Today's News

10 October 2012

“Numerous studies show that when organic agriculture is practiced well, it can bring double or triple the yields of conventional techniques. With intensive intercropping on mixed permaculture farms, yields can be higher still.”
Charles Eisenstein - The Guardian – 9 October 2012

Baby Boomers
Gary Scattergood reports on the success of organic baby food, paying a visit to Soil Association licensee Organix, who worked with the Soil Association to improve food in nurseries in their campaign ‘Better Nursery Food Now.’
Food Manufacture Magazine (1 Oct, p.19)
Read about the benefits of organic baby food
Read about the Soil Association campaign, supported by Organix, ‘Better Nursery Food Now’

Does Stanford's study on organic food have you seeing red? Does it mean you could save some green in your eating?
Responding to the Stanford University study on organic, Glenn D.Braunstein, Chairman of the Dept of Medicine, Cedars-Sinai writes: “If you can afford to buy organic, and want to do your part to help clear the earth of pesticides, or to help ensure humane treatment of the animals we eat, then do it. If you understand that science has a lot to learn about nutrition and meanwhile you want to avoid antibiotics, hormones and pesticides in your diet, that's all to the good.”
Huffington Post (8 Oct)
Read the Soil Association’s comment on the Stanford study

Genetically modifying and patenting seeds isn't the answer
Charles Eisenstein argues that Western-style agriculture faces a mounting crisis that is insurmountable through the usual application of more control-based technology. He writes that: “It is a myth that mechanised, chemical, GMO agriculture maximises yield per hectare…. “Instead, traditional agricultural societies where farmers still save and share seeds are much closer to the ideal of ecological agriculture than the western model.”
The Guardian (9 Oct)

Owen Paterson calls Labour ‘cowardly’ over badger cull
The environment secretary exuded confidence as he derided opposition to the cull as 'sad sentimentality'.
The Guardian (9 Oct)

MyFarm’s last hurrah
MyFarm, the pioneering National Trust experiment to involve the public in the decision-making process behind a real-life farm has failed to take off. No matter how much MyFarmers enjoyed it, membership stalled at under 3,000. MyFarm project manager Andrew Cock-Starkey announced this month that he’s offering one final chance for public participation next week before closing the initiative in December.
The Daily Telegraph (9 Oct)

Animal virus warning for farmers
Scottish farmers have been put on alert after an animal disease which causes severe birth defects and miscarriages was detected close to the border.
Livestock in North Yorkshire and Northumberland have tested positive for Schmallenberg virus (SBV) which produces fever, diarrhoea and loss of milk production in adult cattle.
ICLankashire.co.uk

Wet weather to hit UK food prices
Food prices look set to rise after poor UK harvests due to recent wet weather.
The National Farmers' Union (NFU) said wheat yields in England were down by almost 15% on the five-year average, with productivity down to 1980s levels.
The British Retail Consortium said food prices were already being driven up after a rise in grain costs following the worst drought in 50 years in the US and a heatwave in Russia.
Today Programme, BBC Radio 4, listen again (10 Oct)
BBC News (9 Oct)
Food prices expected to rise after wettest summer on record
The Guardian (10 Oct)

Cheap, good to eat and home-grown: apples can help beat the recession
Scotland has thousands of acres of public land lying underused or empty: time for politicians to support self-sufficiency and cutting food miles by backing public orchards, says John Hancox of the Fruitful Schools campaign.
The Guardian (10 Oct)

Farming Today
Farmers in Northern Ireland will get an extra £15m on next year's subsidy to offset spiralling feed prices and a poor harvest. Continuing the poor harvest theme: 2012 UK wheat yields are down 14% on the five year average, according to a survey by the National Farmers Union. Also in the programme: the worst tree disease threat since Dutch Elm Disease, and a pig producer admits that the economics of his small farm would get him laughed off Dragons' Den.
BBC Radio4, listen again (9 Oct)

And finally… Southernmost farm tenant sought
Since the time the Domesday Book was written, farming has taken place in the Lizard, a mild - but often wild - land which is the most southerly stretch of the British Isles. Now, a farmer is being sought by the National Trust to take on the challenges of running Britain's most southerly farm.
BBC News (9 Oct)