News May

29th May, 2001.

George Monbiot calls for "a revolution in the laboratory" to counter the sell-out of science to Big Business. www.i-sis.org Report 29th May.

Dioxin in milk, possible, from animal pyres, says UK, Food Safety Authority. www.planetark.org

Mc Donald's magic wand. Fast food even faster with electronic payment wand. www.ireland.com

Michelin, 3-star-chef, Alain Passard, urges back-to-veggie-cuisine as a matter of "nutritional security". Opponents slag him off as a "turnip-hugging nut". www.newsweek.com. Feb. 26th.

Farmers angry at re-opening of walk-ways as totals of FMD rise again. www.guardian.co.uk

Lord Woolf, Britain's most senior judge, cries that there is a "vicious spiral of secrecy in govt." and advocates a special  court to counter "undue weight" been given to economic arguments in environmental cases. www.independent.co.uk.

The National Trust, Britain's largest land owner (600,000 acres), is pioneering an organic-type New Deal for its tenant farmers. www.thetimes.co.uk

Potatoes to be used to clean up radioactivity-contaminated soils (will they be pre-cooked and who'll eat them?) www.planetark.org

Hoof it lads - the poor mouth won't work - sell yourselves to Britain - indicates Irish Min.Tour.

In Ireland, tourism unrecoverable losses from FMD restrictions are estimated at IP2 billion (£1.5 billion). The Min. Tour., Jim Mc Daid ( Cabinet country meeting in Killarney, 28th May)  however, under pressure to compensate in full, gave the industry IP2 million  to  help it out. He argues that this figure (0.1% of losses) is "more effective than compensation"! and that it would be "a logical impossibility" to pay the whole cost (bank managers beware!). The 2 mill. is mostly to be spent on marketing in the UK.

Two suspected cases of FMD from Ireland were proved negative today. Our official score of outbreaks is still one -  in Co.Louth. Results from sheep samples from Donegal are still awaited.  Not having such facilities ourselves, we send our samples to Pirbright for analysis.

UK - Tues. May 29th The losses from FMD to tourism in the UK is estimated at £5 billion. It will be interesting to know the total cost - if it can ever be estimated - to the UK economy of "saving" farm exports worth just a few hundred million pounds. " An ill wind...." though - most of the IP2 million given to the Irish Tourist Board today for marketing will be spent on persuading the British to come to Ireland. You'll gain our punts; we gain your punters; you lose.

Total UK outbreaks are 1660 with 16 new cases since the weekend. To add injury to injury the Army slaughtered 468 cattle in North Yorkshire mistakenly and 280 correctly, belonging to one farmer on different holdings. 

Lady Emma Tennant accused the Blair government of doctoring the FMD figures so that they are under-reported by perhaps up to 400%! She also challenged that the govt., against massive professional advice to vaccinate, gave in to Ben Gill, NFU and his Scottish colleague Jim Walker.  - Her letter to the Sunday Times, 27th May.

Food coupons are being distributed to some farmers in the UK by the Royal Scottish Agricultural Benevolent Society.

Why don't  the UK and Irish tourism industries sue their governments for consequential losses etc? £7,000,000,000 is a huge cost for one industry to shoulder on behalf of another and incompetence and political interference should surely be relatively easy to prove. We suggest, to borrow Min. Jim's phrase, it is logically impossible not to seek compensation.

(Germans call FMD, "muzzle and claw disease" - Americans, more logically, call it, "hoof and mouth disease").

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22nd May 2001                            See reply from Irish Ag. Min. re Danish Conference

• UK. From being the third largest, the UK's organic market is predicted to be the biggest in Europe within five years. By 2005 the organic market will be worth almost £3 billion. This is the conclusion of a new report, Next Generation Organics, by professional food industry analysts, Data Monitor. www.datamonitor.com This is specialised info., only for those with deep pockets, such as the food giants, or govt. depts., as  the cost is over £3,000.00 per copy! By surfing our site and a few others you could have the same, if not better information, for next-to-nothing! We notice they consulted too with, Kerry Inc. Ireland. Dont' know what Kerry had to say but They wouldn't have got much shrift for organics from another, giant, Irish food corporation, mentioned below, who, to our ears proudly claim, " We have no plans for organic products in the forseeable future". And dinosaurs will never become extinct!We have a feeling too that the report fails to take into account Germany, and the urgency (like putting in a Green, Ag.Min) and the organisation (we saw it at close range, doing our own organic research last Nov.) it is applying to organic development. Even this last week, there is another example of Germany's radicalism toward changing food policies; the largest federal consumer group, BVZV, have launched a "quality offensive" for better food and are taking action against illegal, "organic" labelling. We are prepared to bet, Euros 100.00, that Germany will remain the largest organic market in Europe by 2005. Any takers at Data Monitor? Please - we need the money.

• Ireland.  The West's Awake! and leading the field again, it would seem! Another Action Plan (the current buzzwords - that's the fifth we know of in Europe and there will be more - we're not complaining however) for organic production was launched in Ireland yesterday - 21st May - by the Western Development Commission. The WDC are responsible for the western, Connaught province. Their plan was proclaimed by one of our three Ag.Mins, Eamon O Cuiv, at Mounbellew, Co. Galway, and is based on a study," Blueprint for Organic Agri-Food Production in the West" a comprehensive - and expensive! - report. The document basically tells Irish farmers to get the finger out and produce the organic goods or the increasing demand (25%++) will be met by more imports. At present, over 75% of organic food is imported and most of what we do produce is meat. So, we are probably importing over 95% of our organic fruit and vegetables and dried and processed goods. How's that for a major food exporting nation! The WDC plan aims "to capture the maximum share of the market " which means that whilst the rest of the country pursues conventional farming policies, western farmers are going to be especially helped to capitalise on the "premium" organic market. It is going to be interesting when the Rest realise we now have a two-tier agricultural policy - a progressive one for the minority West, with the prospect of higher farm incomes and all the other plusses an organic region will entail - and another, suffer-in-silence-as-you-were policy for the majority Rest. Mr Liam Scallon, of the WDC, also tells us ( RTE Radio 1, 5-7 Live, 21st May) that all the farmers in the West are almost organic anyway -  due to their claimed "less intensive practices", and the whole region is to be encouraged to "fast-track" into organic production (we're trying hard to be positive but we're getting a bad feeling about some of this!).

• Ireland. New Grant Aid Scheme for the Development of the Organic Sector, just announced - IP£ 1.2 million per year, for five years. At the official launch, in exclusive Buswells Hotel, last Tues, Ag.Min. Noel Davern, confirmed his commitment to the organic sector which he assures us is about to take "its rightful place as part of mainstream Irish agriculture". Another statement of his puzzles us too; "...in some ways we are ahead of the game in Ireland". We cannot see any way that Ireland is ahead in organic farming development. On the contrary Ireland is completely, and shamefully, down the field, in comparison with her EU neighbours, and without a massive national initiative and serious allocation of resources she will stay there!  www.irlgov.ie/daff. There was a colourful interview with Minister Davern on RTE Radio 1, Thurs. 17th May. www.rte.ie/morningireland.html  We would like to hear Min.Ag. (The Senior Minister of the three) Joe Walsh's views on the organic sector. Perhaps it is time to pressure for a complete change in food politics in Ireland along the lines proposed by food lawyer, Raymond O'Rourke, in a recent address to the UCC Food industry Partnership Board. More about this at a later stage. After all, as Einstein said; "One cannot solve a problem with the same kind of thinking that created it".

• Former beef baron, Phelan, sues current beef baron, Goodman for IP13.5 million. Expect more revelations about skullduggery in the Irish meat industry. www.farmersjournal.ie/2001/0519/home/home3.html

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15th May 2001

• Danish Organic Conference - The Action Plan. The high powered, two-day conference, ended on Friday last with a document, named the Copenhagen Declaration, signed by representatives (including Ireland's junior Ag.Min., Noel Davern) of 12 European countries. Danish Ag. Min., Ritt Bjerregaard, supported by her sister Ministers from Germany and Sweden are aiming to spearhead an organic transformation of Europe. Ms Kuenast is being asked to host a follow-up conference next year and Ms Winberg is to take the Declaration to the next EU Council meeting in Goteborg in June. In essence the declaration makes the following points; 1. Organic farming could help to substantially solve several problems together - food production, environment, animal welfare and rural development.  2. Organic production could be a major income opportunity for farmers. 3. Organic food and farming should be developed further in the EU. Several Ag.Mins were keynote speakers at the conference which was also addressed by the Danish Prime Minister, Paul Nyrup Rasmussen. There were many quality speeches guided by 9 "Themes".  The Danish Ag. Min. opened the conference with, The Need for Partnership and Action in the Development of Organic Food and Farming in Europe. Ms Bjerregaard made the point that organic farming should not just be an agricultural objective but should be seen by policy makers as having social and other objectives as well contributing to the overall welfare of society. Greepeace's, Lord Melchett, on the Nature Theme, spoke of The Benefits to Wildlife of Organic Agriculture; the Soil Association's Executive Director, Jonathan Dimbleby's slot was on Consumers' Interest in Organic Products. UK, Parliamentary Secretary, Elliot Morley, delivered a speech which was diplomatically supportive but also rather edgily  advocated "tempering vision with realism". Asking the question, "If organic farming is doing so well why do we need a European Action Plan?", he went on to warn that we may not really know what the market for organic food is and suggested there may be doubts as to whether "hard evidence about the claimed benefits(of organic food) can be gathered to change the Common Agricultural Policy." He also suggested that consumers may decide that they prefer to see organic food locally produced, sold and eaten. How would that fit, he asks, with the future operation of a Single Market?  For full texts of speeches etc visit the Danish Ag. Min's. site, www.fvm.dk .   Copyright - Planorganic.com (If our Irish Ag.Min. contributed to the debate we would like to hear about it).

• Comment

15th May.  The Danish Organic Conference, it's Action Plan and post-conference declaration is without doubt one of the great milestones in the movement towards sanity in food production. Some farm leaders are ranting like Mad Hatters against the enemy without whilst  some, more subtly, like court-Jesuits, insinuate.whilst others growl inarticulately into their conference programmes - perhaps worrying about  their next Ag.Biotech.Corps (ABCs) cheques or brown paper bags from greasy beef barons - a breath, nay a hurricane, of fresh air is beginning to blow through the corridors of agri-bureaucratic power in Europe. The three Ag. Min. sisters (Graces?) leading this move for drastic change are a powerful moral political force that will undoubtedly muscle it's admirable Action Plan onto the agendas of the highest levels of decision-maker in Europe - and get action there too - or else! We should all be grateful to those, who, like the above, are selflessly fighting the good fight for the benefit of us all.

The Danes have to be congratulated on initiating and hosting this watershed event. Although Intensive farming is still a huge industry in Denmark with considerable clout, the Danish Govt. are responding to the clearly defined will of the majority of it's people - surveys have shown this for safe food, quickly, at affordable prices. They have had Organic Action Plans themselve since 1985 so the process is not new to them. If business was their only consideration they would be keeping quiet about their organic development and reap the undoubted current and future benefits of such advantage. Is this altruism seeping into politics? Woman led! Perhaps in future the first requirement of an Ag. Min. is that she be a woman! It is finally being realized that  quality food is the front-line health service of any society and that agriculture is ultimately a social service - not an industry. We are confident that the Copenhagen Declaration is going to become a historic term every bit as familiar as the Kyoto Agreement or the tTreaty of Rome. Even the political farming dinosaurs have now got to listen to what came out of this gathering last week.

The CAP no longer fits - the GAP instead is being ushered in. (GAP=Green Agricultural Policy). 

We have heard since from Jim Boyle, Private Secretary to the Minister, as follows; "In relation to the Copenhagen Conference, and Minister of State, Davern's participation at same, there was no formal opportunity in the Agenda for the Minister of State to participate at the Conference. However he and his Officials attended the various sessions (both plenary and parallel) and took part in the discussions that followed the main speeches. The Minister of State also had direct informal discussions in the margins of the Conference with a range of delegates. The Minister of State also met with several ministerial attendees during the course of the Conference". 

• Phantom Sheep, May 15th. The Cooley Peninsula, Co. Louth, is the site of Ireland's only confirmed case of FMD. The drastic round-up and slaughter has uncovered some unsavoury facts; almost 20% of farmers there had discrepancies in their sheep numbers of over 20% - translation - a large number of farmers there are fraudulently claiming headage payments for sheep they don't have. And it gets worse! Some "farmers" (16) who claimed large payments had no sheep at all!  But not to worry, the Ag. Min. assures us that not only did the dreaded virus come across the border to infect our pristine sheep but the skullduggery itself also came from the perfidious UK leper colony and would not of course be representative of the whole country. Great to know we are still such a moral bunch really. And the farmer who was jailed for three years in Cork yesterday found guilty of injecting his cows with slurry to claim TB compo was .....? And the other Cork farmer who deliberately infected his cows with BSE was.....?  Perhaps they'd spent some time in Britain!  May 15th, Morning Ireland journalist, David Hanly, interviewing Ag.Min. Joe Walsh. www.rte.ie

• Army Brigadier accuses farmers of deliberately spreading foot and mouth disease. Retires. More than 500 cases of illegal movements of animals detected in Cumbria alone. 11th May, London.  www.thetimes.co.uk

• Farmers' leader accuses activists of deliberately spreading foot and mouth disease in UK. Enjoys holiday in Australia. NFU Pres., Ben Gill's views described as "Mad Hatter" by FoE. 14th May, Assoc. Press. and ngin@icsenglish.com Newsletter.

• 12th May 2001.  The Danish, two-day conference, Organic Food and Farming, ended yesterday. Early indications are that it was well attended and had the full complement of 350 delegates. Several European agriculture ministers were keynote speakers as was the president of IFOAM. An Irish delegation of organic producers and processors attended, sponsored by the Food Board, Bord Bia, to whom they will be reporting back. The subtitle of the conference was, Towards Partnership and Action in Europe and one of its main purposes was to launch an Action Plan for the development of organic food and farming in Europe. This particular gathering took place two years after the seminal conference in Vienna, Organic Farming in Europe. The Danish Minister of Agriculture, Fishery and Food, Ritt Bjerregaard, an organic farmer herself (she has apple orchards on Zealand) was the hostess of the conference. She is a former EU Commisssioner for the Environment and was a surprise appointment to the Danish Ministry in Feb. last year, being well known for her critical stance on the environmental problems of intensive farming. With 6% of farms now organic and already having a surplus of organic milk, Denmark is one of the leading countries in Europe in organic farming. Because of its forward looking strategic planning it is set fair to be the leader in organic production, research and technology. Already the German farming unions are anxious that if they don't get into organic farming Denmark will "steal their markets". They'll be stealing Irish markets too for a long time to come if our government and industry proceeds (maybe not the right word) at snail-rate towards organic conversion. Ach sin sceal eile. www.fvm.dk  Full report here at next update, noon, 15th May.

8th May 2001

• Organic crops and seeds sabotaged? Trials of GM maize threaten unique organic crop centre. This was the front-page headline in yesterday's Independent on Sunday. The article was by, Pol. Ed., Colin Brown and reporter Geoffrey Lean. The Ag. Bio-tech. Corp.(ABC) Aventis is planning to run a field trial of GM maize near Coventry, close to the Henry Doubleday Research Association (www.hydra.org.uk) world-famous organic seed bank, where research is carried out for MAFF and the EU amongst many others. Patrick Holden of the Soil Association describes the situation as "catastrophic". Michael Meacher, the Env. Min., responsible for sanctioning the trial in the first place, now seems to be trying to stop it, claiming he was mislead, and describing it as a "highly provocative" move. Aventis says, "Politics are now getting involved" (were they ever excluded?) and seem to have no intention of backing down.  Geoffrey Lean was recently given the Scoop of the Year Award for exposing secret GM sites. http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/story.jsp?story=70709

   

  6th May 2001

• What do you think of them apples then?" If organic produce was the same price as conventional (and it will come to pass) the organic revolution would be a shoo-in (its all them darn American sites we have to read!) because consumers trust it more. But there can be other benefits too - like taste. A recent report from the US offers gems of good news - organic apples are as cheap to produce as conventional - but they also have a knock-out taste and, of course, the usual environmental benefits. There are indeed great moves afoot but ultimately, Newman Turner's vision (but also practically proven on his large mixed farm) of healthy food, produced and sold cheaply, and prosperity and job-satisfaction for farmers and workers should be the goal. Let's have it all - because we can do it.Well reported, but first in Nature,19th April  http://www.nature.com/nsu/010419/010419-4.html Also in email Newsletter of Norfolk Genetic Information Network (ngin), 20th April http://members.tripod.com/~ngin

• "Be wise gardeners of your Eden" Guess where this romantic/Biblical exhortation comes from? Sorry! You're completely wrong. Its USDA - the US Dept. of Agriculture. This is part of the opening sentence; "...we need to become more actively aware of the full extent to which our futures, like those of all organisms, are ecologically bound up with those of a larger biological whole." Tom Wakeford, 'LIAISONS OF LIFE' in SOIL FUNGI CRITICAL TO ORGANIC SUCCESS May 4, 2001, USDA Agricultural Research Service. Reported by Norfolk Genetic Information Network (ngin), http://members.tripod.com/~ngin And some said last week we were premature in heralding a "revolution" in food production, We're afraid we may be in the rearguard rather than the vanguard with these sorts of sentiment issuing from all over the place - even from Governments and their agencies!

• What promises to be a milestone in the modern organic revolution, a conference, Organic Food and Farming,  is to be held in Copenhagen in May. Its main theme is to discuss and propose an Organic Action Plan for Europe. It is hosted by the Danish Minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, Ms Ritt Bjerregaard and partners. www.fvm.dk  Dates:  May 8th - 11th. We will have a full report in mid-May. We were hoping to send someone there but approached the wrong people for sponsorship, supermarkets, food industry giants, Irish Dept. Agriculture, (the only ones we didn't get any reply from!) We were glad to discover that an Irish delegation finally registered for the conference, expenses-supported by organic-in-conversion Bord Bia - the Irish Food Board. www.bordbia.ie

• "Recognising and realising the potential of organic agriculture" is the title of an important paper read at the Global Agriculture 20/20 conference in England last week. The underlying theme is that organic agriculture could outperform conventional farming if sufficient resources, especially in R&D, were given to the sector.The author is Prof. Martin Wolf of Elm Farm Research Centre, www.efrc.co.uk  We wish that the executive in charge of New Product Development in one of Ireland's major food corporations, to whom we spoke this week, could read and take notice of this paper - he told us;  "They had no plans for any organic products in the near future". Their share price, incidentally(!), is the scandal of the Irish economy - after Eircom of course.

• Evergreen Revolution (as opposed to, or an extension of, the Green Revolution?) is a term coined by pro-GM, Indian scientist, M.S. Swaminathan, at the Global Agriculture 20/20 conference in Norwich, in April. Fluorescent Green Revolution was heard said by us to be the more appropriate term for the products he advocates! Norfolk Genetic Information Network, email newsletters, will keep you up to date  on all GM and some organic, matters. Subscribe, ngin@icsenglish.com

• But much more interesting than the above was the alternative meeting at the Univ. of Essex, evening of the same day, Feeding or Fooling the World?  http://members.tripod.com/~ngin  Among the many stimulating speakers there was Percy Schmeiser, the Canadian farmer recently prosecuted by Monsanto,  who has become an articulate and passionate spokesman on anti-GM issues. He was recently bestowed with the Gandhi Award and has featured in a major TV documentary. www.percyschmeiser.com 

• Guinness exported from Ireland contains high levels of fluoride and may be illegal in some countries. www.fluoridefree.com  What price now "Guinness is good for you"? Republic of Ireland is now the world's most fluoridated country! Northern Ireland, in contrast, due in no small degree to the tireless campaigning and gift-of the-gab, of locally employed  American, Walter Graham, is now almost fluoride-free.

• B&Q, the largest home and garden suppliers in the UK (30% of market) have declared themselves a "peat-free zone".  www.foe.co.uk  Press release 16th April. We will be writing further on this and the implications for the open-cast mining of Ireland's peatland. 

• We must clarify what we mean by "organic". It is a term being interchangeably used with "sustainable", "natural", "extensive" etc and is causing considerable confusion. Anti-organic propaganda often claims that  "organic farming" will not feed the world. They may be right! Organic farming as largely understood and practiced in the Western world may not be the solution to world hunger -  but sustainable agriculture might! We try to explain the various terms in Articles, Defining Farming Systems

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Snippets

• We will be first  again - as we were with the Danish Organic Conference last week - with another report. This time it will be  a major expose of a sinister organic group. Not everything in the organic garden is always rosy and with even the best of movements there can be those who cynically exploit it for their own ends. There is a lot of wonderfully encouraging news about organic food and farming developing at present but there are also some dark corners that threaten to bring organics into disrepute - we will throw some light on these.

• At the Swedish gathering of European Min. Ags. in April no one commented on the fact that the home area of the Swedish Min. was 50% organic. Lots of talk though about misfortunate, frothing-at-the- mouth farm animals and how to slaughter, burn or bury them in their millions. And Ms Winberg had hoped that the farm heads would "reflect informally on the future of farming and how it could be safe, sustainable and ethical"!

• We have an interesting item coming up soon on " Project Carrot", the multi-million pound, "centre of organic excellence", being planned in the UK. All in the garden, it would appear, is not as it seems.

• The Ecologist has a new notice board,The Exchange, which is free for NGOs, charities, individuals and campaign groups. www.theecologist.org  Other publishers e.g. Soil  Association, might copy?

• "Our investigations thus far from the 2000 harvest lead us to believe that virtually all of the seed corn in the United states is contaminated with at least a trace of genetically engineered material, and often more. Even the organic lots are showing traces of biotech varieties." David Gould, Farm Verified Organic, a leading US organic certifier. www.cropchoice.com

• Competition!  Women to save European Agriculture? There are three women European ministers of agriculture at present and two of them are organic farmers! Answers are in this website. Win a prize of a book on the enigmatic Celtic, Sheela na Gig, female figures, by emailing us with the names and full ministerial titles of the women politicians: info1@planorganic.com  Include full name and address. First correct one, picked out of the hat by Dorothy, our local librarian, on 1st June, wins. Slainte.

• One of the largest Irish food corporations has no plans in the immediate future for organic products. Guess which? No prizes!

• Its annoying, if not dishonest, that articles on organic wine never seem to mention the high levels of copper sulphate used as a fungicide (current Living Earth mag. from Soil Association). We only drink organic wines ourselves but are well aware that there may be a problem with fungicide residues. We know organic wine producers who agonise over this problem. The use of copper sulphate on organc tomatoes also, especially under cover, also needs re-examination. We will have an article on this subject shortly.

• Profits last year from Duchy Originals, one of Prince Charles' organic businesses, were £500,000. Of this, £400,000 went to charities helping farmers affected by the FMD outbreak.  www.princeofwales.gov.uk 

• Know your ABCs! The acronym ABC, standing for Ag. Biotech. Corporations, originally coined by ourselves, is increasing in use.

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Revolution in the air

Revolution is a term that makes a lot of people uneasy. And perhaps particularly when it is mentioned on the 1st May. But it is the only term that fits what is happening within the agricultural world today. 

For thousands of years all  farming was organic In just the last 60 years, a blink in the eye of history, agriculture has suffered an industrial revolution. Utterly inappropriate factory methods were applied to the most complex and most essential of natural processes, the growing of food and the rearing of animals. Despite its puny life-span, this "modern farming" has caused incalculable damage to economies, the environment and human health. The AgBiotech.Corps - the ABCs -  in pursuit of their own ambitions to monopolise world food supplies, are trying to give the kiss of life to this failing, industrialised agriculture. They too are coming a cropper: see www.members.tripod.com/~ngin 

Both industries might still prevail, they have after all massive resources to spend on public relations (propaganda by any other name), but it is extremely unlikely. They are trying to hold back the tide of public opinion.  Backlash against organic food  They have lost the consumer however, particularly the Euro-consumer, and others are following, in the US and all over the world.

For goodness sake, we urge them,  the farming and ABC industries, to stop the misery, expense and waste, adapt to this new world situation and help restore farming and food in the good graces of the public. Contrary to what has been said, sustainable agriculture is not anti-science. In fact it needs science in no small measure. Cuba has, for example, mostly achieved its astonishing successes in organic farming through spending more resources, especially scientific, on organic research than all other countries combined.  www.theecologist.org/Cuba.html  It is a tad ironic that Cuba's original attempts to export socialist revolution were destructive, expensive failures, as indeed was there indigenous, Soviet-style collectivisation of agriculture, but now, almost by accident, they have a home-grown(!) one that could sweep the world. We should all be putting our political prejudices aside (not that organic is party-line policy yet in Cuba) and  beating a path to their door,  as some more astute have already done. http://www.foodfirst.org/cuba/success.html Despite the economic rationale however it is perhaps a little premature to expect  American multi-national, agri-business companies especially to race into employing Green Guevaras in their new-product development labs! 

Factory farming has been experiencing terrible press recently but the expertise of conventional farmers is essential in the coming transformation of farming. They should have no fear of this "new" movement. Organic methods are essentially good animal and crop husbandry technigues that were practised by our forbears for millenia. Organic farming today is not the hippy, dippy, back-to-nature thing it was in the recent past to some degree (we should be very grateful and perhaps more respectful to those farmers/gardeners, hippy or otherwise who, against strong opposition, did keep more natural farming methods alive). Organic farming is the food business at its very best - how it should be - and anybody in the business of producing food who ignores its extraordinary growth rates and the consumer demand that drives it will deservedly go the way of the dinosaurs. 

Viva la Revolucion!

Action Plans

The name of our website, planorganic.com,  seems to be particularly fortuitous. Despite the doomsday gloominess of the present agricultural industry, particularly in the UK, there are signs of a new dawn as several organic "plans" are being proposed. 

Three years ago we tried to get the Irish media and government interested in an Organic Plan for Ireland, a green agricultural policy (lets go for the GAP! ). We were definitely premature then - there was no one at home - and probably still aren't, despite some current discussions with organic certifying groups. Ireland will almost certainly lead from behind on organic issues - slavishly copy-catting where the UK and the EU lead. Their vision-challenged attitude will lead to a dithering time-lag, ensuring that others, like our arch-competitor Denmark, will benefit much more from the organic revolution. The industry and government is too conservative, insular and CAP-in-hand opportunistic for it to take any kind of innovative steps or assume leadership. It is astonishing that a country as reliant on agriculture is turning a relative blind eye on the fastest-growing agricultural movement ever seen. The Green Party in Ireland however has recently come up with an Organic Plan and we wish them every success with it but it is almost guaranteed that it will be more of an uphill battle here than anywhere else in Europe.

In the midst of the present UK agricultural carnage, the Soil Association has also come up with a well-thought-out Organic Plan.There is so much more happening in  Britain than in Ireland on the organic front; political initiatives, the historical heritage of organic pioneers, very lively and effective NGOs, large, efficiently-run organic farms, the not-insignificant fact of a trail-blazing Royal demonstrating first-class examples of successful organic businesses and so on. All this, combined with a populace sickened by food scares and sceptical of government's ability to ensure the safety of their food, provides a ripe opportunity for initiatives such as the S.A. plan.(Articles - The Killing Fields).

But there is even more happening in Europe. Following the recent, radical, pro-sustainable farming declarations from Germany's, Schroeder, his new Agriculture Minister, Ms Renate Kuenast, Farm Commissioner, Franz Fischler and many others, this bodes well for a concerted, Euro-wide movement to drastically reform the Common Agriculture Policy. Finally  the people of Europe may get what they should have had as a right in the first place - healthy food they can trust at prices they can afford.

Denmark, however is the one leading the field again in agricultural innovation. The  Danish Ministry for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries is hosting a conference in May where the main agenda is to try to forge an Organic Action Plan for Europe. www.fvm.dk . 

In order to solve world hunger there has to be political will. Equally to solve the problem of a hunger for trustworthy food there has to be a lead from politicians. The Danish initiative is a strong sign that its coming. 

Growth in Organic Problems

Organic farming, as a type of sustainable farming, is being demanded by the consumer in the West in answer to appalling animal welfare abuses and disease, the contamination of our food chain with chemicals, GMOs and pharmaceuticals  and the degrading of our environment.

These industries, largely the Agricultural Bio-tech.Corporations, or ABCs, are responding to the perceived  threat of this new agricultural revolution by  funding anti-organic initiatives throughout the world’s media. In our opinion they are wasting their money and resources, Canute-like, trying to hold back a flooding tide. There are signs however that they are coming onboard but in the meantime we have to try to continue with their edification and that of other vested interests with our comparatively miniscule financial means but with the strength of conviction. 

It will be part of  our job here, in co-operation with other organisations doing good work in this area, to counter such anti-organic propaganda, promote sustainable/organic food production and advance the day that we can trust our food again.

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