July 29th 2002

Organic revolution in the UK?
The UK gov. will announce today a raft of proposals which will change the face of the organic industry in Britain. The organic camp is euphoric - the Soil Association, for example, welcomes the 21-point Action Plan as the most significant advancement to organic farming development in the 50 year history of the movement. 
One headline yesterday declared, "Charles wins organic farm war" referring to the Prince of Wales' long-standing advocacy, and practice, of organic methods and his recent intense lobbying of Tony Blair and his ministers.
Some of the new measures: 
Hundreds of millions are to be diverted from conventional farm subsidies into the organic sector.
Up to £600 per hectare will be paid in subsidies - the most generous organic grants in Europe - and significantly, they will continue beyond the present 5 year limit. 
£5 million is to go into organic research immediately. 
Schools and hospitals are to be encouraged to buy more organic produce.
The gov will  encourage the production of 70% of domestic organic needs. Currently, over 75% of organic produce is imported.
It is expected that the Action Plan will triple the size of the industry by 2010. 
 
There are very sour grapes indeed at the National Farmers Union.
They have timed the delivery of  their recent gloomy survey of the increasing unprofitability of organic farming to coincide with the  launch of DEFRA's plan.
In a survey of 2,000 organic farmers they claim that "plunging profits" have caused over 30% to report losses. 

Comment. It is no doubt a day for celebration amongst those of us who champion the organic cause. Time out should be taken for much-deserved appreciation of the achievement so far.
However the change of heart has come none too soon as UK organic farmers teeter on the brink of insolvency - the NFU survey is at least accurate on this.
It is also sad to reflect that there had to be such dramatic consumer scares,  awful, unnecessary slaughter of animals and dreadful hardship to farmers along the way.
But that, it seems, is the price that has to be paid for changing the  monolithic attitudes in our institutions and our democracies.
From my point of view, I would have been happier to see the Irish gov introducing such radical measures as these - after all, our economy depends proportionately much more on farming than Britain's does.
But I never expected them to - the forces of monolithic, conservative inaction seem even greater here than in the UK. 
Four years ago an essay I wrote called the Killing Fields was widely distributed to politicians and media here and I delivered it as a talk at an organic food conference. The general silence* was embarrassing, even among the organic community.
Perhaps I was a tad radical then and didn't mince my words overly.Of course I've changed now!
One thing I said then was that, "Britain, surprisingly, could be the radical innovator (in terms of new organic proposals). The signs are there and, after all, she hasn't much to lose. Are we (Ireland) to be belated copy-cats - again?"

*Except for a detailed supporting response from our only Irish, socialist member of parliament, Joe Higgins TD

July 25th 2002

Hill walking could give you cancer! Bracken (Pteridium aquilinium), that common fern much admired by tourists, is very prominent throughout the British Isles at this time of the year. It mainly features on upland soils where it forms thick, hip-high cover beloved by children for games of hide-and-seek - and adults, for a little alfresco slap-and-tickle, perhaps!
During late July and August it matures, releasing billions of spores which have a quite distinctive smell. These airborne microscopic fellows are the problem. Experiments with rats and guinea pigs have shown that the spores are carcinogenic.* It seems that bracken contains chemicals related to benzene. 
Farmers have always been aware of the dangers of the plant, especially in its mature stage, and many animals are lost to it every year. One estimate puts UK animal deaths to bracken at £8 million!
Milk from animals that have eaten the plant has also been linked to human cancers in Costa Rica. The food-adventurous Japanese eat the young shoots of bracken and it is suggested that this has a connection to the fact that they have the highest rates of stomach cancer in the world.
Some years ago, shepherds and farm workers in Britain were advised to wear masks when they were working in or near bracken. 
The spores also contaminate watercourses.
Bracken is increasingly becoming a pest in the UK where, Triffid-like, it is advancing at the rate of 3% per year, mostly at the expense of heather. 
Methods to eliminate it, include spraying, cutting regularly (which should wear out the palnt in three seasons) and ploughing it up. This is the option I chose when I wanted to clear a 20 year old growth of bracken - some up to 6 foot high -  here on my holding on Beara. I ploughed up the huge mats of roots or rhizomes, about 25 tons per acre, I estimated. I then allowed them to dry - it was a rare, dry summer here - then burned and spread the ashes. I had a wonderful crop of potatoes from the 2 acres I cleared.
Every scrap of root however must be destroyed otherwise it will start to propagate again.

* The Bracken Advisory Commission was set up six years ago and is headed by Prof. Jim Taylor, emeritus professor of geoghraphy at the Univ. of Wales, Aberyswyth.

Horses for Courses. The incineration issue in Tipperary, funded and staffed largely by the bloodstock industry (see feature Burning Questions in the June 11th, Archived News where I raise the point - Is the bloodstock industry a clandestine organic operation?) has brought a lot of unwelcome attention and analysis to the "Sport of Kings". Carl O'Brien in the Irish Examiner, 24th July, puts a value of € 100 million on the amount of tax lost to the State by giving the horse industry tax-free status. It could  be much higher than this as Revenue has declared it has no idea of how much tax is foregone on this tax concession. 
Democratic Left politician, Pat Rabbitte is calling for at least a "modest tax"on this luxury business. Horse-racing enthusiast, Finance Minister, Charlie McCreevy firmly says there will be "no change". 
Unique tax concessions were granted to the sector by horse-lover, and disgraced ex-Taosieach (PM) Charles Haughey. They were, and are, the most generous tax regime to the horse industry in the world. 
Stud farms and trainers have obviously prospered from the measures as evidenced by the huge growth of Coolmore Stud - 7,000 acres - and the  prominence of the horse industry in the list of depositors in the recent Ansbacher Report. 
A sketch from a book reviewed by Eileen Battersby in last Saturday's Irish Times is illustrative of the global purchasing power of the industry. Describing a Kentucky sale, Conley, the author, "hilariously" describes "the boys" from Coolmore Stud, John Magnier and "super cool" vet Demi O'Byrne outbidding the "Doobie Brothers" (the Maktoums), paying a record $ 6.8 million for a Storm Cat (he's apparently a super-stud) colt. "This advantage (tax-exempt Irish stud fees) allows Coolmore to consolidate its hold on the best thoroughbred bloodlines..." The book is; Stud - Adventures in Breeding. Kevin Conley, Bloomsbury. 208 pp. £16.99.
With all the expensive professional expertise the anti-incineration group STAC is bringing to bear it's a pity that its main spokesman, Seamus Hayes, cries amateur status -" give me a chance as a non-professional" in a Morning Ireland (22nd July) clash with the incinerator company's able PR man, Kieron Conlon. Seamus was beaten by a furlong. 
Methinks they need a different horse for this course. 

Drinka Pinta Milka Day. The classic 1960's advertisement urging us to drink more milk may not be the best health advice, even in relation to calcium intake, if an article by Peter Martin in the Sunday Times last week is to be believed.
I never knew there were such virulent pro and anti camps about the humble white stuff - websites all over the shop! I have myself always had an aversion to its runny form straight from the teat. Antibiotic, hormone and bacteria levels in the past didn't enamour me to the bovine mammary secretion either, nor the fact that the stuff is, in any case, meant for a creature with four stomachs!
Apparently, 75% of the world's population would get the squits or worse if they tried to drink cows' milk after the age of three. 
However, yoghurt and cheese I love, and especially now that we can get such wonderful home-produced organic ones.
Butter, I traded for olive oil a long time ago. 
The article isn't completely condemnatory about milk - it has good things to say about low-fat milk - apart from the price! 
Make up your own mind. See Sunday Times Magazine July 21st cover feature, IS THERE A TIME BOMB IN YOUR DIET? Exploding the myths about milk. www.sunday-times.co.uk 

Can Caged Salmon be Legitimately Organic? This controversial question will be raised at a meeting of an organic organisation in Ireland this week. 
Fewer numbers in cages, no toxic chemicals, hormones or antibiotics, feed, at least in part, from recycled fish processing wastes, and natural colour from shellfish sources are some of the strict requirements of an organic fish-farming enterprise.
We only have one organic salmon farming operation in the Republic, at Clew Bay in Co. Mayo. There is another in the North and several in Britain.
The British Soil Association and the Irish Organic Farmers and Growers Association are two of the few certifying bodies world-wide that have come up with standards and supervise the industry.
Despite the high standards, some organic purists are not happy with this relatively new industry. At an IOFGA annual general meeting next Saturday a group from Mayo will propose a motion calling on the Association to stop its certification of organic salmon. Among other things they will argue that fish farming uses a battery style of farming and disrupts wild species of fish.
There are others who argue that fish farming is no different from many other forms of intensive farming that the organic movement certifies.
As the general industry grows - some say to overtake the meat industry eventually - the organic proportion will develop even more rapidly and their membership fees and licenses will become a valuable source of income to the organic bodies. This is a major incentive to orgs like cash-strapped IOFGA. 
If you have strong views on this be at the IOFGA offices, in Kilbeggan, Co.Meath on Saturday to lobby the voting members. 

Organic farming could cause global calamity. Cambridge scientist, John Emsley, quoted in an article by Ronald Bailey on the Reason(!)website, says adoption of global organic farming would be a catastrophe and cost 2 billion lives.
A lot has been favourably said, even in the general press, about the recent paper published by the Swiss, Research Institute for Organic Agriculture in Science, but the opposition is beginning to wind up now. 
Every positive point in the Swiss report of 21 years of research, comparing organic to conventional farming, is knocked by Mr Bailey - described as the "science correspondent" of Reason. www.reason.com/rb/rb060502.shtml .
I'll leave it to others to decide whether this website is part of the Organic Attack conspiracy or not.

The end of the world is nigh. Perhaps now we can all stop worrying about our poisoned soils, food, water and air as the game is going to be up for all of us in less than two decades. Sometime in August, 2019, US astronomers tell us today, we are keeping a rendezvous with a very large asteroid which will do for us as the last biggie space rock did for the dinosaurs. Bruce Willis will be on a pension at that stage and his agent says he will not be available to save the world - at any price.
For a preview, get above the cloud level (or clear skies are guaranteed in the Atacama desert) on August 17th next and watch an asteroidal near-miss scoot by, only a  moon-distance of 300,000 kms away - a mere hair's-breath in cosmic terms. 
Even closer shaves happen: one of these, last June, passed us by only 100,000 kms?
I have been assured that Willis was standing by in case it needed a nuclear nudge.

July 18th 2002

Patents on Life. TRIPS - Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights - is the misleadingly respectable name given to international piracy by transnational companies of the patents to staple foods, especially in the South. How this is happening and why it shouldn't is well covered in a recent ISIS report. www.i-sis.org.uk/trips3.php

The Big Green Gatherings. Billed as Britain's largest and  liveliest Green event, this festival takes place in Somerset July 24th - 28th. Over 7,000 environmental activists, campaigners and supporters will get together on a large organic farm for five days to party and socialise and debate the big green issues of the day. In the spirit of the event all power used will be generated by the wind, the sun and even by pedalling! Tel. 01923 229911. Email: info@big-green-gathering.com 
Another big green event, Ectopia 2002 will be taking place in Co.Kerry, Ireland Aug 10 - 24. See, www.ecotopia2002.org 

Country Smallholding. This is a magazine I came across this week in Britain. Its by-line is "Organic living at its best" although it doesn't appear to be an organic magazine as we know the sacred genre. Its 90 pages however contain much that would be of interest to the organic farmer/smallholder. Annual subscription of 12 issues costs £ 24.00 UK and £ 39.95 for "Eire"- that's € 64! Why this substantial extra cost to ourselves, I am trying to find out.
The August issue has a fine article - Go organic-for the sake of your health! - by smallholder and author Piers Warren. See, www.countrysmallholding.com 

July 10th 2002

CAP Revolution. Franz Fischler has now thrown his cap (!) in the ring with a vengeance. At long last we are to have farm and food policies that may largely respect the motto above."Treat the earth well......"
He proposes almost total reform of the € 40 billion, Common Agricultural Policy.*
An end is finally suggested to the horrifically wasteful production subsidies that led to intensification of agriculture with all its consequent problems. 
The landscape of the long-term lunacy of the CAP is now about to change for ever. In prospect are the dissolution of the mountains and lakes of surplus produce that cost so much to store, and then dump on the world food markets, distorting trade and denying outlets to Third World food producers.
Cleaning up the environment and encouraging enviro-friendly methods of production are now to be the priorities.
Organic farming, which has played it's great share in bringing all these changes into the melting-pot, should also get a tremendous boost in this post-CAP new world.  
With one fell swoop, two of the biggest problems looming for the EU - the extra cost of supporting the huge agricultural sectors of the Eastern European countries seeking membership - and the powerful demands of consumers, to have food that is safe to eat and produced in an environmental and animal friendly way -  are largely solved.
Some farmers' organisations are squealing like stuck pigs. The Irish Farmers Association for example, claim that farmers will be short-changed by € 250 million per annum.
This is deliberate, inaccurate scare-mongering. Even their good friend, Min Ag Joe Walsh, sitting adroitly on the fence for the moment, says this is an exaggeration and that € 150 million is closer to the figure.
Surprisingly, the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association welcome the proposals. 
The IFA's main complaint is somewhat carping -  they claim that they expected Review - but got Reform! The inference is, that FF is a liar, has reneged on the 1999 agreement and cannot be trusted ever again! It's surely time they dropped the begging bowl, stopped huffing and began to put a little puff into making these exciting, promising changes work. They might perhaps restore some credibility amongst the general public if they did.
When farmers themselves stop to reflect on the details they should find an awful lot going for them in these proposals. And very few negatives.
Payments to 30% of Irish farmers, whose current cheques from the EU are less than € 5,000.00 per year will hardly be affected.
Farm audits of previous payments will give farmers 100% of the average of 3 years' production (although which three years is still to be decided). 
Paperwork will thankfully be reduced enormously - one audit - one payment per annum. Many, weary of the interminable paperwork involved in multiple schemes will rejoice over this one.
The new subsidy will be made per farm i.e. "decoupled" from production, so that farmers could produce substantially less and yet get the same annual cheque from the EU.The large number of part-time farmers should therfore be able to work less if they so choose. But lest anyone think they can just take to the drink and the leaba (bed) entirely leaving the farmstead go to rack and ruin will be disappointed. The audit will include a review of the farm's quality contribution to the supply of food and improvements to the environment. 
There will be a clawback, "modulation", of 3% of payments above € 5,000 per annum for 6 years which will be "recycled" into rural development - so the farming community at large will not suffer any reduction. 
There is to be a limit of € 300, 000 on subsidies to individual farmers. This will affect quite a number in the UK - but only four in Ireland - including a certain beef processor!
Finally, fulfilling the dreams of most Greens throughout Europe, farmers are to become environmental stewards of the countryside. The whole tone of the document is to encourage less production, better quality and safer food, more environment-friendly farming methods and restore and maintain the countryside and rural communities.
The much-leaked report today could be one of the most far-reaching and radical documents in the history of the EU. I believe it will largely deliver on what it promises and everybody should welcome it for what it is and can be -  a real, substantial improvement for consumers and the rural economies of Europe - and better value to taxpayers. 
I see no losers except the Beef and Barley Barons and their ilk, and there will be few tears shed for them and their lost millions.
The reforms are not law yet of course - there will undoubtedly be much tweaking, beefing and gnashing over the next eight months, but, with the German Ag Min, Renate Kunast (this is her wish-list largely fullfilled), fully supporting her Austrian neighbour, Franz, most of the proposals will surely be accepted come next spring.
Will the CAP finally fit? 
Shucks, I keep trying.

*Not before time - I remember a tutor of mine at Reading Univ. suggesting changes like these in 1971 - the mills of man grind extra-exceedingly slow!

Its Chicken Nuggets again. See the Guardian headline, Mon 8th July - BSE risk over chicken injected with beef - read how our chukkies on their way to becoming nuggets are tumbled in brine and chemicals, and gristly slurry, and beef protein of unknown origin, and... and...Puke!
If you can stomach more, see also the supplement, G2, cover storey.  www.guardian.co.uk . The Exminer has it on the front page Wednesday 10th. www.irish-examiner.ie 

Golden Circle Shame - see how the mighty are falling. Falling and fallen they may be b