Today's News - 06 December 2012

  “We believe it is important for companies to take practical action to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability and we identified how food is produced, and supporting sustainable, organic agriculture as having a significant impact on our environmental footprint.”
Peter Hughes, Director of CSR at Pearson Cost Sector Catering (05 Dec) 

First FTSE 100 company puts environmental priorities on the menu
B&I specialist caterer BaxterStorey has helped Pearson plc to become the first FTSE 100 company to serve meals to its UK staff that are “guaranteed to be healthy, ethical and environmentally sustainable”. The 3,660 daily meals, served at six Pearson sites, now meet the Soil Association’s highest silver and gold Food for Life Catering Mark standards.
Cost Sector Catering (05 Dec)
Read more about the Catering Mark in business and industry

World Soil Day highlights need to protect soils
Wednesday (5th December) marked World Soil Day, a celebration of one of the Earth's most valuable assets. However, the day is also an opportunity to highlight soil's importance and the threat it is under from unsustainable use. 
Farming Online (06 Dec)

Autumn statement: green measures at a glance
George Osborne's announcements on carbon reduction, gas, flood defences, the green investment bank and transport.
The Guardian (05 Dec) 

Climate change will mean more malnourished children, experts warn
Food prices are set to more than double if climate change is not checked and developing countries are not helped to adapt farming.
The Guardian (05 Dec) 

Low water levels threaten US farm goods
Grain and petrochemicals worth billions of dollars risk being marooned far from market, barge operators and grain exporters have warned, as falling Mississippi water levels threaten to close the river to navigation.
Financial Times (05 Dec) 

Organic Beer wins Farmers Weekly Best Rural Beer competition
The Farmers Weekly Best Rural Beer Competition 2012 announces winner, Five Valleys ale brewed by Soil Association licensee Greg Pilley. There were 2 organic beers out of the top 8 Greg Pilley’s Stroud Brewery. 
Farmers Weekly (30 Nov) 

People Tree founder wins Source Award
People Tree founder Safia Minney has won the Source Award for Outstanding Contribution. The awards reward excellence in fashion and sustainability.
People Tree (05 Dec) 

Toxic threads: Greenpeace puts fashion pollution on parade - in pictures
A new investigation by Greenpeace International has found a wide range of hazardous substances in the effluent of communal wastewater treatment plants in the Binhai and Linjiang industrial zones of Zhejiang province, China, as well as in a nearby river after a pollution accident.
The Guardian (05 Dec) 
Find out more on the Soil Association’s Cottoned On campaign

Organic dairy wins welfare award
A Soil Association certified organic dairy has won an award for the welfare of its animals. Acorn Dairy, which has herds in Archdeacon Newton, near Darlington, and Leyburn, North Yorkshire, has been awarded the Good Dairy Award by Compassion in World Farming, the international welfare campaign group.
The Northern Echo (04 Dec) 

Aquabounty, GMO salmon company, struggling to stay afloat
Salmon that's been genetically modified to grow twice as fast as normal could soon show up on your dinner plate. That is, if the company that makes the fish can stay afloat.
Huffington Post (05 Dec)

March against Monsanto GMO’s reaches San Jose, decision stalled
After a one week, 200-kilometer journey which began in Gauancaste, marchers fighting against a plan that would introduce genetically modified Monsanto corn into Costa Rica reached their destination on Monday, when they arrived at the Ministry of Agriculture in San Jose, their numbers growing as they made their way through Central Valley towns such as Grecia, San Ramon and Palmares.
InsideCostarica.com (05 Dec)

Compost could aid soil recovery after bad season
When green waste compost started being produced on farms and composting sites across the country it promised to be an excellent low-cost fertiliser replacer.
Farmers Weekly (06 Dec) 

Defra's budget down by £20m
Defra’s budget for next year has been slashed by £20m, with a further cut of £35m in 2014/15. Defra said the cut amounted to about 2 per cent in total.
Farmer’s Guardian (05 Dec) 

Investment allowance rise good for farming
Investment in farm businesses could be kickstarted as part of government efforts to help UK’s the struggling economy. Chancellor George Osborne unveiled plans to temporarily increase the threshold for the annual investment allowance from £25,000 to £250,000 from 1 January for two years.
Farmers Weekly (05 Dec) 

Farming Today
Following the chancellor George Osborne's Autumn Statement, Charlotte Smith asks what it might mean for farmers and the rural economy. Farming Today hears the opinions of the Countryside Land and Business Association, the RSPB and the National Farmers' Union.
BBC Radio 4 (06 Dec), Listen again 

And finally… Danny Green's Long Journey North: northern Europe's landscapes and wildlife
The Telegraph (06 Dec)