August
2002
31st August
Some dates for your organic calender.
7th September. The Festival of Potatoes (see item, 22nd August,
below for full details) will be held next Saturday, at Dromcollogher, Co.
Limerick. Speakers have been confirmed for the talks in the afternoon. I
will be giving the first one; The Potato in Irish History. John Finucane
of the charity, 'Bohar', will talk on Famine Today and Practical
Development Solutions. The much-in-the-media Michael Hickey, pioneer
organic farmer, will speak on ' C.A.P. Opportunity or Disaster? See www.organiccollege.com
7- 8th September. An Organic Food Festival is being organized in Bristol with stalls, workshops and events. Details: 0117 929 0661
6- 9th September. The Centre for Alternative Technology, near Aberystwyth in Wales, are holding a Local Food Fayre, free to all visitors once admission is paid. Information: 01654 705950.
23rd September – 1st September – First International Conference on Local Food, Warwick. Email, mail@localfood.org.uk
23-24th October. The National Welsh Conference on Organic Food and Farming.This two-day event, to be held at the Royal Welsh Showground, Builth Wells, on 23-24th October, will highlight solutions to some of the big food and farming challenges facing Wales today, including diet and community health; access to local sustainably produced food; economic hardship in rural areas; and decline in farmland biodiversity. Contact Helen Scourfield on 01437 779 373.
The
Real Food and Drink Conference (partly organic). For details
contact david@realfoodanddrink.co.uk
Africa replies to pro GM press releases from J'burgh WSSD. 'The
US is disposing of its rejected food on Africa. Africa will not allow
itself to become a dumping ground. This is another form of colonisation:
first through slavery, then economic colonisation and now the
control of food and medicine through GE, creating total dependency through
patented and terminated seeds and medicines'.
This is part of the response from African leaders to three pro-GM press
releases from the summit yesterday. The full statement can be seen at www.ngin.org.uk
Newsletter 30th August. Note to media editors: more information can be
obtained from Sangeeta Haindl on 0834 468 8523 and
Marise du Preez on 0825 781833
28th August 2002.
J'burgh summit is now already a useless
exercise. Documents leaked to the British Independent today
reveal a shocking cave-in in by EU negotiators on renewable energy targets
and incentives. According to Philip Clapp, of the US's National
Environmental Trust, 'The EU's position is now almost identical to that of
the Bush administration' (sign of coming solidarity for bigger things?).'The
development endangers any remaining prospect that the World Summit on
Sustainable Development will make progress in protecting the environment
and reducing poverty, just two days after it opened'.
Full story at; http://news.independent.co.uk/world/environment/story.jsp?story=328144
Sauce for the Goose....NGIN sent me
this one today.
Jeremy Vine - BBC Newsnight presenter - reports from Johannesburg:
I've just been in an American briefing where the question and answer
went as follows:
Official: 'We want to abolish all farm subsidies everywhere.'
Reporter: 'Does that include the ones you've just brought in for American
farmers?'
Official: 'Er - yes.' www.ngin.org.uk
War Looms.The bust of Churchill and
his bedside reading is inspiring Bush to make Churchillian-like statements
and bring us to the brink of war. The J'burgh summit and its environmental
nit-picking will be extra irrelevant soon if he and the other hawks in the
admin. have their way. Would Saddam burn his own wells to deny them to the
'free world'? It would be militarily logical, and, if he did, it
would cut the daylights out of our daily world consumption of 75 million
barrels of the other 'black stuff' and drive the price of crude sky high.
And even if he doesn't, it is likely that Saudi Arabia, newly revealed as
the financer of Osama bin Laden, will choke its supplies to the West in
protest.
Poisoned skies, polluted lands and water, not to mention the body counts,
combined with world recession....When will we ever learn?
For something completely different. To
take our minds off the deepening world gloom, I am going to introduce you
to the Wedding of the Century. It took place last Saturday in my home town
of Fethard, Co. Tipperary:in the 13th century Abbey that I used to attend
as a child; by which my ancestors are buried: by a Sheela na Gig!
Katie, the beautiful daughter of John Magnier, co-owner of nearby Coolmore
Stud (see last month's incineration/organic stories) and his wife Susan,
was married in the flower-bedecked Augustinian Abbey (€ 1,000 were given
to each of the town's householders to similarly flower-bedeck themselves
for the glorious day). There was a fabulous dinner and party afterwards in
a massive, multi-staged big-top to which 1,000 world glitteratti and
potentates were invited. Two (!) screen James Bonds attended, half the
gov.(ex.Organic Min Davern and his lovely wife Anne-Marie were also there)
and even some stud workers and locals. Elton and Ronan were part of the
entertainment. Five star hotels in the south of Ireland had a bonanza as
did limousine renters and the helicopter-hire guys whose machines threshed
the skies over that part of the Golden Vale for days ferrying their
exclusive passengers to and from the celebrations.
Great photos and links to press articles on local journalist, Joe Kenny's,
www.fethard.com site. The bash set
Daddy Magnier back at least € 3 million, a mere light dent in his €
200 million fortune - a truly splendid occasion and I, and I'm sure
my site-visitors too, wish the lovely Katie and horse-trainer husband
David Wachman every happiness.
The press were generally ecstatic about the event - the only slightly sour
note being sounded by columnist Angela Phelan, of the Irish Independent,
who curmudgeonly pointed out that there was no 'huge shot-in-the-arm to
the local economy....Magnier is bringing in everything from London. All
the food has been transported in refrigerated trucks, the flowers,
florists, fireworks and cake are all coming from across the water. Even
the bouncers - er, "security agents" - are UK-based'. Some locals too were not
exactly overawed by the event and especially its muscular security
arrangements.
But the sun shone.
27th August 2002
Johannesburg World
Summit on Sustainable Development straddles the world news.
I am not going to do much on the Summit as it is so well covered in the
general media except to draw your attention to the main strands and the
offbeat and alternative happenings.
I am still staggered at the logistics of the whole thing - 189 countries
represented (including the US - but minus anti-environment Bush) - over
60,000 delegates and, keeping them on their toes, more than 70,000
protesters.
I can't even guess at the size of the press corps!
And how many thousands of tons of Av. Gas alone to ferry them there?
Greenpeace grabbed a lot of attention, for their straddling of SA's single
nuclear power station. They in turn were grabbed by the security forces
and should count themselves lucky that it is a very different regime today
and it is unlikely they will suffer torture or worse for their efforts.
Monday's opening speech by South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki was
feisty. 'We live in an unsustainable world', he said ' characterised by
islands of wealth surrounded by a sea of poverty'.
Friends of the Earth described the US and Australia as 'Axis of
Evil' because of their reluctance to cooperate with the rest of the
world in tackling global poverty and environmental degradation. However,
Gen. Colin Powell for the US says that he recognises the security aspect
of sustainable development. He may have been reading the just-published
book, Resource Wars where Hampshire College, Mass. lecturer Michael
T.Clare says that desperation for oil and water will fuel the wars of the
21st century. Interesting to reflect that the US consumes more than a
quarter of the world's fossil fuels and that Iraq is the second largest
producer of oil.
The CIA also were quoted by a Swedish delegate on Monday as saying that by
2015 there will be world conflict over water.
Although some commentators, like Frank McDonald, Environment Editor of the
Irish Times are completely pessimistic and say nothing has been done since
the Rio Earth Summit of 1992 (on which this one is supposed to build) and
that little is likely to be achieved by the current summit, FoE insist
that 'We must press ahead with new agreements for the people of the
planet'.
Tuesday is official Agriculture day, although agricultural concerns will
undoubtedly permeate right throughout the two weeks of the summit. Already
food, and GM food aid in particular, has been the cause of considerable
extra curricular tension. A special two hour meeting had to be called to
deal with the 'fiece debate' over delivering GM food aid to famine
districts.
But subsidies to the North's farmers are going to be the really hot issue.
The South say they cannot compete against EU and US farmers who are
heavily subsidised. In turn they say the North's subsidised agricultural
exports are destroying local markets in the South. This is the core
problem and it is unlikely that there will be any substantial progress in
this area, despite the news that the WTO has a committe going 'working on
eliminating agricultural subsidies'.
An Irish spat on Tuesday in J'Burgh is indicative of the heat generated by
this debate. Michael O'Brien of the Catholic aid agency Trocaire, accuses
Ireland of 'dumping food in the Third World - 'This trade is grossly
unjust and unfair'. Quoting an example of sugar, he says that subsidised
sugar beet production in the EU amounts to 17 million tons, 7million of
which is exported. Countries like Mozambique, on the other hand, he tells
us, have to pay 140% tariffs to export their cane sugar to Europe. The
Irish Farmers Association delegate at the summit, Francis Fanning,
strongly denied the 'dumping' of Irish produce.
22nd August 2002
Breaking News. Mystery surrounds deaths
of salmon in Scottish loch. Thousands of dead, decomposing salmon have
appeared in Loch Erisort on the Isle of Lewis. The area has been cordoned
off this morning and an investigation begun.
"Just when you thought it was safe
to go into the water again..." We are enjoying a heat-wave here
in the southwest and people are flocking to the local swimming places on
the Bay. I have been enjoying a daily swim for the last six weeks in the
sea at the bottom of my boreen, one of the popular spots with a few specks
of sand (this is a rocky peninsula).
It would take a lot to put me off my regular 'constitutional' and we do
have pollution here, but a UN report this week certainly makes one pause
for thought. Swimming in the sea it says is one of the worlds's greatest
health hazards, worse than leprosy and diphteria and over 250 million
people are affected each year! "Contamination of the sea has
precipitated a health crisis of global dimensions" it continues and
the WHO says,'"safety limits would have to be increased by 20 times
to ensure healthy bathing." http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/story.jsp?story=325407
I reported a dead seal
here in Bantry Bay last week, fearing the distemper virus that is
affecting seals in UK waters. The local marine biologist was informed. But
the body, probably floated off on the spring tide, was washed onto the
shore here on a popular swimming beach. The rotting carcass had to be
removed by an animal disposal company. I'm checking, but I doubt if any
autopsy was done.
Festival of Potatoes II. I described
last year's event as the organic event (see Archives Sept '01) of
2001. I have no doubt Mark II, on Saturday 7th September, will be even
better.
Again, Fèile na bPràtaì (Irish for Festival of Potatoes) will be at the
Organic College (An t-Ionad Glas), Dromcollogher, Co. Limerick.
Registration starts at 2pm Saturday and the afternoon and evening will
include displays of heritage potatoes, demonstrations of traditional tools
and methods of cultivation, three short talks, tours of the farm and
museum and a concluding organic barbeque, accompanied by 'Music, Song and
Story'.
Book to stay overnight and join the later craic, ceoil agus caint in a
local pub. To my great regret I had to leave - 3 hour journey home over
the mountains - that session last year - and just as it was warming up!
Call the Director, Jim McNamara, at 063 83604 for further details. Also
look at their website, www.organiccollege.com
GM Rape Crisis. GM company Aventis
could face unlimited fines and executives could be jailed for five years
over scandal of anti-biotic contaminated crops in the UK. Twelve fields of
the oil-seed rape crops in England and Scotland are to be prematurely
harvested and destroyed.
DEFRA admits that the whole GM crop testing programme has been 'thrown
into disarray' and describes the mess as a 'very serious breach of GM
regulations'. See also Lord Melchett's reply to Prof Moses (for Moses in
Trinity see Archives Nov '01) re GM contamination of organic crops at, www.ngin.org.uk
22nd August.
21th August 2002
Monsanto Wound Up. Poor Monsanto, they are getting very wound up these
days. Nobody loves them anymore. Not even their own parent company,
gigantic Pharmacia, who have just spun off their holdings of the wobbly
ABC (Ag Biotech Corp) to shareholders.
Chief Executive Hendrik Verfaillie said, in perhaps the understatement of
the week, that Monsanto needed to be more transparent about its growth
assumptions; "We are assuming no progress in Europe until 2005."
Profits for 2002 are predicted to be down by over 30%.
Monsanto Ireland head, Paddy Riley (interview RTE Radio 1, 21st August)
said that sales of GM seeds in Europe were 'lagging'. He went on to say,
that this is due to political considerations and not because of any
inherent problems with the technology. Of course! Europe is so backward in
not accepting this feed-the-world technology. We Europeans are such an ungrateful
lot of pinkos! And now our Luddism, so they tell us, is causing African
countries to refuse GM grain aid. Zambia has just joined Zimbabwe and
Mozambique in refusing the 'poisoned chalice' (NGIN) of the ABCs
offerings.
Sales of Monsanto's billion-dollar-earner weedkiller Roundup could be
crucial in deciding the future fate of the GM-pushing corporation. A blip
in the progress of Roundup Ready GM crops could cause sales of the
herbicide to dive. On top of that, the patent on Roundup, their
best-selling brand accounting for almost 45% of revenues, has just
expired in the US.
And other prospects for the GM industry are looking decidely shaky these
days too as the activism of anti-GM protesters seems finally to be seeping
through to major policy makers.
Michael Meacher, British AgMin, said on Monday that "Britain would
not be 'bounced' into accepting GM crops by the US".
Another British AgMin (yes, there are multiple AgMins in Britain -
Margaret Beckett is the top-of-the-pile senior one) Elliot Morley also
said this week: "There is enormous international pressure to allow GM
crops and seeds into this country from the biotech companies.They are
going through national govs and the WTO and pressuring the EU " (and
of course there is a trade war being threatened by the US unless we accept
their GM products).
Brazil has stood up to the ABCs too and has imposed a moratorium on GM
crops until 2005.
The scales have been lifted from their eyes, helped not a little by the
unrelenting and intelligent activism of groups especially in the UK,
Ireland and the rest of Europe. The report last week that GM crop trials
in England were contaminated with unauthorised anti-biotic bearing genes
was a further nail in Frankenfood's coffin.
It is heartening to see that at least some in the UK gov - and further
afield - will no longer be the pushover they have allowed themselves to be
to the political and economic influences of the increasingly desperate
transnational ABCs.
See www.ngin.org.uk for much
more on the problems facing the beleaguered GM industry and its friends
Prakash, Trewavas etc see www.ngin.org.uk
"Nine bean-rows will I have
there, a hive for the honey bee..." Irish friend of the GM
industry, Dr Liam Downey (see Archives above, November 22nd -
article examining his terminal lecture which advocated huge funding for
biotech in Ireland and a future of food fascism) who has just retired
as Director of the Irish gov-funded
agricutural institute, Teagasc, has built a holiday home in the village of
Allihies at the beautiful tail-end of our Beara Peninsula.
I must ask him if he is going to have an organic garden there.
Would it not be interesting also to ask the heads of major ABCs what they
had for their dinner?
I'll bet anything - even sterling! - that there would be quite a few
organic products on the menu.
There's a research project now for somebody. No charge.
But, in the tradition of the CIA, you might have to upend their bins to
get at the real truth!
"If you drive nature out of the door with a
broom, she will come back through the window with a pitchfork."
Indian proverb. Thus quoteth George Monbiot in the Guardian on Tuesday
having his say about the summit in J'burgh in an article self-explanatory titled; Next
week's earth summit will not only fail to tackle the ecological
crisis, it will make it worse. www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,5673,777511,00.html
14th August 2002
Organic Box Schemes. The
simplest way of answering the several queries I have had about setting up
organic box schemes is to refer you all to a guide published by the Soil
Association earlier this year. It costs £4.00 and you can order it at;
Soil Association, Bristol House, 40-56 Victorial Street, Bristol, BS I 6
BY, or phone Angela Westcott at 011 7987 4587.
I worked on a farm in England with a box scheme for a few weeks some
time ago (my continuing, tireless and unappreciated hands-on research for
this website). It was in the super-civilized Bath city area. Hard work it
was too, with very early starts on dark winter mornings. The niggly
complaints on the round, 'There were no carrots in my last box' - ' I
ordered double cream not single, actually' - ' Don't leave the box on the
doorstep again, please; the dog did his business all over the apples and
peaches - 'I ordered artichokes not asparagus' (Bsth is a very middle
class area) would drive me potty. But if you're young and sassy and are
not as retail-weary as I (15 years as a bookseller and a few seasons back
in the '70s delivering my own potatoes), you'll probably enjoy it. Best of
luck.
Tunnel Vision. Those who have finally
thrown in the (wet!) towel after this, literally, grubby summer and want
to have at least some of their own produce left to eat, can find out almost*
all they need to know about polytunnel affairs from the booklet from
the inimitable David Storey, Plastic and Vegetables - a guide to
organic growing in polytunnels. It should be available through the
IOFGA office - www.irishorganic.ie
* 'Almost', because Storeys' tunnel experience was confined to the south
east of the country. For the windier west and south west, ask me about it.
I have just sold on a light-frame tunnel which survived three winters,
including two near-hurricanes. With a few modifications it will be
adequate for our Atlantic seabord climate in its new home but I have some
ideas on how to build a polytunnell to defy all but Twister-like
conditions. If you want details contact me by email; info1@planorganic.com
or phone 027 70 71 7.
Dunnes Story. I was very
pleasantly surprised to find, in my bi-monthly visit to the Medium Smoke (
Cork city ), that the selection of organic produce in Dunnes Stores
(Bishopstown - but presumably in all their outlets) has improved out of
all recognition. My son, living in Limerick city, had already alerted me
but the wide selection, fresh, well-displayed and reasonably priced
produce was a pleasure to see.
However a vegetarian New Zealander, buying mounds of organic carrots (from
Holland - not from Ireland of course) for juicing, warned me that the red
apples (USA) were bruised inside and were 'not worth buying'. Poor things,
must be suffering from jet lag!
Lean and Mean. A woman in Australia was disgusted and angry to find a lizard head in a Nestlè, Lean Cuisine meal recently.
Next update, this week, perhaps; Children of tomorrow - Bio-Serfs - War on the peasants - Asian apocalypse - My outdoor tomatoes are not fruiting up and the black spuds are going black!
8th August 2002
An Irish Organic Stalwart Dies.
Finnáin Mac Naeidhe - An Appreciation
by Jim Mc Namara, educational director of An tIonad Glas, the Organic
College, Dromcollogher, Co.Limerick. jimmcnamara@eircom.net
Irish and world agriculture/horticulture lost a giant in Dr Finnáin
Mac Naeidhe last June.
Finnáin who worked principally with Teagasc in Wexford was a frequent
visitor to Limerick. He was well known to growers involved in fruit
production and especially to organic producers. As recently as last
November he was the keynote speaker to a full-house in Dromcollogher
addressing the future needs of farming and growing at a public
consultation seminar at the organic college.
It was his knowledge across a range of areas from fruit to Friesians, from
grassland species and green manures to gross margins and making a living
on a small acreage, that impressed so many. This knowledge, an excellent
delivery style and a passion to care for the soil and the people who work
it made his presentations very special.
His full diary, which stretched across the globe was never a reason to
decline a concerned audience even as far away as Limerick. He put in place
the first organic national demonstration farm in Ireland at Johnstown
Castle. Here he showed that in our moist climate organic farming was not
only technically possible, but quite profitable on a medium scale.
This work set the seeds for a rethink at official level on the central
opportunities for organic production in agriculture, however late that
re-evaluation was to come.
As an independent thinker, researcher and visionary, the impact of
Finnáin is immeasurable.
On another level, which complemented his work in agriculture and his
knowledge of the rural mind, he was a very good traditional musician. His
knowledge and love of "sean-nos" singing and the Wexford
tradition was outstanding.
This sudden passing leaves a major gap among his professional colleagues
in Teagasc and in farming generally, especially in organic farming.
In the tradition which he loved, perhaps our role is to celebrate his
major contribution and to continue this work with the dedication and
commitment he exemplified.
To his wife and family our gratitude and sincere sympathy.
Chailleamar cara dílis ón ngluaiseacht orgánach í Finnáin Mac
Naeidhe. Le linn a shaothair léirig sė go cruinn go bfuil slí eile
don talamhaíocht, seachas braith iomlán ar ceimicí is deontais. Léirig
se freisin gur féidir slí maireactála maith a sholáthair sa choras
orgánach. Gur féidir cabhair teicneolaiochta ón lá atá inniu ann a
usáid, is an mór chuid den gcruatan a bhí ag baint leis na seana
laethanta a sheachaint.
Mar thaighdethóir le fís, mar saoi an ithir bheo, níl a leithéid sa
tír seo faoi láthair.
Dá chlann ár mbuíochas is ár gcomhbhrón.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.
Organic Book published by Irish state agency. Teagasc, the Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority has just published Principles of Successful Organic Farming. It is dedicated to the memory of Dr Mac Naeidhe. If they send me a copy I will review it later.
Organic Celebration. The Organic
College, Drumcollogher
will be having a Heritage Week this year commencing on Saturday 7th
September.
I had my best organic outing of 2001 at the Festival of Potatoes last year,
at the Limerick college, and I expect this years' event will be at least
equally enjoyable. As well as the organic barbeque (which is reason
enough to attend the event - the lamb, the salads, the spuds, last
year....yumm!!! ) and the unique community atmosphere that Jim and his
staff and students generate, there will be a set of
mini-lectures to celebrate the opening of the Week and the move of the
College to new premises.
I have been asked to give one of the talks; more details next week of speakers and
topics - and menu hopefully! - etc.
Ireland's shame - again. An
illegal animal growth hormone, NPA, originating in Ireland, has shown up
in the Dutch pig herd. Over 50,000 animals are being slaughtered. Story
still developing.
.
Organic costs less to produce and therefore should be sold for less
in the marketplace or, if sold at the same price as conventional will give
above average returns to the farmer. This, together with the moral urging
to grow organically because it was the right thing to do for the farmer,
his family and the community at large, was the contention of the British
organic pioneer, Frank Newman Turner. He farmed, wrote and lectured in the
1940s, '50s and '60s and left a legacy of books and magazines.
His writings were originally published by Faber&Faber in the '50s and were out of print until
recently. Reprints however can be got through this American website. http://home.earthlink.net/~brateaver/books/index.htm Or
alternatively, ring me and I'll talk you through his work. 027 70717
I had a link on my Publications page but it was incorrect. My thanks to
those who pointed it out.
Organic Speed for Race Horses
Following my articles (scroll to Horses for Courses and Burning Questions
below) about the clandestine organic methods practiced in the bloodstock
industry here in Ireland, I was asked for more information on Friend
Sykes, the English horse breeder and trainer who applied organic methods
with dramatic results. Most of his published writings can be accessed
through this website; http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library/medtest/medtest_sykes.html
Friend Sykes had a direct input into the Irish horse industry, I
discovered last night in a Google trawl. He gave a talk at the Irish
National Stud, Kildare in the 1950s.
The XXX Files. Truth is truly
stranger than fiction. The FBI has been ordered to pay millions in
compensation to eco-activists by a US federal jury. The jury found that
two Earth First activists organising a non-violent campaign to save the
giant redwood trees in Oregon were framed by the FBI and police and
branded "terrorists" in a sinister smear campaign.
Victims of a car bomb, the two badly injured environmentalists were
arrested immediately by Agency officers who maintained that the activists
had been carrying the bomb! This, despite the fact that they had already
been subject to death threats.
Judi Bari, who sadly died in 1997, had also been told
by a police officer, 'If you turn up dead, we willl investigate'!
The lead attorney Dennis Cunningham said that the message from the verdict
is that the FBI should not be given a 'free hand. It's clear that their
intention is not about fighting terrorism, it's about suppressing
dissent.'
Article by Andy Rowell in the August edition of New Internationalist, www.newint.org
Earth Summit in Jo'burg. The NI also has an illuminating piece about the upcoming World Sustainability Conference and why it is so inappropriate to hold it in Africa's richest city - Johannesburg, a 'microcosm of unsustainability'.
Organic Conference Proceedings.
Papers and background to the Otley College (Suffolk) Organic Conference,
which I attended back in June, are now available on their website, http://econode.otleycollege.ac.uk and www.otleycollege.ac.uk
Contact me by email at; info1@planorganic.com
for more details of the following.
Herbal treatment for Hernias. I am about to conduct an experiment on
the treatment of hernias using a mixture of diet, herb poultices,
exercises and clothing supports.
Free webpages. If you want to
advertise on this site and don't have a website I can create pages for you
within Planorganic. It could be a bargain solution to your webneeds. For
your business cards and letter-heading, your address would be like this - www.planorganic.com/yourself.htm
Ethical Investment. I have an environmental publishing project under
development at the moment that could yield very attractive returns to
investors.
Comfrey - the plant that heals, fertilizes and feeds. I am harvesting
Comfrey leaves and roots at the moment and will shortly have dried leaves
and roots for sale. I can also supply thousands of sprouting roots ready
for immediate planting. I will have an article together soon on Comfrey -
in the meantime searh Google for 'comfrey'.
Black Spuds - but not from blight. Some years ago I got some seed
of the "Negga Tatties", black potatoes, from a Shetland
Islander. The skin is a very deep purple and the colour is continued in a
halo inside the tuber. They are medium dry, have a nice earthy taste and
seem to be quite blight resistant. This year I finally have a surplus of
the unique potato for sale.
1st August 2002
Organic Plan. At last the UK is
beginning to seriously plan organic.The 21 point Action Plan is now
revealed in all its glory. Visit DEFRA's site for the full report. www.defra.gov.uk/farm/organic/actionplan/index.htm
After all the years of lobbying it makes for an interesting read. It is
astonishing the degree to which the Min Ag mindset has been changed and
that which was former heresy is now holy writ.
In addition to what I reported on Monday, major gov. depts like the Min.
Defence and Min.Health will be encouraged to buy a proportion of their
food needs from organic sources. DEFRA will be leading from the front by
having organic meals in its own restaurants.
The £5 million extra for research will be available immediately for joint
industry/government projects. It will be spent over 5 years.
There is more to be heard on small abbatoirs, organic demonstration farms,
locally and regionally produced foods etc.
Some of the contents of the report sound virtually like a dream manifesto
for the organic movement: organic farming is better for wildlife, has
lower pollution from sprays, less carbon dioxide and less dangerous
wastes. It goes on to say that there are high animal welfare standards on
organic farms and more jobs will be created in the countryside.
But of course not everyone will be happy - for example, the range of
grants is not as generous as at first hoped.
The €1,000 (£600) approx. per hectare grants that hit the headlines
have been clarified: they apply only to those who convert to top fruit
production - a major import substitution product - and will apply only for
the first three years. After that the grants will be £30 per hect. for 7
years.
Download the full PDF file at their website and whilst you're there go to
the Home page, www.defra.gov.uk
and browse other sections like Lessons Learned - the FMD report,
Sustainable Food and Farming and Environmental Protection.
Action Plan already hits Irish organic
producers. Sauce for the UK organic goose may not be sauce for the
Irish gander.The Action Plan, with its emphasis on Buy British Organic or
similar, may have serious consequences for the Irish organic sector,
especially the meat marketeers like Ballybrado and Ballinree*.
First to report bloodletting is the North West Organic Producers Group, an
Irish cross-border meat processing and marketing organisation. They said
yesterday that their sales of organic beef and lamb to the UK are " now in
jeopardy". Supermarkets have informed them that they are going to
concentrate from now on UK suppliers. NWOPG have both UK (the UK = Great
Britain and Northern Ireland) and Irish suppliers.
Are the supermarket purchasing gauleiters being a bit extreme in their
rush to be racially/nationally correct according to the Action Plan? Or is
there another agenda?
* Operating as Good Herdsmen Ltd - I think - I can't figure out their
marketing strategy or indeed some of their past idiosyncratic advertising.
Can you?
Seals' Fate. Back in the eighties a
virus wiped out half the seal population of the British Isles. Vets in
Britain suspect that it is recurring and are carrying out tests on several
corpses.
Seals are a feature of our seascape here on Bantry Bay and all, bar
fishermen (especially the salmon farmers), and of course the fish they
feed on, enjoy their presence. A dead seal on the foreshore opposite my
holding here on Beara has led us to fear that this disease may be hitting
the seal colonies in Ireland too. We are waiting for an examination to be
carried out.
Fate of Organic Salmon Delayed. The motion to condemn organic
salmon farming was deleted from last Saturday's IOFGA meeting when the
proposer of the motion failed to turn up. It was subsequently decided that
such questions should in future be left to the committee responsible for
certification. The owner of the organic salmon farm (the only one in the
Republic), who was to have been grilled in the debate, was one of two new
members elected to the Board.