Friday 28th February 2003
Asterisk canned. Jose Bove, the French organic farmer/activist who famously helped trash a McDonalds restaurant got a ten month jail sentence yesterday - this time for destroying a GM crop. He is appealing to President Chirac for a pardon.

Irish Government abandoning organics? As the government shops around for a €50 million plus jet to keep the Taoiseach in the style to which he is increasingly becoming accustomed (the question asked on RTE's Morning Ireland today, "Will it have a jacuzzi?" was evaded) all sorts of cries are going up about how the money could be better spent elsewhere for the benefit of our citizens.
This imminent extravagance also brings into focus the many arms of the public service that must find the € savings to slash its budgets at the command of the govt.
The agricultural agency Teagasc is one of the of those arms that has been wielding the knife with some vigour in recent months.
And where, now that some prime Teagasc real estate has been put up for sale, and staff "relocated", pray, are the cuts now aimed? 
At education of course* - the prime target of the short-sighted and stupid - and at Mellows College in Galway in particular, with its certified organic farm and its newly-developed accomodation and facilities for agricultural courses. 
Having chewed the cud on the problem for the last few weeks, the Teagasc Board is expected to deliver the chop to Mellows as an organic education facility at its meeting next Wednesday.
The news on the street now is that the farm will be retained for "research purposes" - a short-term sop to the organic community - and the college buildings be turned into "research offices" at the cost of € 1 million or more!
There is a whiff in the air too, that rather than Mellows be a "Centre of Organic Excellence", when the organic land  has been allowed to revert to its former status, it may become a Centre of GM Crops Excellence. 
And if you think that is far-fetched, see what Dr Liam Downey, former Director of Teagasc, had to say on the future of GM research in Ireland - Archived Weekly News, Nov 2001.

*A saving today could mean enormous catch-up costs later on. Where is the  far-sightededness that brought us to invest so cleverly, and massively, in IT technology and training?
 In shameful contrast, see Austria's and Andalucia's massive investments in organic agriculture and education announced in the last few months.

Support Ireland's only (barely) surviving organic college. The Organic College, Dromcollogher, Co. Limerick is to have a fund-raising day on Saturday, April 5th to help it provide basic facilities. There will be a choice of courses over the day. Tea and lunch, organic of course, will be included in the day-fee. Contact Jim McNamara at www.organiccollege.com  for further details.

Tuesday 25th February 2003
Prating about taties. Potatoes are in the news again following the Tegasc/IFA conference at Goughs in Kildare last week. Before being heckled (now a ritual whenever Ag Mins appear) by Irish Farmers Association members, Noel Treacy*, Junior Min Ag, appraised us of the fact that we are still the biggest consumers of potatoes in the EU. Very comforting to know that we each eat 1,456 lbs of taties per annum. This is a huge figure, but it does take into account processed junk food products (in my talk last September at Dromcollogher, on The History of the Potato in Ireland, I showed that a labourer in pre-Famine Ireland eat almost four times that amount, usually "shkins an' all"- none of which were in the form of chips or crisps!).
But compared to just a few years ago when we were net exporters of potatoes it seems we now import more than 40% of our requirements. This is a bother to IFA's Ruaidhri Deasy who implied that these are being passed off as Irish. He called on the government to "tackle the mislabelling of potatoes". 

He might be more gainfully employed urging his members to grow import substitution varieties,

*RTE presenter on 5 - 7 Live last week, asked if interviewer had asked the Org Min Noel "if he was rushing off to the Dail". Will the poor man ever be let alone over that speeding offence in the state car?

Sante from the Holy Land? Talking about labelling; Northern Ireland company, Wilson's Country Potatoes, are a major wholesaler and distributor of pre-packed potatoes in the Republic, especially to the Musgraves/SuperValu chain. I have my gripes about their "Fertiliser Free" potato range* but not about their organic line. When the latter were first launched, I praised the product (the packaging, not the taste) to the heavens.The presentation, in 2.5 kg recycled paper bags, with light-excluding side-window, was ideal, I ventured.
However, I was alerted to the fact that for months now they have been selling the variety Sante with the country of origin as "ROI"- that is, our goodselves. Some correspondents thought there were no substantial quantities of this variety grown organically or otherwise in the 26 counties and that perhaps the ROI stood for Israel! The variety is widely grown, both conventionally and organically, in Israel.
Marks&Sparks, for example, in Ireland, stock organic Sante from the Republic of Israel.
Sorry to dissillusion the conspiracy theorists and/or potential boycotters, but I have been assured by IOFGA today that the organic potatoes do originate in Ireland.
Thirty acres were grown last year by conventional growers, Kilberry Farms, on Denis O'Mahoney's certified land at Besborough, Balroth, Navan. This type of partnership arrangement is increasingly seen in an attempt to satisfy the demands of the market. Sadly, O'Mahoneys land may not be available for organic crops this year.
Anyone to step into the breach?

Comment. Having been a commercial grower myself once (and still growing my own organic crop) - I keep a keen eye on the market for the humble spud. It is well nigh impossible to get "good" potatoes in the shops in Ireland any longer. "Good" by Irish country tastes are dry, floury potatoes with a bit of flavour. But even the few traditional main-crop varieties like Records, Kerrs Pinks and Golden Wonders that we still grow, no longer taste like they should because of the huge amounts of fertilisers and other chemicals used to grow them. They could also be a danger to human health because of the widespread, dangerous practice of spraying the deadly toxin, paraquat, to kill off haulms just before harvesting. Of course the same applies to the other varieties like Nicola, King Edwards, Maris Piper etc that the urban consumer seems to favour. 
To give them their due, Wilson's organic Sante and Nicola have always been well graded and clean but they don't rate for taste, in my opinion.
I am still eating my black spuds, the Nega Taties from the Shetlands, which are nutritionally superb and taste sublime. Several neighbours are getting good crops of them too and even prefer them to the Golden Wonder. Praise indeed!
Surely there must be a market for growing quality potatoes that we like, and if the organic acreage isn't there, in a half-way manner that substitutes good FYM for the chemical fertilisers, cuts down on sprays and  cuts out completely the use of paraquat. 
It's back really to producing what the consumer wants. Wilson's have paved the way. Why don'ts Irish growers do the same? 

* Could anyone tell me how many hundreds of gallons of slurry per acre you would have to apply to substitute for the chemical "bag manure"?

GM yes-man Byrne slapped down. One of our men in Brussels, EU Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner, David Byrne, argued for a lifting of the ban on GM crops at an Agriculture Council meeting in Brussels last Thursday.
Byrne argued that new authorisation procedures could begin now since the Council has agreed on measures governing the labelling and traceability of GMOs, even though the new rules have yet to become law.
Agriculture ministers from EU countries opposed to the authorisation of new genetically modified organisms (GMOs), were having none of it and have restated their objection to the lifting of a five year, de facto moratorium.
The countries that opposed the Commissioner are, Germany, France, Greece, Belgium, Luxembourg and Austria. Their objection was on the grounds that "new authorisations should not be granted until new laws are in place."
Renate Kunast, German Ag Min, said; "Germany starts from the principle that the moratorium will only be lifted once the rules on the origin and labelling have come into force.'
In the same meeting, ministers also looked at issues surrounding the question of "co-existence", the practice of growing GM crops near GM-free crops and the related issues of cross contamination.
The debate also focused on the economic consequences for organic farmers whose crops had been contaminated by GMOs.
According to Franz Fischler, EU Agriculture Commissioner: 'This will be particularly important once the authorisations of new GMOs resume...(my italics).

Oregon Organics. A funny thing happened to me today as I weighed up the cheese selection in my local shop. I met a man from Oregon, a Professor of Linguistics. He was from the city of Eugene, pop.200,000, just in from the Pacific coast. In a few minutes of conversation he gave me vivid mind-pictures of his state and community. Oregon's coastal strip is not unlike ourselves it seems in terms of geoghraphy and weather. 
Of course I asked him about the organic scene there. Lots of organic produce in the shops, Russ reports, but it is the farmers' markets that are really on the go. 
One particularly interesting bit of news was that a large, popular organic restaurant, Bon Marche, consult with their grower/suppliers during the "fall" and arrange varieties and delivery dates for the coming year. 

Tesco cheating on cheese? I commented on the great value of Tesco's organic range of cheeses last year. Their organic brands were the cheapest cheeses in Ireland - bar none! As little as € 6 per kg. This was possible because of the European glut of organic milk which depresed prices.
Now, that same product is € 9.93 per kg. That's an increase of over 65% in one year. And the glut is still there.
No wonder they are shy of publishing their huge Irish profits separately! 

Certifying body resuscitated. Last Autumn it looked as if the largest Irish organic certifying body, IOFGA, were going to implode, what with an inspectors' strike, falling membership, board members shopping on one another, wobbly financial affairs and gossip and innuendo flying about the place. Now, most appears to have been sorted. Memberships may still be haemorrhaging - in fairness, not altogether IOFGA's fault - but finances have been largely stabilised and the inspectors' strike has now been settled - "all demands met" according to one of the happy seven. Hey ho!
IOFGA have shown their mettle too by dealing with a complex case of "standards infringements" involving a major organic business in Cork. They have, after a lengthy appeals process, taken the unprecedented step of revoking the processing license of Marc O'Mahony of the Organic Shop in the English Market, Cork. The business is still open but I understand that the case has now been passed to the Dept. of Agriculture, "the competent authority", to enforce the closure of the business. 

Monday 24th February 2003
Weapons of mass deception I hailed the introduction of the US Dept. Agriculture's new organic standards last year. On paper, they appeared to be the best around and were enthusiastically welcomed by organic groups throughout the US and beyond. Early last night, I was speaking to an Irish organic farmer and, in comparison to the glum situation for organics in Ireland, was holding up the example of the burgeoning industry - 25% growth etc - in Europe and the US. I should have touched wood. 
Shortly afterwards I came across a news item from the US, www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2003/February/16/local/stories/04local.htm  - which reminded me that the forces of reaction are ever present, and powerful, particularly in a regime which is patently anti-environment not to mention war -mongering.
Last week a Federal Spending Bill was before Congress. It was huge - $ 397 billion - and complex, covering everything from Education to Medicare. At the last minute a small addition was made. This allows that, where the cost of organic feed is twice conventional, organic livestock producers may in part, or whole, substitute non-organic ingredients.
The Bill was passed by Congress and the Senate. 
Democrats claim that a Republican, who owes a favour to a large chicken business for a campaign contribution, was responsible. Organic organisations throughout the country are up in arms over what they see as a gross deception and a dilution of organic standards and moves are afoot to negate the provision. 
Some supporters of the amendment say that the opposition is scare-mongering as the cost of organic feed is in fact close to conventional.

Would that organic feed be that cheap in Ireland.

Tuesday 18th February 2003 
Boost to Irish organics  In a time of threats to organic training and education in Ireland, there is at least some positive news from the West. A coalition of organic groups have been awarded a grant of € 20,000 to develop a training programme and to extend and strengthen the organic networks in the seven western counties and across the border. The resultant programme has to be submitted by the 4th April and will, if accepted, be eligible for 75% grant-aid. Anyone who would like to contribute to the process are asked to contact, leitrimorganic@hotmail.com. Speak to John McCauley there. Click here for full details.

Possible blow to Irish organics. The Teagasc Board meets again this Wednesday and Mellows College may be on the agenda. There was a flurry of activity at the College last week when the Director of Teagasc, Jim Flanagan, accompanied by his Head of Research paid a day-long visit. There is only speculation at this stage as to what way they are going to decide in relation to Mellows, and what concerns us most, its organic programmes. See my items below and recent articles in the Irish Times by Lorna Siggins. Also the Irish Examiner article, Teagasc about-turn on organic farm is baffling by David Storey, www.organicmattersmag.com, click on Organic Diary. 

The politics of food and farming. New Internationalist magazine has this as its theme this month, Jan/Feb.
There is, in addition, an excellent presentation in the form of a poster of Ten Myths about World Hunger. Example:
Myth 4. It's a trade-off: the environment or food. 
Reality: Industrial agriculture is degrading soil and undercutting our food production sources. Environmentally sound alternatives can be more productive than destructive ones.

www.newint.org 

Saturday 15th February 2003
Get your organic thoughts in. Say everything you want to say about organic farming and its future on this EU site. http://europa.eu.int/comm/agriculture/consultations/organic/index_en.htm. 
But before March 16th!
At the address, you will find a consultation document for a European action plan for organic food and farming. The process has apparently been going on since the Danish Organic Conference of May 2001 (about which, yours truly broke the news back in the early days of this site - search the Archive). 
You are invited to participate in the process: "In order to develop an Action Plan containing concrete proposals, the Commission invites stakeholder organisations and citizens to submit reactions as well as further ideas." 
The mills of Brussels grind exceedingly slowly and a report is not promised until the end of 2003, but it would be a grossly missed opportunity not to have an input. 
And don't forget to state the case for more organic agriculture education and facilities
Interestingly, it is claimed on the above site that organic farming now represents 3% of European production. Approximately, therefore, the EU organic average is four times the Irish figure! And, if we don't get our fingers out, and muy rapido at that, we'll struggle miserably to catch up whilst countries like Austria and Denmark wipe the floor with us.

Thanks to Padhraig for drawing this document to my attention.

Thursday 13th February 2003
Say it with organic flowers. For those who still want to mark Valentine's Day with flowers, but worry that they should give a gas mask and surgical gloves with them because of their chemical-intensive cultivation, there is an alternative. Organic Bouquet supplies 31 varieties of tulips and roses for the romantic day.The only catch is, they are in California! So, perhaps just for my few Sunshine State visitors, you can contact the florist at www.organcicbouquet.com. Guaranteed USDA certified. Have a nice day.
Closer to home, organic chocolate is widely available, and you could do worse than have the luscious, artfully-packaged (not organic though) Skellig Chocolates from our neighbouring peninsula in the southwest, www.skelligschocolate.com. 

Around the World. The Mellows College article I wrote on the 31st January was taken up by Organic Trade Services and Organic Business (these with my permission; there are probably others) and featured as the top story this week on their news pages. They reach over 13,000 professionals in the organic industry worldwide. www.organicts.com 

Wednesday 12th February 2003
Fat cats  Litigants and their lawyers in the US suing McDonalds, Burger king, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Wendy's and others for causing them to be fat, are disappointed that the first case has been thrown out of court. Big Food, until now  quaking at the prospect of mult-billion dollar suits succeeding against them, can not relax yet however as appeals are being allowed and, in any case, there are many more angles that lip-smacking legal eagles are pursuing.
Take for example, the case of one freelance journalist, Meredith Berkman, who is taking action against Robert's American Gourmet Foods for understating the amount of fat in their snack food, Pirate's Booty, by a whopping 300%. 
Mislabellers of the world - be afraid! 

McDonalds going organic? The global fast-food chain, are fighting the flab of unhealthy profit returns by radically changing its product lines. Attacked on all sides, by pre-Iraqi-war anti-Americanism, healthier food patterns in the West and anti-globalisation groups, the group made its first loss in history, almost $350 million, in the last quarter of 2002. 
Underneath the golden arches, things are so bad that the CEO, Jack Greenberg has 'retired'. One of his last acts before departing was to announce the introduction of organic milk into all their outlets in the UK this February. More organic lines are to follow, although the Organic Big Mac is a trifle in the future yet, I would venture.
Looking enviously at the burgeoning sandwich bar chain explosion, O'Briens etc, Greenberg bought up the small UK chain, Pret a Manger, in the UK, over a year ago. Other purchases of pizza, chicken and Mexican chains followed in an attempt to diversify, and perhaps learn from their models, but all to no avail, and Jack and his innovations have all gone down the Swanee. 
Who advises thase people? As I discovered in London recently, McDonalds have learnt little and instead have  left their debilitating mark on this once-promising enterprise.  I could find nothing at a Pret a Manger branch, in terms of food, service or decor that would entice me. A Sainsbury convenience store, across the street in Piccadilly, did the business instead, and cheaper, with a delicious organic wrap and juice.

Fat Rats? Meanwhile the first-established McDonalds in Ireland, in Grafton Street, once its most profitable outlet, was closed recently by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland for having an open sewer in its kitchen. See www.fsai.ie.
Are these peppers  I see here before me or could they be rat droppings? 

Food safety agencies or what? Talking of which, the FSAI, that is, its head, Dr Patrick Wall, gets a good mention in The Ecologist this month for describing the views of his colleague, Sir John Krebs, in the UK's Food Standards Agency, as 'extreme'. 
The goodly knight is an inveterate organic basher and supporter of GM food. 
See www.ngin.org.uk for more on Sir John's anti-organic crusade and his refusal to answer to the Enviro Min, Michael Meacher.

Organic College proposed closure. The fate of Mellows College, Galway and its organic unit is still to be decided. It had been expected on the agenda at a Tegasc Board meeting last Wednesday but in the end it was not officially discussed. Another meeting of the Board is to take place on the 19th of this month, but according to the Press Officer, mmiley@hq.teagasc.ie "... there is no indication as to whether Mellows College will be on the agenda." 
As part of the ongoing cost-cutting strategy to make up a €15 million deficit in this year's Teagasc budget, a decision to sell the HQ building in Dublin was made at the meeting. Staff will be relocated to rural areas, 70 going to Oak Park, Carlow, and 30, it is proposed, will go to to Mellows College! 
But if no decision has been made about the future of Mellows why.........? 
Which or whether, the Galway Organic Group, is proposing to organise a demonstration, at the Teagasc HQ on the 19th March Contact Una Ni Bhroinn, fahypa@eircom.net
I would be glad to hear from anyone when Mellows College is going to be 'offically' on the table for discusssion.

Tuesday 11th February 2003
Willing Workers  I get a lot of inquiries for jobs on organic farms. Any of my readers that have work available during 2003, contact me with full details. I am drawing up a list of potential hosts in Ireland and the UK (and later, Europe) which I would like to finalise before the end of March. jimoconnor@planorganic.com 

"Fast Food Nation has lifted the polystyrene lid on the global fast food industry.."  The Ecologist, my favourite monthly, is offering a free copy of the burger-damning best seller, Fast Food Nation (see Publications page) with new subscriptions. www.theecologist.org 

Name and Shame The next time you experience lunacy on the road, speeding State cars, with or withour organic junior ministers, or whatever, take the number and report to www.baddrivers.com who will publish the incident and the registration number of the car. 

Muerta l'Espana? I have little good to say about any conventionally farmed agricultural produce -  from anywhere. But Spain takes the biscuit when it comes to getting it especially wrong with chemicals.
On holiday in Andalucia a few years ago, I was horrified to see the extent to which pesticides are used on almond, olive, lemon and orange groves. One grower told me that it would be impossible to grow his crops organically as "just to keep the oranges looking right for the co-op, I have to spray about 17 times". 
On the one hand, whilst it was such a delight to see the almond groves in full blossom (February), and exotic to pick ripe, over-hanging oranges and lemons from horse-back, it was sobering, even frightening, to see, and smell, the chemically putrid irrigation ditches.Their water, originating in the realtively pure, melting snows of the Sierra Nevada, had coursed through hundreds of similar groves higher up the Alpujarres, picking up and accumulating a heavy chemical load on its way. 
I cannot be convinced that any amount of  washing or peeling could make that fruit fit for human consumption. 
Even worse however are the neighbouring provinces to the east, Almeria and Murcia, which have become the major suppliers of vegetables and fruit to the EU (Almeria alone produces over !,000,000 tons of produce annually).Their tens of thousands of acres (expanding exponentially and illegally) under plastic are a hell of chemical fertiliser and pesticide pollution. Worked by armies of lowly paid, and shoddily-housed, migrant North Africans, often completely unprotected when spraying, this is where most of the horticultural produce we buy comes from.
To add to the misery, workers' encampments have been the scene of many murders, race riots and strikes in recent times. 
There are also constant disputes over water supplies which are exasperated by some of the ground water becoming so polluted that it can't be used for irrigation. 
Watch for the many boxes in your shops and supermarkets with the Almeria (sometimes El Ejido) and Murcia labels and fear for the safety of those who produce (and eat!) them. 
It is we of course in our relentless demands to have uniform looking produce, cheaply, and often out of season, which creates the demand for this type of intensive horticulture.
But there is light, organic light, at the other end of the plastic tunnel. The Spaniards, ever alert business-wise, recognise perhaps the main chance for the future, and are investing heavily in developing organic farming. For starters, the local government of Andalucia is to give a huge boost to organics by investing  €100 million in the region's infant organic sector. 

Imagine the unthinkable; that adverts tell the truth. 'Marlboro Man to be replaced by Malignant Tumour Man. In a fag-burnt poncho and yellowing Stetson, MTM explores the wild frontier on a wheezing mule. MTM was cool for a brief period in his late teens, before succumbing to bad breath, smelly clothes, social ostracism, mouth ulcers, cancer, and ultimately, death.'  Welcome to Melanoma Country.
Cola  'The dentist's favourite drink. Why have teeth like Britney Spears when you can have teeth like Shane MacGowan? The only soft drink that can turn your placid child into a sugar-fuelled, hyperactive, screaming nightmare. Cola also cleans spoons, coins and other household metals.' Do you have that Cola smile?
Not my originals on this occasion, but from The Times, T2, 28th January. Others on Budget Airlines, Credit Cards, High-Street Coffee Chains and Cosmetic Surgery.

Wednesday 5th February 2003 
Emily O'Reilly gave a vicious drubbing to some of our Irish politicians in an article, Junior ministers are born to go nowhere fast in the Sunday Times two weeks ago. She says, 'Junior ministers stand in the ante-room of power.'  '(They) assume they'll be a senior one day when they've learnt the ropes, or hung around long enough, or pestered Bertie enough.' 'They tootle on, ever hopeful of promotion, drawing to themselves the bits and scraps of status that their senior minister discards.The car and driver are as vital to a junior minister as their inner organs.' 
Her particular ire was reserved for our organic minister, Noel Treacy, and his state car and driver (they were caught speeding at 95mph and fined recently). She didn't think much of 'his grab for sympathy on the grounds that somehow his work was of vital national importance'. 'Drivel' was her description of his contribution in the Dail that day on the Nice Treaty. She furthermore  doubted that 'Herr Fischler loses too much sleep when he considers the political colossus that is the Irish junior minister for agriculture.'
She's a naughty girl!   www.sunday-times.co.uk 

Comment. If the gov or the Min Ag/Teagasc thought they were going to quietly slip this appallingly myopic move over on the public, they have another think coming.  I am glad to see that here at last is an issue that unites everyone in the organic movement. And many without also; Mellows College is not exclusively an organic college; it offers conventional agricultural courses as well.  
There is energetic networking going on between organic farmers, state  employees, politicians  and conventional farm organisations. I am being told of groups of activists coming together and planning moves that are going to surprise the powers that be and, whilst they may not have the scale and colour of the recent Tractorcade, they will result in wide media coverage - the bane of the secretive mandarins and their political overseers. 
To those who care about the future and health of Irish food and agriculture,  I quote the Welsh Bard:
 "Do not go gentle into that good night. 
Rage, rage against the dying of the light."

Some of the media reporting has been less than accurate on the Mellows issue. For example, it has been repeatedly said, or implied,  that Mellows was the only establishment offering organic education. That's not true. The award-winning, Organic College (An t-Ionad Glass) at Dromcollogher, Co.Limerick, as oft reported here, offers internationally recognised, part-time and full-time courses in organic and sustainable farming. It also has a demonstration farm and much else. It is a facility that greatly deserves more funding and support. See www.organiccollege.com for full details. 
There is also the Organic Centre in Co. Leitrim, originally a  private initiative, now a non-profit company, which provides courses in alternative crafts and organic gardening. See www.organiccentre.ie 
See some of the high-lighted references in items below. They are intended to underline the stupidity, in this time of international opportunity in organic food production, of shrinking organic farming education rather than expanding it.

CAP reform satisfies everyone? Maybe, maybe not. The issues around the Mid-Term Review are debated on this site and there are links to full Commission documents and press releases. www.euractiv.com/cgi-bin/cgint.exe/?targ=1&204&OIDN=1504536&-home=home