9th February, 2002

Seeds of Change. Those of you that read this site and grow for a living will find updated sources for seed supply on the Products page. For further UK (over 50 suppliers listed) and European suppliers, see the the 'European databank of organic plants and seeds',  www.organicxseeds.com/en/db/anbieter.htm. 

Organic Matters doesn't matter - to some at least. Skin and hair, all organic of course, is sure to fly at the AGM of the Irish Organic Farmers and Growers Association (IOFGA) on 24th February in Portlaoise. For a start, there is anger over the abandonment of the EGM on the 13th Jan because of someone's administrative negligence. No one's talking to me, but it is obvious that in view of falling membership and income, the perception of watered-down standards, high symbol fees and lack of communication there is deep, underlying dissatisfaction between the members of the Association and the administration and that things are going to come to a head at this AGM. To add fuel to the flames - or to deflect attention from elsewhere (all these meetings have their Machiavellian intrigues) a motion is going to be proposed that the IOFGA official magazine, Organic Matters, be axed because of its "financial drain on the company." The motion will be proposed by the recently-resigned chairperson, Mgt Leahy and seconded by her husband. A spirited defense of the magazine, which many would regard as the most successful and admired venture of IOFGA, is practically guaranteed. 
The caretaker chairperson, Michael Hickey, is urging members to attend the AGM. "If it matters to you that IOFGA has no public voice or if you believe that being a member is a dead loss, now is the time to have your views heard."
The meeting will start in the Montague Hotel at 11am.

Rabobank take over Irish Robber Bank.The Irish bank minnow, the Agricultural Credit Corporation, has been taken over by the huge Dutch bank, Rabobank. The Dutch institution is the largest food and agri-business bank in the world with 140 outlets in 38 countries. It finances over 90% of the Dutch horticultural market and it has assets of about E 17 billion, which are owned, not by shareholders, but by a members' co-op. Which I suppose all adds up to the fact that it's a very big player and it really just wants big accounts - and helathy ones at that - it's telling the ACC what it can do with its multi-million bad, or near-bad, accounts.      
It also plans to cut back on some of the ACC staff but will keep the 40 Irish premises open. 
Having had full-frontal contact with the miserable ACC back in the '70s and '80s, when they behaved towards indebted farmers like Hell's Kitchen loan-sharks, I shed no tears at  their passing. Such a shame though that the staff, particularly the craven managers from those decades who actually twisted the thumbscrews, will benefit so much - apparently, Euro 50,000 each on average. The farmers that they bullied and bludgeoned, and whose very life-blood kept them in their jobs, are not to benefit of course. Somebody should write the true history of those times when the financial survival of the country rested on the knife-edge of how much the farmers could be forced to pay back - at interest rates that were sometimes as high as 25%! If just the proportion of the £3 billion farmers' debt owed to Allied Irish Bank then were reneged on at the time we wouldn't be standing around agape today at that institute's mere embarassment at a $750 million write-off. Remember when we bailed out AIB with £100 million of taxpayers' money when it was going down the tubes over the failed insurance company? Where is the equity that we should have got for that? Banks - They stink! Do we really need them at all? In the middle ages people were burned at the stake for such usury. Now they are lords of the universe.

Food is the Key to Health. Coinciding with the release of Sir Don Curry's report on the Future of Food and Farming last week another report was published - Why Health is the Key for the Future of Food and Farming. Authored by Prof Tim Lang and Dr Geof Rayner of the Centre for Food Policy at Thames Valley University,  it  says that, "Health is often an afterthought in policy decisions on farming and food when it should be central - It is time that the food supply chain stopped passing the costs of ill-health on to society -  farming and food policy should give equal weight to both human and environmental health". 
I heartily agree. I wrote emphatically on this point in my essay, The Killing Fields  some years ago. 
The full Curry report is 59 pages long and can be downloaded in pdf form but the press release is substantial and covers the main points.  www.foodpolicy.co.uk/foodpolicy/docs/press%20release.html 

Have your GM cake and eat it? "The way GM food is tested for safety in Europe must be improved before any new GM plants are declared fit for human consumption." This is one of the surprising conclusions of a report published this week by the Royal Society, the UK's foremost scientific society. 
Going on to say that, ".genetic modification might lead to unpredictable and harmful changes in the nutritional status of the food", it drops the further bombshell that formula baby foods might particularly be at risk!
Its indictment continues by stating that there might also be a danger of "allergies to workers in food industries". 
In a final conclusion, the report delivers a devastating blow to the US-led pressure on the EU to relax its restrictions on GM food imports. It concludes that the American 'substantial equivalence' approach to GM food - i.e. no need to test, as GM foods are almost the same as ordinary food -  "might disguise the presence of unknown toxins, anti-nutrients, or allergens and should not be acceptable in the UK or the rest of  Europe where rigorous testing should apply."
These aspects of the report have been hailed, predictably enough, as a substantial  breakthrough in the GM debate by environmental and anti-GM groups. 
However, continually restated throughout the report is the rider,  "...there is no reason to doubt the safety of foods made from GM ingredients that are currently available, nor to believe that genetic modification makes foods inherently less safe than their conventional counterparts."
I think the only charitable interpretation of the foregoing is that this is the labyrintine way that august British institutions say; "We were wrong". 
The press release is available at, www.royalsoc.ac.uk/templates/press/showpresspage.cfm-m?file=2002020400.txt Full report - PDF file at,  http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/files/statfiles/document-165.pd/

Big Brother is Watching. I came across a letter recently in the Irish Examiner - 24th Jan. It was from a Declan O'Brien of grandiosely-named, Animal and Plant Health Association with an address at 8, Woodbine Park, Blackrock, Co. Dublin. The letter, in typical corporate-public-relations-speak (some of the language and ideas are not a million miles away from the views of my special friend, Monsanto apologist, Prof Trewavas) was in response to criticisms of pesticides aired by an Examiner journalist. 
I feel quite insulted - after all I've said against pesticides both here and in print - I've never heard from Declan and the APHA. Do I not rate?
I think I'll write and complain to him/them and ask to be watched in future. They/he have/has a website, www.apha.ie. As an antidote to the whiff of drugs and chemicals and corporate spin I would suggest a follow-up visit to the Pesticides Action Network site at, www.pan-uk.org and perhaps a ponder at this page in particular, www.pan-uk.org/press/cotopen.htm where you will  hear about the beginnings of a UK, Food Safety Agency official investigation into the potential toxic effects of cocktails of pesticides and veterinary medicines - Mr O'Brien's customers' products. 

Cow Shit. Here am I scrabbling around in  websites trying to earn a living whilst all around me here on the Peninsula are mountains and pits of gold. The precious substance I refer to is - cow shit. Normally I am offered it free - even delivered and spread - there is so much of it. But I see in a Dutch/Irish garden catalogue from Bakker that, when dried and pelletted the stuff becomes really quite valuable - Euro 22.79 per 10kg. That's E 2,279 per ton or, at the recommended application rate of 10kg per 100 sq metres, E 2,279 per hectacre. My calculations further show that the average cow could produce 5 tons of dried dung per annum = Euro 11,395. And in the meantime you can drink their milk and eat their young. Holy cow! That's an economic beast!

Food for Thought. Perhaps there is no stronger indication that organic is emerging into the main stream than for organic products to be made available in vending machines. Jordans, producers of organic snack bars and Yeo Valley are making their products available in vending machines in schools. For full story see; http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/food_and_drink/features/story.jsp?story=117806

ABC- abc. Followers of this column will be aware of my use of the abbreviation/acronym ABC, to denote the Agricultural Biotechnology Corporations - Monsanto et al. I was hoping that it would be taken up by activists as a universal term. To an extent it has; however I now see that the Bios themselves have hi-jacked the term. A sextet of the ABCs have formed themselves into the Agricultural Biotechnology Council, or  'abc'. The big Bios involved are Monsanto, Aventis, BASF, Dow Agro Sciences, Dupont and Syngenta. Am awaiting their press release. In the meantime however I have been informed that the following is attributed to them; "Clearly we have not done ourselves justice in providing good information, valid information to allow a balanced debate." (sic).

Other GM nuggets. Superweeds sweep Canadian prairies. http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/story.jsp?story=118268 
Il Papa says no to GMOs. www.ngin.org.uk 03/02/'02.
Monsanto shows loss following dumping by Pharmacia. www.ngin,org.uk 07/02/02.

Rosie the Organic Chicken. Talking about nuggets, Rosie the Organic Chicken is big in the US. She is the leading, organic chicken brand on the west coast. An incubation of Petaluma Poultry Processors Inc., Rosie's goose was about to be cooked as her company got into financial difficulties, but now her bacon has been saved by the cocky, American Capital Strategies company. Organic Trade Services Newsline ON 3.5. www.organicts.com 

1st February, 2002

England to be a greener and pleasanter land. There is no doubting what the big story this week is; The Report of the Policy Commission on the Future of Farming and Food.
You can guess the conclusions of the report from the fact that organisations like the the Soil Association and the Council for the Preservation of Rural England welcome it with expressions such as, ' a landmark document', and 'a signpost towards a greener future'.
Equally indicative of its far-reaching vision and radicalism is the fact that Ben Gill of the National Farmers' Union  is completely against it. See what he has to say here - www.nfu.org.uk/pr/4023890/290102.htm. 
There's quotations and excerpts from the report all over the shop but go to   www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/farming/pdf/PC%20Report2.pdf  for the Full Monty. But be warned - its an 8MB, PDF file (Acrobat stuff) and its152 pages take ages to download - at least at my miserable, Eircom down-load speed of 28,000kps.
Let's not be even the least bit carping about this report - it really is a milestone in agricultural development - a breakthrough - what all of us in our wildest dreams could not have predicted just a few years ago. Listen to these excerpts?
'The farming and food industry is unsustainable in every sense of that word. It is serving nobody well.'
'Farming has become detached from the rest of the economy and the environment.' 
'The objective should be to ....reconnect farming with its market and the rest of the food chain: to reconnect the food chain with the countryside: and to reconnect consumers with what they eat and how it is produced.'
'The vision is for a profitable and sustainable agriculture ... internationally competitive ...(where it is ) a good steward of the environment and provides healthy food to people in England and around the world.'
'The Dept of Health, the FSA and DEFRA should come together to produce a strategy on all aspects of encouraging healthy eating...'
'We recommend that efforts be made to establish EU-wide agreements on the raising of animal welfare standards in Europe.'
'We believe that ongoing support for organic farming - targetted on its environmental benefits - is justified'
'We recommend the development of a strategy for organic food production that looks at issues such as research, development, standards and marketing.'
A major recommendation, controversial and already much-discussed, is the complete overhaul of the CAP. Around this discussion we will become used to hearing new-coined terms like, 'modulation payments' and 'digressions'. 
It is a complicated and wide-ranging report and I can only barely touch on it here - a careful reading of the broadsheets - if you don't download - will help to give a balanced overview.
Elegantly written and well edited (but not perfectly - a few mistakes unfortunately - heads would have rolled in my day for less!) this is one of the most important agricultural documents ever! Although it has been received well by Mr Blair and Mgt Beckett it remains to be seen how much of its well-thought out, and indeed radical ideas, will be implemented.
Our own shower here in Ireland won't be commenting much on this document. They will be too busy kowtowing to the farmer electorate and in anycase, sure aren't we the 'Food Island'?-  where, unlike our nasty, intensive-farming, feeding-cows-to-cows neighbours, nothing but the green, green grass of home passes into our bullocks bellys - if we are swallow Bord Bia and Min Ag recent marketing speak.

More Chicken Shit.  A fight for Freedom has surfaced this last week as the largest chukkie producer in Ireland, Moy Park, has been caught passing mutton for lamb, as it were. The tricky Northern Ireland company had been selling a brand of its mega-mass-produced fowl under a Freedom Food label. Freedom Food is a registered trade mark of the RSPCA indicating a high level of animal welfare and feeding. The Society took great umbrage at the unauthorized use of its label. Moy Park's biggest customer in the UK, Tesco, has withdrawn all the offending birds and refuses to accept that it has any egg on its face as a result of the messup. 
I must check to see whether any of the Freedom brigade ended up south of the Border. Inside information anybody?

Stern Swedish Lady Commissioner Whips Irish Ass. The govt, and especially the Environment Minister, Noel Dempsey got, behind the scenes at least, a no-nonsense dressing-down from  Margot Wallstrom (pronounced Valstrumm, as we were several times reminded) the European Environment Commissioner last week. In public, a bit more velvet-gloved in her approach than Patricia McKenna Green MEP was recently on the same issue, she nevertheless indicated that if we don't get our act together promptly she will unhesitatingly bring down the wrath of sanctions and fines on our heads. Our own Marian Finucane interviewed her, 25th Jan, on national radio and if anybody had any doubts about the mettle of this charming and accomplished lady Commissioner before the interview they certainly would have no doubt after it. One of her final comments when asked would she support Ireland in its case against Sellafield; 'I am personally not in favour of nuclear power - I see no reason why we should send the environmental bill to our children and our grandchildren'.

New Internationalist. The Jan/Feb edition of the magazine is now published. The issue, which is titled, Another World Is Possible - carries a leading article by George Monbiot arguing for a parliament for the planet, a powerful essay, Might or Right, by Princeton professor, Peter Singer and, as usual, several other thoughful and humane contributions. My favourite however is,The End of the Styrofoam Strawberry. Written by Peter Rosset, Co-Director of Food First, the Institute for Food and Development Policy, www.foodfirst.org, he describes the incredible case of organic strawberry grower, Jim Cochrane of Swanton Berry Farm, who, whilst all around him are losing money and savagely fighting against farm workers' unions, makes a decent profit and looks after his employees well. He pays his migrant workers above-average wages, and, unprecedently, offers healthcare for whole families, paid holidays and workers' compensation. The lessons from this and other developments in Brazil, Cuba and elsewhere are that alternatives do work and work better than conventional agriculture. Rosset concludes by urging us to get down to work to make these alternatives a political reality.

Throwing out Trewavas garbage. A friend looking for a misplaced article from me led to me refinding Angela Ryan's fine article refuting the arguments against organic farming put forward by the eminent professor and his fellow-travellers. www.i-sis.org/i-sisnews/i-sisnews11-18.shtml .

Hypnotized by Bord Bia's mantra of 'Food Island - Food Island' and of course in thrall to his IFA supporters, our visionless Org Ag Min, Noel Davern was an uncomfortable sight to behold at the recent Green Week in Germany.  Completely oblivious to the thrust of what Renate Kuenast was saying beside him, or indeed in what's happening internationally, he could only offer the wisdom that organic food is but a niche market and implied that it will never increase to beyond 10% of overall food sales. And the Titanic reached New York on its maiden voyage after an uneventful passage!

Green Politics. On the other hand we have at least one Irish politician talking some sense in terms of food and farming issues. Cllr. Mary White, deputy head of the Green Party has been heard strongly making her case about the safety of our food. She is insisting that it be a key issue in the coming election. Standing  in the Carlow/Kilkenny costituency, she can be contacted at: marywhite@oceanfree.net for copies of her election literature.
It was suggested to me recently, possibly on foot of a little political excursion I went on during the last presidential elections, that I should stand in Tipperary South. I am, as the fellow said, 'considering my options'. 

Books, Books and More Books - but I'm not going to tell ye anything about them until I can figure out how to link to Amazon (yeah, I know - it's not rocket science - but I grew up leading my father's ploughhorse up the furrow!) and get a percentage of the click-on sales. I've lost thousands of badly-wanted moolah (dosh, UK) already whilst you have been getting your book-present ideas from me and then zooming off to Amazon. You probably were the main contributing factor to Amazon finally making a profit in this last quarter! 

Give Me Money. On the subject of money, very shortly I am going to allow anyone who dares to rent banner advertising on this page or indeed any other page if they so desire. Now, I want you all to form an orderly queue with your fistful of crisp Euros (by the way, could someone please tell me how to activate the Euro symbol on my keyboard? It's the third symbol on my '4' key) and don't knock me down in the rush. I don't believe the cynics that say that 'getting money from web surfers is like getting blood from a turnip'. 

What might have been. I had heaps of notes on other topics but I'll have to leave them to another update -must get the dinner on and mop up after last night's storm.

IOFGA attempts to explain the extraordinary. The goings-on at the Extraordinary General Meeting of the organic association last Jan 13th are explained (?) in an Open Letter to Members now on their website, www.irishorganic.ie/bulletin.html