Quote of the week. ....It is difficult not to draw the conclusion that the freedom to rape children was somehow viewed as a benefit-in-kind, a perk of the job, a compensation for the rigours of celibacy... Irish journalist and barrister Brenda Power quoting a 'senior counsel' in relation to institutional abuse in Ireland. Article in the Sunday Times 30th November.

Friday 28th November 2003 
Bulgaria to become the organic bread basket of Europe? Three years ago I met some Bulgarian students at an alternative democracy conference in Munich. The conference was good, but we also enjoyed a couple of great evenings of debate, conversation, singing and drinking (in fact we drank the all-organic Bier Automats in the hotel dry into the early hours of our last evening together). One of the Bulgarian lads, Nikolai, was particularly interested in what I had to say about organic farming - he, despite being a third-year, politics and economics student at Univ. of Sofia, had never heard of the concept of organics before and was fascinated. Checking with his colleagues, nobody else knew the concept either. When we were seeing them off - the poor buggers were travelling by bus back to Bulgaria, a 26 hour journey - and realising that they had little money, I bought them some bags of organic food and drink from one of the several organic shops (that's Germany for you) in the mall beneath the Hauptbahnhof. The gift of the healthy goodies - strenuously resisted at first - was, firstly, to demonstrate the wide range of organic products available, their tastes and prices (the Bulgarians were appalled at the prices - they were cheaper however than they would be in Ireland) but was also by way of thanking them for their stimulating company, and especially the beautiful Magdalena for singing one of the most hauntingly lovely folk songs I ever heard. And then of course there are the Brownie Points  that I would have earned in Organic Heaven..... 
However, despite the student's lack of knowledge of an organic sector in Bulgaria something must have been going on over there. For, when EU Agri-Czar Franz Fischler visited there last week, he had a lot to say about the role that the existing Bulgarian organic industry could play in supplying healthy, good-value produce to the rest of Western Europe. In fact the fearless Franz  reveals himself to be pro-organic in a way that he is coy about doing when he visits commercial farming hardliners like ourselves. But fings aint wot they seem to be......To be continued next week

Organic marketing  Following last Tuesday's article on Pesticides in organic food, in which I mentioned we should be careful in our marketing claims for organic food, a correspondent sent me a leaflet that she had come across. Answering the question What is organic agriculture? the leaflet says, Organic agriculture is a method of farming that minimises the use of pesticides and fertilisers for growing crops, and prohibits the routine use of drugs and antibiotics for rearing animals. It aims to better protect the environment and to build a healthier ecosystem for the future. 
I think that's a pretty good and careful statement of the case for organic in an advertising nutshell. What do you think?
Elsewhere in the leaflet other topical questions are dealt with;  Why choose organic? How do I know if a product is genuinely organic? Why do organic foods cost more?
I am fairly impressed with the answers which are given on this commercial marketing leaflet - and all in less than 50 words each - and suggest it may be a model to be widely followed. 
If you think you can do better - remember, in less than 50 words for each answer - or have seen it done well elsewhere, let me have your contribution. At a later stage I could publish the source of this leaflet (surprising!) the full answers to the questions therefrom, and feedback from site visitors.

 
Tuesday 25th November 2003 
Pesticides in organic food!  Contrary to what most of us in, or nearly in, the organic camp might like to think, and much of our marketing says or implies, there is evidence that there are significant residues of pesticides in organic food. In a report, Pesticide residues in conventional, IPM-grown and organic foods*, (click on Scientific evidence .....and go to Research Papers), the authors come to interesting conclusions that we might all bear in mind. For example, whilst their analysis "..shows convincingly that organically grown foods have fewer and generally lower pesticide residues than conventionally grown foods ..(they) are not pesticide free". Further on in the report the researchers say, "Most of the residues in organic foods (and some of the residues in conventional foods as well) can readily be explained as the unavoidable results of environmental contamination by past pesticide use, or by "drift" (sprays blown in from adjacent non-organic farms). Some foods sold as organic may also be mislabeled, either because of fraud or because of lapses in maintaining the identity of foods as they move from the farm to the consumer". 
There is no shame in this. It would be impractical to police the quality of all soils and every sample of organic food. I think however that there should be some differentiation at the certification stage between soils that have a bad history of chemical overuse and those more naturally treated. Under existing rules one could have an organically certified farm on top of a landfill site, in the shadow of a nuclear power plant or under a motorway "spaghetti junction", after just a 2/3year wait. It then seems to be ridiculous to have to wait the same period for organic certification for a piece of land up Hungry Hill on top of "lazy beds" that have not been disturbed, fertilised or sprayed since the Famine.
The case was not helped too often in the past when spokespersons for the organic cause claimed there were no "chemicals" or "pesticides" used in organic food production (there were/are - pyrethrum, sulphur, copper sulphate etc). They thus left themselves open to attack from the anti-organic brigade, such as Trewavas and the Averys who were only too glad to exploit any weakness in the organic argument. 
Surely best to be aware of the research, accept the less-than-perfect situation and build the case from there.  
But we can take heart from this in the report, "While the risks to health associated with dietary pesticide residues are still uncertain and subject to debate, risk is relative, and lower exposure undoubtedly translates into lower risk. Consumers who wish to minimize their dietary pesticide exposure can do so with confidence by buying organically grown foods".

*The report is a synopsis - the full paper, unfortunately, has to be paid for.

Later this week 
Eastern Europe to be the low-cost organic providers in the enlarged EU?
Taken for a ride - bussed into GM

Quote of the week  Everyone knows Bush is a very limited man.  Alexander Cockburn in interview on 5-7 Live RTE Radio I, 18th November. He also said  Murdoch's Fox TV News was "run by mad dogs" and that the United Nations was now reduced to the role of "an errand boy", simply, "an after-sales service for the US". Mr Cockburn gave a lecture in Trinity College on Tuesday night.

Wednesday 19th November 2003 
We say "spuds"; they day "protato"  A genetically manipulated spud, the protato, was hailed and hyped some time ago as a saviour of children's nutrition in India. It was claimed to have enhanced levels of protein. Now, one of India's leading GM scientists says that, "..

Darby O'Gill and the Little Food Producers  Bord Bia (Irish food marketing body) has an interesting way of marketing Irish food abroad. When promoting our exports to foreign food policy makers and potential buyers, they usher them  towards the BB site, www.foodisland.com. Here they are presented with lots of facts about our food industry. Much of the information is valuable in presenting what we do, and who does it, to future trade contacts. We are after all, major players in the production and export of food - willing sellers looking for willing buyers; nothing wrong with that. And if we put the best foot forward, playing to our strongest suits - that's only to be expected in any marketing campaign. Let the old maxim, caveat emptor, apply.
But, there is a limit, and I believe that Bord Bia goes way beyond that limit in the introduction to the Food Island website, Ireland -The Food Island - A Brief History. www.foodisland.com  Here is a thoroughly embarassing  "dancing at the crossroads" view of agriculture in Ireland, where an antidiluvian Irish environment is presented, untouched by any fiendish industrial revolution, or any other development or pollution for that matter, in which Irish food is produced in idyllic, pristine conditions. "The abundant, almost yearlong, growth of sweet grass ensures that the cattle are content to outdoor grazing for the greater part of any year. Such free-ranging  activities on diverse and seasonally changing herbage sets Irish beef and dairy produce apart....." (sic, sic) This is exactly transcribed!
Even St Patrick is invoked - it's to his intercession, according to this blurb, that the salmon owes "it's majestic ability to leap through the air." 
And of course the weather gets an airing  too - "Ireland's soft and complaisant climate has also helped in sustaining older patterns of agriculture." Can you believe it? If I wrote this stuff what would you say to me?
But here's the real rub - that introduction is not all romantic, bucolic claptrap for nothing. There is a very hard-headed motive behind this. Our heavily industrialised, commercial farming products are being camouflaged behind the infant craft food/organic business; "The emergence of a body of artisan small food producers, who make the production of the finest foods a lifestyle concern, have succeeded in bringing our food to an ever expanding and appreciative market." It's reasonable to assume that our tiny organic community is included in this "artisan" category.
Repeatedly, I have been reinforced in my opinion (from direct contact with Bord Bia, Teagasc and others) that those of of us trying to promote organics in Ireland (and elsewhere, in my case) are regarded by politicians and administrators as at least a nuisance and at worst, unpatriotic. For the why? Because by pushing the organic agenda we are implying that the rest of the food we produce on this island has something wrong with it. That can't be allowed - even if it were true. There is too much at stake in the entrenched, commercial farming industry and its associated food processing arms. 
So, this is how I see it; the powers-that-be have decided that, OK, they must appease the organic crowd - they're such a dogged and noisy lot and in any case it might be good to be able to show some bodies to European agricultural counterparts, if challenged. Organic committees, reports and analyses ensue. A certain flirting with the little-league producers goes on.
But their overall strategy is to promote Ireland as the green Food Island - organic in everything but name - saddle the Slow Food/Craft Food/Organic Food producers and put them in the vanguard of the marketing effort (a few scraps of support will keep them on board - "Sure they do it for the love of it anyway" ["lifestyle concern" see above]). And make sure the PR people are informed/indoctrinated appropriately.
It is with despair that I hear these latter types (I'll grant that they probably really believe what they say) and their gobbledegook romantic spiels on Irish food. And the really, really sad  part is that they get the ears of some pretty powerful people through Bord Bia's corporate cred and its multitude of foreign offices. 
And where does this all lead us? It leads to the obscuring of the deep problems in our food production systems. It leads to the continuing health problems associated with industrialised farming and food. It leads to further destruction of the Irish environment. It leads to continuing animal welfare difficulties. And lastly, and not least, it leads to a loss of opportunity in employment and wealth-creation in the country and the countryside when our neighbours in Europe, and further afield, get very far ahead of us in sustainable/organic food production (we now have the lowest percentage of organic sales in Western Europe at 0.7%. Denmark, in contrast, has ten times more!). 
There is not an awful lot one can do about it all. It's depressing, but given the mind-set that exists, there is not going to be any serious support for organic production in Ireland in the near future. We are all traitors in their eyes!
I am very tempted to submit the offending page on the Food Island website to the Advertising Standards Authority. 

Jesuits condemn Vatican GM conference  At the end of  two day GM conference last week in the Vatican, Cardinal Martino, the organiser, whilst admitting it would be a long time before the outcome was published, said, GM foods "should not be abandoned, even if they still need a lot of cures". Two American Jesuit priests, who work in Zambia, protested that the conference was biased with scientists who favour GMOs. Pointing to recent statements by bishops in Africa, Brazil and the Far East they believed that GM crops would "introduce a serious dependency of small-scale and mostly poor farmers on large multinational corporations for seeds and complementary necessities." They added, "...there also was a risk that alternative agriculture, such as organic farming, would be severely limited by the use of GMOs.. 
In their printed statement, they also claimed that Pope John Paul II, had said that the world was not ready to assess the biological disturbance that could result from "unscrupulous development of new forms of plants and animal life." 

UK food mag. slams organic smoked salmon  I've failed to find out anymore about this story which first appeared, as a headline only, in a newsletter I received (14th November) from the Norwegian company, Intrafish. They have a 30 day free trial period (I've exhausted mine - several times! They are cheekily asking me for €330 for a years sub!) of access to their full stories and archives which you could avail of. Log on to www.intrafish.com You might send me a copy of the article then. Oops, that would be a copywright infringement. Ring, or send me a synopsis. Whilst on their site you might find these interesting too - Decomposing Norwegian salmon withdrawn from French market - Colouring salmon with marigolds - Irish shell fish company...wins top award - and several other stories on organic fish farming, including one on vegetable feed for salmon. 

Quotes of the week  1. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.  Nelson Mandela
2. That which we know is a little thing; that which we do not know is immense.  Pierre-Simon de Laplace
3. Life is anything that dies when you stomp on it.  Dave Barry

Friday 14th November 2003
Free Books  From time to time I've brought books to your attention and urged you to get hold of them - or even, if all else failed, buy them. I don't know how many of you have followed my recommendations, but publishers keep sending me books and magazines, so I suspect that a few of you at least have coughed up occasionally for the hard-copy items.* 
There's several publications in the pipeline that I will be telling you about over the next while but, in the meantime, I can offer you some free books for a change! Steve Soloman in Australia has put a lot of work and expertise into making available, free, out-of-print books that he thinks are of central importance in understanding soil and human health. It is the area of his library called Radical Agriculture that we would be most interested in. All the great names from the earliest years of the organic movement in America and Britain are here - Lady Eve Balfour, Frank Newman Turner, J.I. Rodale, Faulkner, Albrecht, Howard. Even Cato, the agriculturalist from the days of the Roman Empire, is represented. Soloman opines that "some of these remarkable  individuals have been largely ignored by the mainstream that controls alternative thought today"**. 
In most cases you can download whole books (quickly and without pdf) but in some, for various reasons (Soloman explains these interestingly) only excerpts are made available. I was delighted myself to find the seminal book by Sir Albert Howard, The Waste Products of Agriculture (1931) available in full. You should take note of the cautions about copywright in different countries.
http://www.soilandhealth.org/01aglibrary/01aglibwelcome.html

*I should perhaps connect to the Amazon Affiliate Programme - where I would get a commission for every book bought if clicked on from this site - and it would be interesting to see how many buy from this site - but it's another one of those things one should probably do but doesn't. I suspect it  wouldn't be worth the bother anyway.

**Indeed it has been my experience that some Central Europeans have hijacked the organic philosophy and movement claiming it to be their own or their country's exclusive bailiwick. I once observed, in my hair oil book-selling days, what can only be described as the psychic shock of a prominent figure in the Irish organic movement when he had read my copy of Newman Turner's Fertility Farming.  I could only deduce that he found it difficult to accept that the English had been there earlier, done it better, and said it all with humour and pancahe. Ouch. And on top of that farmed profitably, organically, without the need for subsidies from the market place or from government and, horror of horrors, without the need for certification! See my Publications page for details of Newman Turner's books

Bloodstock magnate out-bid by farmer Synone House and farm near Cashel, Co. Tipperary was always expected to make a premium price, especially as the agents of the horse bloodstock industry were seen seriously sniffing around. However the  period house and almost 400 acres of top quality limestone land made a stratospheric price at auction this week, fetching € 9.55 million - more than twice the guide price! 
The property was bought by Cork dairy farmer, William Ahern. The under-bidder was John Magnier of Coolmore Stud - and Manchester United, and Barchester Healthcare, and Next Generation, and  .....It must be absolutely galling  for Magnier, with all the money in the world and Coolmore's privileged tax-exempt status, to be beaten by a farmer for a property that was obviously deeply coveted. Coolmore's future farm purchase strategy could now be in tatters as a result of showing its hand so blatantly over this Cashel property. The stud had acquired the reputation of never paying too much over-the-odds for farm properties (see my Archives) and had (or their front-man/woman solicitor had) patiently walked away when they thought the price went too high. This policy worked very well for them over the years allowing them to put together almost 7,000 acres at a reasonable cost. However in one rash move here, over this Cashel property, they have flagged that they can/will/might pay up to € 25,000 an acre for choice properties. Coolmore have now made their acquisitions task immeasurably more difficult and expensive. Potential vendors will hardly be susceptible to the same béal bocht blas from Coolmore suitors anymore and will want top dollar, benchmarked, reasonably or not, to what this Golden Vale farm made this week. 
William Ahern is indeed a dairy farmer and he will be running a commercial dairy herd at Synone. His war chest was somewhat inflated when he sold a farm at Passage West, Cork for development recently - for between 15 and 25 million Euro.

Missing Person Does anyone have a fix on, or address of, Niall O'Brolchain  Ireland?  I have something to give him.

Coming - in the next few days

Bord Bia -  Irish food mythology 

Jesuits jump into the ring against the Cardinal and GMOs. 

Organic smoked salmon battered

Tuesday 11th November 2003
Remembrance Day  It's still regarded in some circles to be unpatriotic to honour the dead of the World Wars in Ireland. The row over the monument to Waterford's John Condon, a  13 year-old boy when he died in the trenches, in Belgium, is indicative of these old wounds unhealed. Who can say what young Condon's motives were - certainly many joined up out of a spirit of adventure, or to "take the King's shilling"-  but very many of the 200,000+ Irishmen that volunteered for service did so at the urging of their political leader, John Redmond, to fight for Home Rule for Ireland. 
Remember that 70,000 Irishmen died in that terrible conflict. 
Until very recently, their unprecedented sacrifice was ignored and often villified.

Why bother with organic certification? This is a question that is being constantly asked at present in Irish organic circles. The frustration arises primarily because of the situation where a grower/trader in Cork had an organic license revoked by the Irish Organic Farmers and Growers Association and yet he continues to trade unabashed and seemingly without restriction. It transpired  that neither IOFGA nor the Dept of Agriculture has the teeth to enforce the organic rules, and even leading members of the organic movement are now beginning to wonder whether the whole organic certification thing in Ireland is unravelling. 
In my recent heyday as a horticutural producer here in West Cork, I did not have official organic accreditation. There were various reasons - one of them being that I didn't feel organic standards were strict enough. Furthermore, I didn't trust the idea of an organisation policing itself - nothing that has happened subsequently has changed me from that view. I also liked the idea of being personally trusted by my traders and consumers and rather lightheartedly referred to my produce as being "beyond organic" - which of course  it was. When I went large-scale into garlic growing, I called it Irish Natural Garlic.The labels carried my personal guarantee of natural and clean growing methods and it seemed to work quite well. I know that this kind of approach is not an option for everyone that is down the organic boreen, and I do sympathise with their anger and confusion about the current situation. 
I think it might be helpful to read the following article I came across last week. Why we certify, is a  lengthy essay by farmer Mary-Howell Martens in the American Rodale family's new website startup.  http://www.newfarm.org/columns/Martens/1003/index.shtml
Mary-Howell and her husband farm 1,300 acres in New York state.

Papal Bull on GM  A symposium opened in Rome yesterday to debate the pros and cons of GM food. The writer of an article in the Independent (London) today seems to think that the discussion panels at the symposium are rigged in favour of GM - a lot to do, the writer Peter Popham says, with the strong pro-GM views of Cardinal Martino, who had been the Vatican observer at the United Nations for 16 years. Popham quotes Mantino - "Let them (the world's poor) eat GM food  rather than grass".
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=462590

Tasting Organic Beer Y'all know how dedicated I am to searching out the best in organic products and reporting back to youse. So, entirely at my own expense, and in the interests of pure research, I took myself off to Bavaria in the not-too-distant  past. A local contact, a Bavarian barrister, Berndt (a mean jazz pianist among other accomplishments) and two of his daughters were recruited for the difficult task of finding the best organic beer. Eventually, after much trawling through shops, pubs and micro-breweries (of which there are gloriously so many!) we discovered and brought to Berndt's house 22 bottles of organic beer for "scientific" testing.
The scoring was getting a little fuzzy towards the end but we did just about manage to keep tally and came up finally with a best-of-the-bunch (not much point in giving you the results, as none of them can be bought in Ireland, but, if anyone was really interested, I can send them the details).
Strangely, in the land of superb beer, not even the top-rankers of the 22 were memorable. To be absolutely honest, although I am enamoured generally of Bavarian beer (thanks Berndt for introducing me to so many of the out-of-the-way establishments) these organic offferings just didn't cut the mustard at all.
However, the worst were still better than the Heineken, Carlsberg or Smithwicks piss, passing for beer, we get here in Ireland. 
And by the way, whoever said organic alcohol doesn't give you a hangover?  
Later, I  did ask - half-heartedly! - some of the breweries if they would be interested in  exporting their brands to our alcohol-awash but quality-beer-challenged rock. They were not interested. "How vould ve get our bottles veck?", they asked. 
Someone has figured out the export market for quality beer from Germany, because Lidl, Ireland, stock a label, Bergadler Premium Pils, which I, and many others, including German friends, think is superb. It's not organic but it is brewed, as you would expect, according to the centuries-old German beer-purity law, the Reinheitsgebot. And the good news is that it's great value - € 6.99 for 6 x 500ml bottles. Now, if we could only get the bottles back to Germany for the refund....
There is one organic beer in Ireland that is worth drinking, and that is the plainly-labelled Tesco, Organic Lager. If you look closely at the bottle, you will see that it comes from the Scottish Caledonian Brewery, a producer of several prize-winning organic brews. Repeated requests to them for samples go ignored.
If shopping in Lidl, you will also notice a good value French beer. In tiny 25 cl bottles, you get an awful lot for something like 10 or €11. Awful stuff though. Cathy, a French contact, told me last night that the French brew terrible beer deliberately and sell it in these microbottles to discourage people from drinking beer at all and drive them back to the booze that France does well and has an awesome lot to get rid of. Devious these French are - just look at the way they sneaked in those tries and faultless conversions last weekend against "plucky", li'l Ireland at the Rugby World Cup in Melbourne.
My same Chambery contact - who incidentally is, unpatriotically, not a wine drinker! (though she admits to having a bottle of Clairette de Die concealed about her cellar) -  enjoys an organic French beer called La Cornue. So, the French brew bad beer, and sell it in annoyingly small bottles to encourage us to drink more wine, and then they produce good organic beer!!! On the horns (p.i.) of that dilemma, I will leave the subject for the time being. In the meantime, all contributions of crates of beer, organic or otherwise, for testing, can be sent to me at Hungry (and thirsty?) Hill. 

Friday 7th November 2003 
Organic farming could diminish global warming The eminent Rodale Institute in the US has just published the results of 23 years of experiments into organic farming. Called the Farming Systems Trials, they have come up with the not-too-surprising conclusion that there is "compelling evidence about the economic viability of organic agriculture".  What is surprising, if not stunning, is that long-term trials show that organic farming could reduce global warming significantly. It's all to do with "carbon sequestration" - the retention of carbon dioxide in the soil - which they conclude is between 15 - 28% higher in organic farming systems. 
When you realise the huge contribution to global warming - millions of tons of carbon dioxide - from world agriculture and that a switch to organics could potentially reduce that by 25% you can see how powerful a negotiating tool this could come to be in seeking future goverment support for organic agriculture. 
Organic farming as a tradeable "carbon sink". Wow!
Other scientists don't agree with Rodale's findings and the debate is on. We'll be hearing much more about this, methinks
See www.rodaleinstitute.org and their new site full of all sorts of practical and entertaining information on organic gardening and farming www.newfarm.org

There are 12 million acres in organic agriculture in the EU today

Mark this!  In a draft document, the EU Commission is proposing that support to plant biotechnology research should be matched by an equal contribution to organic farming research. And if that wasn't mind-blowing enough, how about this? Article 9 says that organic farmers contaminated by GM crops should be compensated - by the polluter! (what have we been saying all along!) And on top of that, they are suggesting that an insurance sheme should be set up to deal with the problem.* National Farmers Union (UK) - put that in your pipe and smoke it - you have been saying that there should be no liability for contaminating organic farmers. 
No wonder Monsanto is scarpering out of Europe! www.europarl.eu.int/meetdocs/committees/agri/20030929/475209en.pdf

*The new (actually one year old now ) UK lobbying group farm failed recently to find an insurance company that would cover the risk of contamination by GMOs. See their home page - www.farm.org 

Denmark now top of the world in organic consumption - 5.6% of all food purchases organic, 2003.

Round-up of Pesticides  China is producing a cheap imitation of Monsanto's Round Up which is causing havoc to the emerging organic industry in Bolivia. 
The self-same Round Up has been banned in Denmark. Once thought "so safe that you could drink it" (farmer on BBC programme) and that it was absorbed harmlessly into the soil, its active toxic ingredients have been leaching into ground water throughout Denmark at an alarming rate, causing contamination five times above the allowable limit. 
An organic fungicide, Terraorg, has been developed in Costa Rica which may be a boon in dealing with mildew. The product is based on plants that seem to have a natural immunity to mildew (wish I'd had access to this a few years ago when I lost all my garlic crop - several tons! - to a form of mildew).

Ná tiocfaidh ár lá  Those of you in Ireland reeling under the costs of organic production, falling prices, tiny markets, and a grudging, if not downright hostile, attitude from the organs of government, look longingly to how some of your brothers elsewhere are being treated. The National Organic Standards (also a year old this month) in the US have been a resounding success, according to the Organic Consumers Association. One of its nurturing moves was to defray the costs of organic certification by $1million in 15 states. What's the certification cost to the smallest organic enterprise in Ireland - €500? In Holland, the government is giving €10 million towards a new marketing campaign, Organic - really logical (it has a better ring in Dutch) "to simplify the start-up and expansion of organic channels". www.eigenlijkheellogisch.nl  And looking across the radioactive pond to the east, Ben Bradshaw, the UK Organic Minister (yes an Organic Minister!) welcoming the new Advisory Committee on Organic Standards (replacing UKROFS - some committee too! *) - "There is genuine strength of feeling from consumers and producers alike for the development and encouragement of systems, which respect the environment and encourage sustainable forms of production. Organic systems clearly fulfil these requirements".

* See www.organicts.com/newspro/general/index.shtml Item UK: Appointment of.. ....for members of the committee, with profiles.

Monday 3rd November 2003 
Oiling organic trade? Middle East Natural Products Expo - 2003. Is this the ultimate endorsement of organics? The oil-rich emirate Dubai is hosting, nay, even is an "ardent supporter and patron" of the natural and organic way. And at the  Grand Hyatt International Convention Centre November 30th - December 2nd, 150 organisations from 40 countries will be displaying their wares. So, If you want to reach an international market for your shamrock-flavoured, organic black puddings contact info@globallinksdubai.com. 

Dublin, rather than Dubai  Closer to home and a much more affordable way of selling those self-same puddings or whatever, is a show in Dublin next Spring. Natural Health Ireland 2004 - Ireland's Natural & Organic Products Show, 6th and 7th March 2004 is expected to attract hundreds of exhibitors, large and small, to the National Show Centre at Cloghran, Co.Dublin. With easy access - beside the N1 and close to the M 50 - and free parking - and backed by concentrated media advertising, many thousands of visitors are expected to attend. It's a first at this kind of show in Ireland for the experienced organisers, Nelton Exhibitions, but they are fairly confident of success. There are almost 140 spaces in the purpose-built facility at Cloghran ranging in size from 8 to 35 sq.metres. The organisers need to fill the larger display areas of course but they also want to attract smaller food exhibitors, particularly those selling direct to visitors during the show. To this end they will encourage the sharing of stands. 
If it works out, for two days next Spring, apart from being a showcase for the many elements of the natural and organic scene, there may also be the flavour of a Farmers Markets about the show. 
"Organic black puddings, a € a lump - the more you eat - the more you jump"  - perhaps?
To book a space, contact Kathy Cullinan at 01 465 1903. Email, naturalhealth2004@eircom.net