Today's News - 16 May 2012
“Grasslands support a range of ecosystems services, including water resources, biodiversity and carbon capture and storage. Grazing livestock not only contributes to their maintenance but also turns grass into human-edible food”
Rob Macklin, national agriculture and food adviser at the National Trust – Farmers Weekly – 16 May 2012
Grass-fed beef 'better for people' says research
Feeding cattle on grass throughout their lifecycle is the most environmentally sustainable way to rear beef, according to new research for the National Trust. Research at 10 Trust farms shows that while the carbon footprint of grass-fed and conventional farms were comparable, the carbon sequestration contribution of well-managed grass pasture on the less intensive systems reduced net emissions by up to 94 per cent, even resulting in a carbon ’net gain’ in upland areas.
Farming UK (16 May)
Feeding grass ‘most sustainable’ way to rear beef
Farmers Weekly (16 May)
Read our report: ‘The fat of the (grass) land’
Harmful household chemicals must be banned – health before commerce
Environmental watchdog the European Environment Agency (EEA) has launched a report saying that products that disrupt the hormone system (known as endocrine-disrupting chemicals, or EDCs) should be treated with caution until their true effects are better known. This comes at a time of important changes in chemicals legislation, with the European parliament deciding that pesticides should be banned if they possess endocrine-disrupting properties.
The Guardian (15 May)
"Supermoms against superbugs" take Washington by storm
Moms from Maine to Hawaii went to Washington, D.C., yesterday to press the Obama Administration and Congress to do more to rein in the overuse of antibiotics on America's industrial farms, a practice that breeds antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
PR Newswire (15 May)
UK families waste £270 a year on discarded food
Most families massively underestimate the amount of food they throw away each week, according to new research. Vegetables topped the list of the most commonly wasted food group, followed by bread and fruit, and 40% of those polled admitted they felt guilty for wasting food.
The Guardian (16 May)
A sustainable student social enterprise
In Bristol, university students set up FoodCycle to provide free meals to the community from food that other people threw away
The Guardian (16 May)
Egg price rises ‘on hold’
There is no likelihood of any further price increase on free-range eggs in the near term, and there should be no further free-range expansion over the coming year.
Farmers Weekly (15 May)
Report calls for action at Rio to reverse biodiversity freefall
Biodiversity has decreased by an average of 28% globally since 1970 and the world would have to be 50% bigger to have enough land and forests to provide for current levels of consumption and carbon emissions, the conservation group WWF said yesterday. Unless the world addresses the problem, by 2030 even two planet Earths would not be enough to sustain human activity, WWF said, on launching its Living Planet Report 2012.
EurActiv (15 May)
Earth's environment getting worse, not better, says WWF ahead of Rio+20
The Guardian (15 May)
Farming Today
Multi-million pound supermarket contracts bought with bribes of luxury holidays and hotel stays. Anna Hill investigates. Migrants working for less than minimum wage scammed by employers and forced to live in cramped conditions. And ahead of the Governments visit to China, Anna Hill tours the John Innes centre in Norfolk to see why it's not just food that is being exported to the Far East.
BBC Radio 4, listen again (16 May)
And finally…Bees Love Organic: International campaign sows seeds for bees across Europe
Dutch based organic fruit and vegetables distributor Nature & More have teamed up with a number of NGOs to launch initiative Bees Love Organic to distribute 400,000 bags of organic seeds throughout Europe during the coming summer. The aim is to create over 400,000 square metres of bee flower pasture.
Hippy Shopper (15 May)
