Today's News - 11 February 2013

 “It’s exceptionally good news that the Government is serious about improving children’s health. Catching the children at a young age is the best way to tackle the problem, when it’s not too late to teach them how to cook healthy meals for themselves. In schools that already offer cookery lessons, we have seen pupils go home and teach their parents what they have learnt. We found 45 per cent of parents were saying the family now ate more healthily as a result.”
Libby Grundy, director of Food For Life Partnership
Telegraph (10 Feb)

Cookery lessons back on the school menu
Cookery lessons are to become a compulsory part of the school curriculum for the first time after pressure from leading chefs and health campaigners. From September next year, primary school students will be given practical lessons in how to combine ingredients to produce simple, healthy food. At secondary school, pupils will then master a number of different meals and will learn a range of cooking techniques including baking.
Telegraph (10 Feb)
Find out more about the Food For Life Partnership

Mayan Farmers: GMOs Cause End of The World for 1500 Bee Colonies
1,500 colonies of honeybees, from a community in Hopelchen, Campeche, died this February 6 from the fumigation of Monsanto’s GMO’s in a nearby area. This has directly impacted more than 50 impoverished families, who recently suffered a poor corn crop due to drought.
Sustainable Pulse (10 Feb)
Find out about Keep Britain Buzzing
The Soil Association’s position on GM

Neonicotinoid ban plans progress
Critics of neonicotinoids have welcomed EU proposals to ban pesticides which contain the chemicals. Last week the European Commission accepted the proposals, which, if approved, will come into force from July 1. European Commissioner for health and consumer policy, Tonio Borg, said ‘swift and decisive’ action was needed to restrict the use of certain neonicitonoid pesticides because of their impact on bee health. Friends of the Earth and the Soil Association welcomed the move, although the ban will come too late to stop neonicotinoids being used this spring.
Farmers Guardian (10th Feb)
Statement from Soil Association 

Bhutan set to plough lone furrow as world's first wholly organic country
Bhutan plans to become the first country in the world to turn its agriculture completely organic, banning the sales of pesticides and herbicides and relying on its own animals and farm waste for fertilisers.
Guardian (11 Feb)

Will EU discards ban force the hand of our disastrous fisheries minister?
Last week the European parliament, pressed among others by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's excellent Fish Fight campaign, voted to stop industrial fishing ships from dumping dead fish back into the water. If the proposal is accepted by the council of ministers, it will mean the end of one of the fleet's most wasteful and destructive practices. It will also mean the end of the latest justification by our comedy environment minister for failing to protect our seas.
Guardian (11 Feb)

Contaminated horsemeat could harm health, warns environment secretary
Owen Paterson says tests may reveal presence of horse drug phenylbutazone, which could be 'injurious' to human health.
Guardian (11 Feb)
The Soil Association’s statement on buying organic

Tackling bottled water use in the hospitality industry
It's possible to cut bottled water use in the global hospitality industry and contribute to better standards for all, say the founders of a new venture for hotels and resorts
Guardian (11 Feb)

Gardening’s Last Stand
Allotments are a vital, living part of our gardening heritage – and when they are threatened, it’s time to draw a line. I recently received a ‘tweet’ asking for help in spreading the word about a campaign to prevent the development of Farm Terrace Allotments in Watford. The group’s website tells a familiar tale of allotments being sacrificed on the altar of human ‘progress’.
Hartley Botanic (28 Jan)

Early warning system to detect tree diseases crossing the sea
An early warning system developed to detect plant diseases carried by the wind could help prevent the spread of devastating outbreaks similar to ash dieback from blowing across the sea from the continent. The new device, which would be deployed in fields along the East Coast, filters fungal and bacterial spores from the air before running tests and raising the alarm if a harmful disease is identified.
Telegraph (10 Feb)

NFUS AGM gets underway in St Andrews
The UK’s Food and Farming Minister, Owen Paterson, will make his first official visit to Scotland today (Monday) to address NFU Scotland’s centenary AGM. Mr Paterson is expected to address members on key policy areas including progress on CAP Reform and provide the latest on the horsemeat scandal.
Farmers Guardian (11 Feb)

CAP budget 'likely to fall by 10%'
The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) budget for 2014-2020 is likely to fall by about 10%, according to reports.
Farmers Weekly (8 Feb)

Farming Today
Charlotte Smith hears how racketeering led cheap Irish horsemeat to get into our food chain. Steve Philpotts from the Ulster Society Prevention Cruelty to Animals says that he has two years worth of evidence that passports are being faked.
BBC Radio 4 (11 Feb)

And Finally…New ‘dating’ websites for cows prove to be success
Metro (8 Feb)