Mid to late December 2003 
BBC gags organic writer (17th Dec.) John Humphrys, who heads up BBC radio's, Today, programme has been warned off writing on contentious issues like organic farming. Humphrys, who writes a popular column for the Sunday Times, was, in an earlier reincarnation, an organic dairy farmer in Wales. All other BBC broadcasters with outside contracts have been similarly reined-in. A fund of £2 million has been allocated to compensate them for loss of earnings. Humphrys is reputed to get £140,000 per year for his ST articles. No wonder he gave up milking cows! 

Study on co-existence of GM and organic crops  A new report from an organisation called PG Economics Ltd (the PG stands for Plant Genetics) purports to show that GM, conventional and organic crops can co-exist according to certain parameters. The research, carried out in Spain, is given an enthusiastic welcome by - guess who?- yes -Monsanto, in its current newsletter. So, watch out. 
In the meantime. I'm having my boffins look over it and will report back to you in the new year. 
Look up the report on the website,  www.bioportfolio.com/pdf/Coexistencecasestudyspain.01.pdf, and read from the final paragraph on page 1; ' Lastly the organic sector can also take action to facilitate co-existence by....' and be afraid, be very afraid. 
I wrote about Franz Fischler and co-existence two weeks ago (below, 2nd December, Organic side-by-side with GM!); is this the kind of research he will be relying on to make his case about co-existence? 
Make no mistake about it, co-existence of GM and organic crops is going to be the big issue of 2004. Be interested, get involved or, as I've said before, kiss organics goodbye.
Remember what one of the GM industry consultants said a while back, 'The hope of the (GM) industry is that over time the market is so flooded (with GM organisms) that there’s nothing you can do about it. You just sort of surrender!'  Don Westfall, Vice President, Promar International, Washington, consultants to Kellogs, Unilever, Aventis etc (full report, $5,000!). That was leaving the GM cat out of the bag in a major way, was it not? I know they just hate to hear that one repeated - that's why I repeat it!

Country Smallholding Magazine - The current edition, January 2004, is again well worth reading. Editor, Diane Cowgill's, leader, A bright future for organics! would be the first item of interest to my readers. Another would be the extensive article, Monster or plant breeders' tool'?, an interview with a leading scientist on GM crops, which to me was thought-provoking. It begs for letters to the editor. The one I found the most interesting however is, Nobody talks about it, by farmer-victim of the British FMD slaughter- and- burn policy, Alan Beat, and in particular his report of a documentary being made on the disaster by American film maker, Bonnie Durrance. See her site, www.nobodytalksaboutit.com, and the magazine's at  www.countrysmallholding.com 

Death by GM misadventure?  In a week that saw figures of 200,000 unexplained cattle deaths per year here in Ireland causing few ripples except amongst farmers' organisations, the death of  just a dozen cows in Germany is causing widespread concern and even street demonstrations in Berlin. See www.gmwatch.org newsletter Tuesday 16th December Cows die mysteriously on farm in Hesse/Animals Avoid GM Food . 
The difference (we hope!) is that in Germany the suspicion is that the cows died as a result of eating GM maize! There certainly seems to be a case to be answered. If proven it could be the biggest blow the industry has ever suffered. The second part of the newsletter comprises a press release from I-SIS - the Institute of Science in Society 'The only radical science magazine on earth' which, apart from drawing our attention to a lot of anecdotal stuff on animals and their rejection of GM crops and feed, says there is 'scientific evidence that they can indeed distinguish between organically- and non-organically-produced feed; moreover, they have a definite preference for the former (see “Do animals like good food?” this issue)' www.i-sis.org.uk .

It's all down to Taste  Although it's not over the door yet, Taste is the name of a new food shop in Castletownbere. Ciannait Walker's venture in a small premises on the Square, beside AIB, extends the range of gourmet and organic produce in the area substantially. Ciannait seems to relish talking good food and wine to her customers and they, in turn, seem to appreciate it. Heartening to see a good selection of fresh-looking, organic fruit and vegetables. Always on the lookout for a special coffee, I was delighted to find that elusive trinity of fair-traded, organic and gourmet taste in a Bolivian product, Illimani. Friends of mine need not be surprised if they find Illimani in their Christmas stockings - it fits the PC criteria perfectly, plus the fine taste.

The Hollies  Many of the Irish visitors to this site will already be familiar with The Hollies Centre for Practical Sustainability and their housing experiment here in West Cork. Things have been buzzing along there since they got planning permission to build their eco-village last year. Their website has great pictures of the unique cob houses going up -  www.theholliesonline.com  
If you would like to be part of one of the most exciting environmental housing developments in Ireland, you may be in luck - they are on the lookout for new residents. See the site for details on how to apply.

GM crops designed to use less pesticide, use more  A report on the use of pesticides on over 500,000 acres of GM crops over an eight year period, shows clearly that the rate of use has been increasing! This at a time when pesticide use on conventional crops is decreasing! The research first surfaced about a month ago and I almost had information indigestion grappling with it. It has now thankfully been summarised by in-house analyst Lim Li Ching of I-SIS. www.i-sis.org.uk/GMCIPU.php 
Again, this is information that could be terminal for GM. And it all seems to be sound science. If anyone out there can summarise it even more though, I'd like to hear from them.

Humbug? Did you know that the Puritan Parliament of England banned Christmas in 1647? 

Quote of the week  'Organic or not, oranges burn a lot of calories on their way to Minneapolis' Michelle Nijhuis in article in Grist mag. Nov. 2003

Wednesday 10th December 2003 
Bleating in the streets  It will be a change to see sheep outside the Dáil (rather than inside) in Kildare Stree today. It will also be a change that the livestock- inspired protest in the capital isn't fronted by the usual suspects from the Irish Farmers Association or the ICMSA. This time, and about time, it is an effort by activists to remind the government about some promises it made about GM - "Fianna Fail will not support what amounts to the largest nutritional experiment in human history (GM food) with the consumer as guinea pig..." blah blah. It all sounded great, once upon a time, but this administration hasn't a notion of living up to its promises (what's new?). At Brussels, on Monday last, they voted in favour of approving the first GM crop in Europe - which would effectively end the existing  5 year moratorium. This pro-GM vote however was defeated. 
The organisers of today's protest, GM-Free Ireland (www.gmfreeireland.ie) are demanding the resignation of Ag. Min Joe Walsh and Education and Science Minister, Noel Dempsey. And rightly so! Off with their heads.
Animal welfare people might be reassured to know that the sheep are only mataphorical ones - not Merinos; the protesters will be wearing sheep's head masks with "Patent" labels on them.
And on the other side of the water (the eastern one that is), see this new entry on the SA site. Do you want the government to protect organic crops from GM contamination? www.soilassociation.org/gmaction 

Ivy League goes organic That haven of WASP elitism, Harvard University, is breaking new ground by buying an organic dairy for itself. However, if this conjures up a vision of cool undergraduates pulling up stools to snig doe-eyed Jerseys for their breakfast pintas, forget it. 
Never to do things by halves, America's top university has bought Colorado-based, Aurora Organic Dairy - with its 5,000-cow herd and facilities! And not because they are going soft on the environment and agribusiness; it is simply down to a good investment decision - advised by Charlesbank Capital Partners LlC. Price; $18.5 million.*
Maybe they'll have secret seminars - This is how organic business is constructed - and this is how it is deconstructed - for Harvard Business School students destined for the power corridors of the ABCs (AgBiotech Corpos).

* The Cork dairy farmer that paid € 9.5 million for the farm in Tipperary - without a baste on it -  a few weeks ago, could have got an awful lot more bangs for his bucks in America. 

Batteries not included This is a great headline; sadly, one I can't lay claim to myself - this time. I have to hand the kudos for it to the Soil Association. It's a headline on their most recent newsletter but it's also the name of a report on animal welfare launched yesterday. The report blasts intensive factory farming e.g. it describes the conditions in battery, chicken farming and tells us that 100,000 chukkies die from disease etc per day (that's almost 37 million per year!) in crowded cages. And, on the other hand, it looks at the major animal welfare benefits provided by organic farming. There is also a new directory of businesses in the UK selling organic meat for the Xmas period.
www.soilassociation.org/animalwelfare 

Book Reviews  I know I'm tardy at fulfilling my self-imposed obligations to review books and magazines. I wish I had the time and energy to read and write more. But I don't; and maybe you're lucky to be so spared. Instead, I am going to search out good reviews on the Web as much as possible and link you to them. This is one that I like about Prof. Jules Pretty's* latest book Agri-Culture; Reconnecting People, Land and Nature www.newfarm.org/books/reviews/december/pretty.shtml 
New Farm is a recently established, online, organic magazine from the very respectable stable of the American organic pioneer family, the Rodales. Give yourself some time to roam their pages. 
There is more on Pretty there too, a mini-bioghraphy, and a report of a lecture he gave in Iowa in November. “Modern farming looks good because it measures its own success narrowly, but it ignores costly side effects...We should be asking the fundamental question, ‘What is farming for?’ Of course it’s to produce food, but it’s more than that.” Going on to explain and stress the importance of culture in agri-culture and interwoven ecological obligations of the industry, he continued, "... we must make clear to policy makers the steep costs of conventional agriculture while documenting the social and environmental benefits of sustainable production. www.newfarm.org/depts/talking_shop/1103/UKecologist.shtml  

*Jules Pretty, is director of the Centre for the Environment and Society at the University of Essex www2.essex.ac.uk/ces. See Publications page for other books by him.

Organic Box Scheme For those of you that have expressed their impatience with me on the delay of the promised article on organic box schemes, here is something to keep you going. A company in Northern Taiwan has organised supplies from over 100 organic farms and established a large box scheme. From the China Post - honestly!

Retraction  I did hear from Professor Whittaker since the article last week and he gave me some very interesting reasons why he had a go at organics at the time. Substantially, he tells me, he hasn't changed his views and throws down some challenging questions to the organic community. More later. 

Saturday 6th December 2003 
'Commercial organic farming is the greatest threat to bio-diversity.' Who said that? Where? When? And why? 
Allow me my little rhetorical flourish. I, of course, will answer the questions.  Prof. Peter Whittaker, Head of the Biology Dept, National University of Ireland, Maynooth is the culprit. The occasion was a conference/hearing on GMOs at Sutton Castle, Dublin in the long-ago of June 1999. His argument/outburst was based on a study that claimed organic production levels are 50% lower than conventional agriculture thus requiring correspondingly more land to produce the same output etc. (anyone remember where that research came from?). I replied with a letter to the press - Genetically Engineered Bull  (published in the Irish Times and others) - my only outlet in those pre-Planorganic website days. I expected a riposte, especially as I was a beagán disparaging in my comments about 'the men in white coats'. But not a peep. 
Being a bit elephant-like in my memory of ancient slights, and stubbornly wanting to know the answer to my last question, 'Why', I decided to try to contact the man direct. 
Before you go battering on the hallowed hall doors of Maynooth (incidentally one of my own alma maters), I should tell you that Prof. Whittaker is no longer there.  He's gone on to greater things, I find, after his 23 year sojourn in blessed Maynooth. He is now Professorial Fellow at Lancaster University's Centre for Economic and Social Aspects of Genomics. An expert on bio-ethics, he is an adviser to the EU on the subject.
I emailed him with some polite questions about his contribution on organics back in the last century. But still not a peep. Now if that was the old bull Trewavas....(more on Prof. Trewavas next week, as I describe my first experience of the organic industry's original and best béte noir).
For any of the general  journalists that view my site, you might be interested in interviewing Whittaker about the current hot and delicate subject of stem cell research. You can read what he recently has to say in this paper -   http://www.ccels.cardiff.ac.uk/launch/whittakerpaper.html and also find his contact details. And if you do, would you ever ask him what he thinks about organics today? And tell him too, if he wants to know anything about the bio-ethics of stem cell research, ask me!

The Meatrix  No, its not a mispelling - not the recent sci-fi film which I had the misfortune to choose to see on one of my rare visits to the city, but a wonderful little cartoon spoof of the pretentious trilogy, telling the story instead of the corporatisation of the food industry. It's really worth having a look at - www.themeatrix.com. I didn't think it would play on my ancient machine, but it did. Not standard video, but something to do with Flash Animation - you'd know all about that sort of thing. 
The story; Leo the pig is happily munching away in his trough when suddenly, a tall (standing upright, of course), trench-coated bull introduces himself;  'I am Moopheus" and offers Leo a choice between two pills, a pink one and a blue one......
Two million have already viewed it. Spare the five minutes and give yourself a wee treat. 

Next; Beyond Organics - a new movement. Planorganic batters the BBC. Irish environmental news etc. Oops, and yes, the Lidl thing and box schemes and.......

Tuesday 2nd December 2003
Organic side-by-side with GM!  Dr Fischler, EU Farm, Rural Development and Fisheries Commissioner, gave the keynote speech at a conference - Perspectives of Organic Agriculture in an enlarged EU - in Bulgaria on 21st November last. We should listen very, very carefully to what he had to say. See the full (as opposed to the sloppy, truncated versions that did the rounds), official version at; http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=
gt&doc=SPEECH/03/562|0|RAPID&lg=EN&display= . 
He is so bullish about organic farming in this speech that one in our camp could be tempted to shout for joy. Dr Fischler says he is "completely convinced of the potential of organic farming" and so confident about its future that he "can be on the offensive with it. "No longer is organic farming a " 'fashion' alternative to conventional methods", he enthuses, quoting the very positive growth statistics of the industry in the past few years. Herr Fischler gives the impression that the whole purpose of the reform of the CAP is to bring about a sustainable agriculture industry in which organic farming will play the largest part. And there is more good news to follow, he promises, when the European Action Plan for Organic Food and Farming, years in the making, will be published early in 2004. 
Noting a recent headline Bulgaria hopes to become Europe's organic bread basket, and the fact that the Bulgarian Minister of Agriculture had recently stated that 80% of farmland in Bulgaria is suitable for organic farming, he urges them to make use of their advantages to capitalise on opportunities for organic produce in the EU. "You've got the right climate, you've got lower labour costs than the EU-15, and you've used relatively little fertiliser and pesticides over the last decade, all of which lends itself naturally to organic agriculture. On top of this, the political support and the ambition is there too".
So why do you detect a slightly cynical note, on my part, in the foregoing? Well, that's because I'm confused by the Doctor's stance on GMOs in the very same speech. Listen to this; "We cannot talk about the perspectives for organic agriculture without also looking at the perspectives for genetically modified organisms (GMOs)", and here's the crux; "... whilst we in Europe are often quick to villify biotechnology, there are no two ways about it - it is becoming more and more common place (sic) and, managed responsibly, it also has enormous potential."(my emphasis).
Talking about "freedom to farm" and "co-existence" (of organic and GM crops), issues to be addressed in the forthcoming Action Plan, he goes on to lecture us on how GM crops can be accomodated by "introducing pollen barriers" to prevent cross-pollination, or "by using low-pollen varieties". And "further down the ladder" he suggests the grouping of different farming systems within regions. 
What on earth is he talking about? Does Dr Fischler read anything about the negative effects of GMOs? Has he not heard that organic farmers regard the introduction of GM crops as death to their livelihoods? Where is he getting his information from? Does he not realise that organics and GMOs are two mutually exclusive concepts? What organic certification body on the planet would willingly endorse GM crops? What organic farmer, processor or consumer has the slighest tolerance for GMOs? 
Dr Fischler has done much to bring about reforms in agriculture in Europe - he has earned his place in history. That he is a gifted communicator and negotiator is beyond question, but this is one square he will not - cannot - circle. Bullish about organics Fischler seems to be, but he is also bullish about GM crops. These are two completely conflicting subjects - they cannot exist side-by-side.
In the light of this unveiling of Franz Fischler's full position on organics, GMOs and the future of farming in the enlarged EU, it is incumbent upon us to keep a very close eye on the Commissioner and the upcoming Action Plan.
And for those of us who have the contacts, we should alert all interested individuals and organisations. 

Next; Is Lidl ripping us off? GM crops use more pesticide. Organic box schemes in Ireland.