Movement or market?
An impressive gathering of farmers, producers and advisers (over 180 in total) assembled at the Organic Research Centre Producer Conference 2009 at Harper Adams University in Shropshire – January 6th and 7th – to discuss a range of technical and policy matters
The end of pesticides in the EU?
MEPs have voted in the European Parliament to tighten the EU rules on pesticide use…
Real Bread Campaign:
A national campaign for Real Bread in the UK has been launched by the environment alliance Sustain, of which the Organic Research Centre (ORC) is a member
Open Gate for small growers:
SA looks at light touch regime for growers.
Promoting FREE advice service:
Natural England promotes FREE advice service.
Europe's pesticide cocktail in food:
PAN report on shocking levels of pesticide residue in EU food.
Barbarians at the gate:
Comment from ORC on idea of organic holidays
EU sustainable farming road map:
New EU organic road map.
Oats and soya worries:
Some batches of organic oats being sold in the UK have been found to contain one or both of the pesticide ingredients chlormequat and glyphosate
New edition of OFMH 2009
The eighth edition of the Organic Farm Management Handbook comes out in challenging times
New superbug worries
New calls for limits on livestock antibiotic use.
Feeding the World Conference success
The QE2 Conference Centre in Westminster (November 12th 2008) saw over 130 delegates and speakers in hot debate about the failure of GM crop technology to deliver anything on the promises of twenty years ago. In stark contrast speaker after speaker pointed to agro-ecological approaches (including organic agriculture) as extremely attractive sustainable farming and food options, especially in a world fast running out of oil.
Slow down on biofuels
The introduction of biofuels into the UK transport and industry sectors should be slowed down, says a new report from the Government’s Renewable Fuels Agency (RFA).
Taking the pulse of organic animal health
ORC Organic Animal Health Colloquium
Fight back on GM trade in Brazil
Brazilian farmers and traders launch non-GM crop body
The long arm of GM contamination
Fears of serious, long distance contamination of organic farms by GM crops appear top be borne out by an incident in central France
Bluetongue latest
Vaccination against the spread of the Bluetongue virus (BTV-8) appears to be working in England
Farmland birds race ahead at Goodwood
While farmland bird populations in South East England are generally tumbling (Defra reports a 21 per cent fall from 1994 to 2006) a real bird conservation success has been logged at one leading organic farm.
Sterile cul de sac of GM crops
A big, new push is under way from bioscience companies to promote their GM crops on the back of global worries about food shortage and high prices. To arms, to arms, a new approach is needed from the organic sector to fight this move.
Wise words from Hilary Benn:
The world needs a new “fair food” agreement and more reliance on sustainable farming systems to meet the twin challenges of starvation and climate change. That was the central message from Defra Secretary of State Hilary Benn in a speech to the Fabian Society in London.
Organic to blame for hungry Africa
Anti organic speech from Sir David King – let them eat GM.