in March after a previous moratorium was annulled by France's top court last November.
Reuters UK (15 Sept)

Free-range egg industry in ‘worst situation for 30 years’
"The worst situation I have ever experienced in my 30 years in the free-range egg industry" is how franchise business operator John Bowler describes the current state of the market. In a letter to BFREPA chairman John Retson, Mr Bowler expresses his concern that some free-range egg producers will not be restocking next year, a situation being forced on some by the unwillingness of the banks to lend money.
Farmers Weekly (16 Sept)

RSPCA attacks standards on duck farms
Animal welfare group, the RSPCA has launched a new campaign aimed at improving conditions on commercial duck farms. Called "Like a duck to water" it focuses on making the provision of bathing water a legal requirement for farmed ducks.
Farmers Weekly (17 Sept)

Apple growers face grim harvest with worst yield for 15 years
Apple growers, cider-makers and gardeners are in despair as cold, rainy summer leaves orchards bare and threatens higher prices.
The Guardian (16 Sept)

Bee study lifts the lid on hive habits
Experiments on the division of labour in honeybee hives have revealed why some bees do the waggle dance while others nurse their queens. The roles require drastically different behaviours, with nurses feeding the larvae and performing royal grooming duties, and foragers navigating great distances and performing complex dance routines to point others in the direction of rich sources of nectar.
The Guardian (16 Sept)

Full-scale badger cull set to get government go-ahead
The government is poised to give the go-ahead to the first full-scale cull of badgers in England, under a policy that could soon mean as many as 100,000 of the animals – a third of the national population – are shot dead by farmers in an attempt to protect cattle from bovine tuberculosis.
The Guardian (16 Sept)

Farming Today
He wore a badger on his sleeve at the Olympic closing ceremony, now Queen guitarist Brian May tells Farming Today he fears the imminent badger cull will lead to 'civil war' in the countryside. The President of the National Farmers Union, Peter Kendall criticises his 'emotive' language and says the only way to resolve Bovine TB is to tackle it in both cattle and badgers.
BBC Radio 4, listen again (17 Sept)

And finally…Warm, wet weather means bumper year for mushrooms
The poor summer weather and recent sunshine has led to a bumper crop of wild mushrooms, according to experts.
The Telegraph (17 Sept)