Today's News

22 October 2012

"Bees are essential pollinators of both agricultural crops and wild plants… we rely on them to maintain the diversity that we enjoy."
Dr Nigel Raine, Royal Holloway University biologist and co-author of the report, speaks about the importance of bees – The Today Programme – 22 October 2012
Find out more about the Soil Association’s Keep Brittan Buzzing campaign

Combined pesticide exposure severely affects individual and colony-level traits in bees
A new report in the journal Nature by biologists at the University of London has found that exposure to agricultural pesticides, including the neonicotinoid imidacloprid, increases the likelihood of colonies failing.
Nature (21 Oct)
Pesticides put bumblebee colonies at risk of failure, study finds
Farming pesticides are also killing worker bumblebees, meaning colonies that are vital for plant pollination are more likely to fail
The Guardian (22 Oct)
Is a cocktail of pesticides wiping out our bees? Insects are being left confused by chemicals
Daily Mail (22 Oct)
Double dose of pesticide poses new danger for bumblebees
Independent (22 Oct)
Cocktail of pesticides increases bee deaths, says study
Farmers Weekly (22 Oct)
Read the Soil Association’s position
The Soil Association’s Keep Brittan Buzzing campaign wants to ban neonicotinoid pesticides and is working promote bee-friendly organic farming so 

Tesco targets London with surprise return of organic veg boxes
Tesco is gearing up to launch Soil & Seed - a new exclusive-to-Tesco organic veg box brand - The Grocer can reveal. Soil & Seed - a brand owned by organic veg supplier Tio - will soft launch in the first week of November in the London area. It is expected to offer shoppers the choice of five boxes: small, medium and large veg and salad boxes, as well as a fruit box and a mixed fruit, veg and salad box. All products will be Soil Association certified organic.
The Grocer (19 Oct)

You aren’t what you eat: Fed up with gastroculture by Steven Poole – review
The Observer’s Jonathan Meades reviews a new book by Steven Poole – You Aren’t What You Eat – a polemic in which, Meades writes “the entire gruesome galère of monomial foodists are mocked, derided, exposed and forced to endure the echo of their vacuous "philosophies" and inane dicta.
The Observer (21 Oct)

Move away from ‘emotive’ resistance debate: UK CVO
Chief veterinary officer Nigel Gibbens argued that science “overlaid by opinion” is “getting in the way of action” in combating antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Soil Association policy advisor Richard Young commented that he felt Mr Gibbens’s comments were a “veiled criticism” of organic farming and argued that “we know the key points on AMR now and waiting for more evidence means the problem gets worse without us doing anything about it."
Veterinary Times (22 Oct, p.1)
Find out more about the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics

A limit on CAP payments won’t safeguard family farms
An upper limit on direct CAP payments would not safeguard the future of smaller family farms, a meeting of the Family Farmers Association (FFA) was told on Wednesday (October 17). Soil Association chief executive Helen Browning said, while her organisation supported a ceiling on payments, it would not ‘solve the major problems’ for family farms in the UK.
Farmers Guardian (19 Oct)

Three reasons to have a cow over antibiotics in your meat
This summer, ABC’s World News Tonight investigated the link between antibiotic use in industrially farmed chicken and the growing scourge of antibiotic-resistant urinary tract infections in women. Meanwhile, Consumers Union published a survey in which 60 percent of respondents reported that they’d pay more at the supermarket for meat that was free of antibiotics. So, I thought it might be a good time to check in with the latest news on antibiotics in agriculture. Let’s round up those antibiotic-dosed dogies!
Grist (19 Oct)

Badger cull under threat from last-minute challenge
A last-minute legal challenge has dealt a fresh blow to the government's increasingly troubled cull of badgers in England, the Observer has learned. The Badger Trust's lawyers have served a 16-page legal letter on Natural England, the government agency licensing the culling, which could halt the cull.
The Guardian (21 Oct)

Good farming means good business
Riverford , the vegbox delivery company, has more than doubled its profits - bucking the decline in the organic market. The company supplies customers across the North from Riverford on Home Farm at Newby Wiske, Northallerton, supported by several growers and producers in Yorkshire and the North East. Results for April 2011-April 2012 show retail turnover growth of 6% to £41.8 million.
The Yorkshire Times (19 Oct)

Observer Food Monthly Awards 2012 – Best Independent Local Retailer: Growing Communities
From a humble box veg scheme, this north London organisation has grown in 17 years to include an organic farmers' market as well as a campaign for sustainable food.
The Observer (21 Oct)

Observer Food Monthly Awards 2012 – Best Ethical Restaurant: runners up
Readers’ choice of organic, local, sustainable chefs and restaurants around the country, including Soil Association licensee the Duke of Cambridge in London.
The Observer (21 Oct)

Farming Today
The National Farmers Union say they are poised for the badger cull to begin. Adam Quinny, the NFU's Vice President, told Farming Today that everything was in place for the cull to go ahead. A new study released today claims that pyrethroid and neonicotinoid pesticides are having a devastating effect on bumble and solitary bees. Dr Nigel Raine from Royal Holloway University, London, who conducted the study, says these findings need to be taken in to consideration when licensing pesticides. As the Bramley Apple harvest finishes in Armagh, Ruth Sanderson visits a father and son apple grower.
BBC Radio 4, listen again (22 Oct)

And finally…Autumn colours around the world – in pictures
The Guardian (22 Oct)