Today's News - 27 November 2012

  “It is wonderful to see what a difference a school like this can make to children’s lives, to their health, to the general nutrition that’s possible, also to attention spans and general concentration levels at school, which is one of the great findings of these projects.”
Prince Charles on the Food for Life Partnership, Carshalton Boys Sports College, Surrey, MSN Video, watch now, 26 November 2012

Prince Charles advocates healthy eating
Soil Association Patron HRH Prince of Wales joined Jamie Oliver praising Silver Food for Life Partnership School, Carshalton Boys Sports College, when they visited the school yesterday.
MSN Video, watch now, (26 Nov)
Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver gets the royal seal of approval for his school dinners campaign
The Daily Mail (27 Nov)
Find out more about the Food for Life Partnership.

Europe's €50bn bung that enriches landowners and kills wildlife
The EU's farm subsidies are a modern equivalent of feudal aid. As Europe suffers under austerity, it's right to call for reform, writes George Monbiot.
The Guardian (26 Nov)

How best can the government curb supermarkets' power?
Last week, MPs debated plans for a new groceries code adjudicator destined to be known as the "supermarket watchdog". Will it be enough to curb the power of the supermarkets?
The Guardian (26 Nov)

Syngenta urges MPs to focus on 'real threats to bees'
Growers could see millions wiped off the value of oilseed rape, sugar beet and cereal crops if valuable pesticides claimed to be linked to a decline in bee health are withdrawn, crop experts warn.
Farmers Weekly (27 Nov)
Find out more about the Soil Association’s Keep Britain Buzzing campaign. 

Canada’s organic food certification system ‘little more than an extortion racket,’ report says
Inside the enormous Whole Foods Market in Oakville, west of Toronto, a red and yellow streaked Honeycrisp is plucked from the top of an orchard’s worth of apples in wooden crates near the entrance.
National Post (24 Nov)

Monsanto on Verge of $40 Million GMO Bailout in Europe: Report
The genetically modified food industry’s biggest player, Monsanto, is reportedly set to receive $40 million in U.S. dollars-worth of financial support from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development according to the website bankwatch.
The Natural Independent (25 Nov)

How Consolidated Agribusiness Harms the Organic Sector
The pioneers of organic agriculture probably did not foresee the day when consumers could buy organic junk food at the supermarket. But now organic is a $31 billion a year big business and the biggest food companies are eagerly moving to capture the profitable and high-priced organic food label. Although many consumers and farmers moved to organic to avoid corporate-controlled and unsustainable industrial food production, the Big Food monopoly is catching up.
Civil Eats (26 Nov)

A pair of tweeting turkeys aim to get Christmas off to an organic start
Welsh families are being encouraged to follow the very different lives of a pair of “tweeting turkeys” in the run-up to Christmas as part of a nationwide campaign by Organic Centre Wales (OCW) launched at the Royal Welsh Winter Fair yesterday.
Wales Online (27 Nov)

eFarmony: Connecting landowners with farmers
The "locally grown" movement has one major hitch: many organic farms aren't located all that close to where potential customers actually live.
Mother Nature Network (27 Nov)

Modified rape crops could boost grower incomes
Modifying oilseed rape crops by switching off a specific gene to reduce the breakdown of oil could lead to new varieties with higher oil contents, boosting UK farmer incomes by £40m.
Farmers Weekly (26 Nov)

An Uncivilised Approach
Food is an economic weathervane. It’s associated with good times, sharing, celebrating. It’s also divisive. Some eat (well) others don’t. The rich have wider choices, the poor less, writes Tim Lang.
The Grocer (24 Nov)

Meat Processors saviour the £2.3bn carve-up of Vion UK
An anticipated break-up of Vion could herald a shift in the balance of power between supermarkets and the meat processing sector, industry sources have claimed.
The Grocer (24 Nov)

Long march against Monsanto and GMO’s began yesterday
November 26th, 2012 (InsideCostaRica.com) Over 30 organizations began what will be a very long march yesterday. The marchers say they are warning communities about Monsanto’s intentions in planting genetically modified corn in Costa Rica.
Inside Costa Rica (26 Nov)

Farming Today
As floods hit Britain after heavy rain, one scientist says British agriculture will have to rethink how it farms in response to climate change. A Lincolnshire sugar beet farmer tells Farming Today this is the worst year he can remember for flooding. There are 23 000 women farmers in the UK as opposed to virtually none a decade ago. Female farmer Sarah Petit says it’s because brawn has been replaced by brains for business.
BBC Radio 4, listen again, (27 Nov)

And finally… International Garden Photographer of the Year 2012 competition
The Telegraph (27 Nov)