Today's news - 05 February 2013

 “I very much agree with what the chief medical officer is saying about how urgent action is really needed, because for a whole range of diseases we are literally getting down to our last antibiotics. It’s really important that we preserve the antibiotics that we’ve got, and, unfortunately, we’re still using some of the most important antibiotics- the ones that the World Health Organisation has classified as critically important in human medicine - too irresponsibly in farming.”
Coilin Nunan, Soil Association
Weekly Zaman (2 Feb)

UK courting antibiotic-resistant diseases
Infectious diseases could again become major killers, with routine surgery, cancer treatment and care for premature babies becoming fraught with difficulties and fatalities and modern medicine thrown back to the pre-penicillin era. With comment from Soil Association’s Coilin Nunan.
Weekly Zaman (2 Feb)
The Soil Association’s position on antibiotics

Yum brands profit dips amid food safety scare in China
Yum Brands, owner of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell restaurants, has reported a dip in fourth quarter profits as a food safety scare hurt its sales in China. Yum said sales in China fell 6% during the period after a report that two of its suppliers were providing chickens with excessive levels of antibiotics.
BBC News (5 Feb)

New U.S. biofuel proposals could draw heavily from food sources
New biofuel requirements proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are being met with concern by a spectrum of interest groups from environmentalists to the oil industry, with some warning that a gap between the proposal and existing law could force the government to draw on food-based alternative fuels.
IPS (1 Feb)

Comment: It's a nail in London's coffin when gardens are covered over
The sterile fashion for hard surfaces instead of greenery is contributing to flooding and the disappearance of fauna.
The Guardian (4 Feb)

Food waste: how much of it is consumer responsibility?
Consumers as well as supermarkets play a crucial role in influencing retail and farming policy and must help drive change
The Guardian (4 Feb)

Budget cuts may trigger 'perfect storm' of threats to UK wildlife
Britain's countryside and wildlife face a looming "perfect storm" of threats to environmental protection, conservationists warn.
The Independent (3 Feb)

Nestlé's Peter Brabeck: our attitude towards water needs to change
Nestlé chair Peter Brabeck talks to Jo Confino about the need to build water stewardship into core business strategy and how a sense of entitlement causes irresponsible use.
The Guardian (4 Feb)

Leading paper firm pledges to halt Indonesian deforestation
The world's third biggest paper company has pledged to halt deforestation in Indonesia, and help to restore the habitats of the rare Sumatran tiger and orangutan, following a long-running campaign by environmentalists.
The Guardian (5 Feb)

The surprising connection between food and fracking
Extracting natural gas from rock formations by bombarding them with chemical-spiked fluid leaves behind fouled water—and that fouled water can make it into the crops and animals we eat.
Mother Jones (30 Jan)

EU exit could raise concerns over dairy pricing
Leaving the EU could hamper future investment and pricing in the UK dairy industry, The Dairy Group has warned.
Farmers Weekly (5 Feb)

Flying drones watch over farmers' fields
Unmanned aerial vehicles or flying drones could take the legwork out of agronomy by identifying crop diseases and observe plant health in fields, say scientists.
Farmers Weekly (5 Feb)

Oxfordshire farmer in Polish GM land battle
A British farmer is spearheading a campaign to stop the Polish Government selling off land to multinational companies who want to grow genetically modified (GM) food.
Farmers Guardian (5 Feb)

Consumers want poultry value more than welfare
The affordability of eggs and poultry meat is more important for cash-strapped consumers in a recession than superior welfare standards, according to the chairman of the British Poultry Council.
Farmers Weekly (4 Feb)

Farming Today
A foreign fruit fly has been detected in the UK for the first time. The Spotted Wing Drosophila fly has caused serious problems for fruit growers in the US and Canada and now threatens this summers UK crop. Laurence Olins from British Soft Fruits says growers need to be watchful at this time of year well before the fruit season.
BBC Radio 4 (5 Feb)

And Finally… Rhianna farmer stars in rap video to promote milk
Farmers Guardian (4 Feb)