Organic news archive: May 2006
The Soil Association is 60!
The first inaugral meeting of the Soil Association took place on May 30th, 1946, with Lady Balfour presiding.
Chocolate Bar Saves Mayan Community
The Observer Food Monthly features an article on Green & Black's Maya Gold organic cacao project in the Toledo district of southern Belize. Organic chocolate bars are seeing a 60 per cent growth year on year - and in the US, the figure is 200 per cent. Green & Black's now finds itself with a problem. It already buys every single bean produced by the TCGA, and a third of the world's total organic crop. Soil Association chairman and founder of Green & Black's Craig Sams says: "Globally, we are talking about a desperate race to get organic up and running. In Belize alone, farmers will have to increase their output tenfold in the next five or six years, from 30 tonnes a year now to 300 by 2012, just to provide the cacao for use in Maya Gold." (The Observer - 28/5/06)
Martina Navratilova is Organic
In an interview in The Times Body & Soul section tennis star Martina Navratilova reveals she is passionately pro organic and anti GM and pesticides. (The Times - 27/5/06)
Bees in Danger
3 of the 25 species of bees traditionally found in the UK have become extinct, and conservationists fear several more are in imminent danger if action is not taken quickly. Independent environment editor Michael McCarthy blames the "demise of traditional hedgerows, hay meadows, chalk grassland and wildflowers, the intensification of farming and the widening use of pesticides."
For more information on how to help combat the problem of the country's declining bumblebee population visit
www.bumblebeeconservationtrust.co.uk (The Independent - 26/5/06)
The British are Eating Better
Britons' diet seems to be improving, with shoppers buying more fresh fruit and vegetables, according to figures from the annual family food expenditure survey by the Department for the Environment. A Defra spokesman said: "This year there appears to be healthy eating trends right across the board. We are obviously improving our diet. It seems that overall we are going towards a healthier lifestyle." (The Daily Mail; The Guardian - 26/5/06)
Whole milk banned in schools
Schools are to be banned from serving whole milk to children, approved by the Food Standards Agency as part of the nutritional standards for schools announced by Alan Johnson, the Education Secretary, last week. From September, all state schools in England must offer only semi-skimmed or skimmed milk to pupils aged 3 to 18. (The Times; Daily Mail, p.12 - 25/5/06)
Warnings of global food shortages
The Canadian National Farmers Union (CNFU) have written to UN secretary-general, Kofi Annan to warn him that the available supply of food in the world is running dangerously short. "We are consuming food faster than farmers are able to grow it," says CNFU President, Stuart Wells, citing the key factors limiting greater production as, "population growth, climate change, and intensive land-use." Food stocks have fallen to their lowest levels since 1972-3, standing at 57 day's worth of food in store to feed the global population, compared to the more normal 67 to 69 days.
CNFU also raised concerns about the increased move into growing biofuels, displacing food production for feeding cars. Farming Today pointed out that vast quantities of Canada's grain output went into protein-inefficient feeding of livestock. Mr Wells conceded that come the "protein crunch" there would, "need to be more discussion on this". Wells added that developing country farmers should be concentrating on growing crops to feed their own populations rather than producing energy-use intensive crops for export, "Absolutely there needs to be a focus on local food systems." Wells also called for a reduction in energy-wasting foodtrade 'swaps' where "wheat from Canada goes to Europe, and wheat from Europe comes to Canada."
(CNFU Press release PDF; BBC Farming Today)
Climate change is the major challenge
David Attenborough talks to Michael McCarthy of The Independent about his attitude to climate change and reveals that he thinks, "climate change is the major challenge facing the world." The interview coincides with Attenborough's two-part series 'Are We Changing Planet Earth?' broadcast on BBC1. (The Independent; BBC Hot Topics - 24/5/06)
From cranky to mainstream
A report from grocery research body IGD shows that more than half of shoppers choose ethically when they buy their groceries. Jonathan Prynn of The Evening Standard writes, "The report shows how a trend seen as a cranky, middle-class fad a decade ago has grown into a powerful consumer force, with 52% of shoppers now classing themselves as 'ethical'. Of those, 33% say they buy such products because it they chimes with their beliefs, 15% because they want to boycott companies they do not approve of and 4% because it is fashionable." 28% of Londoners say organic shopping is "very important", 47% of shoppers choose organic or Fairtrade milk, eggs, fruit and vegetables.
Save London's independent shops
Visit http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/smallshops to sign the Evening Standard's online petition to save London's small shops.
The Soil Association is 60!
The first inaugral meeting of the Soil Association took place on May 30th, 1946, with Lady Balfour presiding.
Chocolate Bar Saves Mayan Community
The Observer Food Monthly features an article on Green & Black's Maya Gold organic cacao project in the Toledo district of southern Belize. Organic chocolate bars are seeing a 60 per cent growth year on year - and in the US, the figure is 200 per cent. Green & Black's now finds itself with a problem. It already buys every single bean produced by the TCGA, and a third of the world's total organic crop. Soil Association chairman and founder of Green & Black's Craig Sams says: "Globally, we are talking about a desperate race to get organic up and running. In Belize alone, farmers will have to increase their output tenfold in the next five or six years, from 30 tonnes a year now to 300 by 2012, just to provide the cacao for use in Maya Gold." (The Observer - 28/5/06)
Martina Navratilova is Organic
In an interview in The Times Body & Soul section tennis star Martina Navratilova reveals she is passionately pro organic and anti GM and pesticides. (The Times - 27/5/06)
Bees in Danger
3 of the 25 species of bees traditionally found in the UK have become extinct, and conservationists fear several more are in imminent danger if action is not taken quickly. Independent environment editor Michael McCarthy blames the "demise of traditional hedgerows, hay meadows, chalk grassland and wildflowers, the intensification of farming and the widening use of pesticides." For more information on how to help combat the problem of the country's declining bumblebee population visit www.bumblebeeconservationtrust.co.uk (The Independent - 26/5/06)
The British are Eating Better
Britons' diet seems to be improving, with shoppers buying more fresh fruit and vegetables, according to figures from the annual family food expenditure survey by the Department for the Environment. A Defra spokesman said: "This year there appears to be healthy eating trends right across the board. We are obviously improving our diet. It seems that overall we are going towards a healthier lifestyle." (The Daily Mail; The Guardian - 26/5/06)
Whole milk banned in schools
Schools are to be banned from serving whole milk to children, approved by the Food Standards Agency as part of the nutritional standards for schools announced by Alan Johnson, the Education Secretary, last week. From September, all state schools in England must offer only semi-skimmed or skimmed milk to pupils aged 3 to 18. (The Times; Daily Mail, p.12 - 25/5/06)
Warnings of global food shortages
The Canadian National Farmers Union (CNFU) have written to UN secretary-general, Kofi Annan to warn him that the available supply of food in the world is running dangerously short. "We are consuming food faster than farmers are able to grow it," says CNFU President, Stuart Wells, citing the key factors limiting greater production as, "population growth, climate change, and intensive land-use." Food stocks have fallen to their lowest levels since 1972-3, standing at 57 day's worth of food in store to feed the global population, compared to the more normal 67 to 69 days.
CNFU also raised concerns about the increased move into growing biofuels, displacing food production for feeding cars. Farming Today pointed out that vast quantities of Canada's grain output went into protein-inefficient feeding of livestock. Mr Wells conceded that come the "protein crunch" there would, "need to be more discussion on this". Wells added that developing country farmers should be concentrating on growing crops to feed their own populations rather than producing energy-use intensive crops for export, "Absolutely there needs to be a focus on local food systems." Wells also called for a reduction in energy-wasting foodtrade 'swaps' where "wheat from Canada goes to Europe, and wheat from Europe comes to Canada." (CNFU Press release PDF; BBC Farming Today)
Climate change is the major challenge
David Attenborough talks to Michael McCarthy of The Independent about his attitude to climate change and reveals that he thinks, "climate change is the major challenge facing the world." The interview coincides with Attenborough's two-part series 'Are We Changing Planet Earth?' broadcast on BBC1. (The Independent; BBC Hot Topics - 24/5/06)
From cranky to mainstream
A report from grocery research body IGD shows that more than half of shoppers choose ethically when they buy their groceries. Jonathan Prynn of The Evening Standard writes, "The report shows how a trend seen as a cranky, middle-class fad a decade ago has grown into a powerful consumer force, with 52% of shoppers now classing themselves as 'ethical'. Of those, 33% say they buy such products because it they chimes with their beliefs, 15% because they want to boycott companies they do not approve of and 4% because it is fashionable." 28% of Londoners say organic shopping is "very important", 47% of shoppers choose organic or Fairtrade milk, eggs, fruit and vegetables.
Save London's independent shops
Visit http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/smallshops to sign the Evening Standard's online petition to save London's small shops.