Today's News - 14 November 2012

  “We have a lot of really capable, smart farmers in this country. Everything they have to do to manage their crops and business is pretty unique. To say this is going to really hurt them doesn’t acknowledge their abilities at all.”
Britt Lundgren, Director of Organic and Sustainable Agriculture for Stonyfield,
Forbes, 14 November 2012

Outdoor sows have better immunity than indoor pigs
www.forbes.com/sites/amywestervelt/2012/11/13/with-california-prop-defeated-gmo-labeling-proponents-look-to-farm-bill/Sows kept in outdoor conditions have a more robust immunity than those kept indoors and treated with antibiotics.
Pig Progress (13 Nov)
Find out more about the Soil Association’s work to curb the overuse of antibiotics

The Persistence of Resistance And Some Reasons Why
Tuesday marked the start of the United States’ Get Smart About Antibiotics Week, an annual observance by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that tries to direct attention to the root causes of antibiotic resistance and possible fixes.
Wired (13 Nov)
European Antibiotic Awareness Day
Isleofman.com (13 Nov)

Italy floods prompt fears for future of farming
The floods that have devastated Italy over the past week could become even more severe in the future, threatening food production and destroying the country's natural beauty, experts warn.
The Guardian (13 Nov)

GM is a technology we have to adopt - Food and Drink Federation
THE UK must be bold and ‘grasp the nettle’ over GM, farming industry representatives were told at the EFFP conference in London yesterday.
Farmers Guardian (13 Nov)
Find out why the Soil Association campaigns against GM crops

With California Prop Defeated, GMO Labelling Proponents Look to Farm Bill
California’s Proposition 37, which would have required labeling of all food products containing genetically modified organisms within two years, was narrowly defeated last week (53 to 47). The result has largely been credited to the $45 million spent by a coalition including Monsanto, Du Pont, and many others on No on 37 ads depicting farmers, Democrats, and scientists claiming GMO labeling would be detrimental to business, confusing and costly to consumers, and counterproductive to research.
Forbes (11 Nov)

Organic vs. conventional farming: Which uses less energy?
A few weeks ago, after a major study showed that organically grown food offers little or no nutritional benefit over the cheaper, conventionally grown equivalent, I began investigating the other major reason people buy organic: saving the environment.
Washington Post (12 Nov)

Ensus imports maize due to poor wheat quality
Bioethanol producer Ensus has confirmed it has started to import EU maize within the last week to compensate for the poor quality of the UK wheat crop.
Farmers Weekly (13 Nov)

Farming Today
A disease that causes needles to change colour and fall off Christmas trees is starting to cause serious problems for some growers. Also on the programme, a Staffordshire farmer who farms 700 acres of parsnips and Professor Charles Godfray on why he believes 'sustainable intensification' is the key to feeding a growing population.
BBC Radio 4, listen again, (14 Nov)

And finally…Mapping the Great Barrier Reef: the Catlin Seaview Survey
The Telegraph (14 Nov)