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Ban considered on organic food brought in by air
Robin McKie, The Observer
Food flown into the UK could be stripped of its organic label if the Soil Association goes ahead with controversial plans to deal with major loopholes in its rulebook. The organisation – responsible for giving organic status to food sold in Britain – is considering the introduction of restrictions, or even a ban, on produce imported by air.
A ban, which would have widespread consequences for shoppers, is being considered because senior Soil Association executives have become increasingly worried that they are encouraging carbon-emitting flights into Britain.
The problem stems from the public’s desire to consume more and more organic crops and meat. Demand for organic food now greatly outstrips UK farmers’ ability to supply it. Supermarkets imported 34 per cent of all the organic food they sold in 2005, most of it by air.
But increases in the numbers of flights in and out of Britain are also linked to environmental worries because air transport is considered to be a major cause of greenhouse warming. For the Soil Association, which claims it has impeccable green credentials, this link is embarrassing. Hence its decision to take a new look at the rules it uses to rate food organic or not.
(27 May 2007)
It’s not easy to eat local, community learns
Chantal Eustace, The Vancouver Sun
Eating foods grown within 100 miles of where you live is both difficult and expensive
Providing a meal consisting of only local foods is so difficult that a conference on food choices was unable to provide the “100-mile diet lunch” it promised attendees.
The idea of the 100-mile diet is to eat only foods grown within 100 miles (160 kilometres) of where you live, to reduce carbon emissions and support the local economy.
“It was just too expensive to do for a group of 100 people,” said Heather Harrison, one of the organizers of Sunday’s community workshop, Eating Locally, Thinking Globally, held at the University of B.C.
(28 May 2007)
It takes a while to get the infrastructure in place. An opportunity for entrepeneurs? -BA
Who killed the honeybees?
Kevin Berger, Salon
A round table of experts answer all our pressing questions about the sudden death of the nation’s bees. What they have to say has a bigger sting than we ever expected.
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The buzz about the alarming disappearance of bees has been all about people food. Honeybees pollinate one-third of the fruits, nuts and vegetables that end up in our homey kitchen baskets. If the tireless apian workers didn’t fly from one flower to the next, depositing pollen grains so that fruit trees can bloom, America could well be asking where its next meal would come from. Last fall, the nation’s beekeepers watched in horror as more than a quarter of their 2.4 million colonies collapsed, killing billions of nature’s little fertilizers.
But as a Salon round table discussion with bee experts revealed, the mass exodus of bees to the great hive in the sky forebodes a bigger story. The faltering dance between honeybees and trees is symptomatic of industrial disease. As the scientists outlined some of the biological agents behind “colony collapse disorder,” and dismissed the ones that are not — sorry, friends, the Rapture is out — they sketched a picture of how we are forever altering the planet’s delicate web of life.
The scientists constituted a fascinating foursome, each with his own point of view.
(29 May 2007)
Strengthening Domestic Fair Trade
Sarah Rich, WorldChanging
Most of the time when we think of Fair Trade products, we think of supporting small farmers outside the US who struggle to earn livable wages and to receive adequate payment for their goods. But a coalition of farmers in the Midwest wants to encourage the same kind of committed support we give to imported Fair Trade products for goods farmed domestically. Wholesome Harvest raises organic meat on a network of forty farms throughout the Midwest and sells it in supermarkets (and online) through processors who’ve been approved by their members.
The goal is to provide absolute traceability, transparency and access to backstory for their customers — a particularly important set of values in the meat industry, where bacterial contamination is more common than in produce, and often can’t be traced to the source due to complex networks of national and international distribution. The health threat this poses has been presented recently as a real threat to national security; but even when outbreaks effect only a small population, it’s critical to be able to identify and eliminate the problem quickly.
(28 May 2007)
Bank of England chews over food prices in face of rising inflation
Jane Padgham, Independent
The humble potato and lowly carrot are the Bank of England’s latest enemies in its fight against inflation.
Food and non-alcoholic drink prices have leapt by 6 per cent over the past 12 months, the fastest annual rate of increase for six years. Indeed, food is a key factor behind the recent rise in overall inflation, which is currently running at 2.8 per cent and well above the Bank’s 2 per cent target.
It is the price of vegetables that has really soared with potatoes up by 16.5 per cent in the year to April, and fresh vegetables other than spuds rising by a massive 21.2 per cent. Other double-digit increases include fresh fish (12.8 per cent), eggs (14.4 per cent) and milk (10.4 per cent). While some increases can be dismissed as the consequence of the vagaries of the British weather, analysts say there are more deep-seated factors at work.
It is not just a UK phenomenon. Food prices worldwide have risen sharply as the expanding biofuels industry, climate change and the growing prosperity of countries such as India and China push up the costs of farm commodities including wheat, corn, milk and oils. Some experts have predicted that retail food prices are heading for their biggest annual increase for 30 years.
“Policymakers have to keep a very close eye on this,” said Philip Shaw, chief economist at Investec. “Food prices tend to be volatile over the short-term but the growing popularity of biofuels [environmentally friendly ethanol is made from sugar or corn] and climate change mean they are likely to continue trending higher over the medium term.”
Particularly worrying for the Monetary Policy Committee is the fact that food is shooting up at a time when world energy prices are stirring again. London-traded Brent crude oil last week hit a nine-month high of $71.80 a barrel as a strike in Nigeria threatened more of the country’s output and Iran remained defiant over its nuclear programme.
(29 May 2007)
