Stern approach to climate change

IN A RECENT interview with The Times, Lord Stern, author of the influential Stern Review, suggested that we give up meat to save the planet.  It was said that the production of meat produced unnecessary greenhouse gases.  This can be seen as the latest in a long string of blows against the already struggling farming industry.  Now it seems the advice has changed to reducing meat consumption.  The phenomenon known as ‘flexitarianism’ means going vegetarian for at least two days a week.  In an interview with The Telegraph, the Friends of the Earth movement said a small change in diet such as this would be beneficial for the environment. 

ITN.

Island author set to tweet new novel

PETER URPETH, author and writing development co-ordinator for Highlands and Islands arts agency Hi-Arts, is set to tweet out his new novel ‘Mackenzie’s Way.’  Reminiscant of traditional writing methods of publishing installments of a novel in a newspaper, Mr Urpeth plans to publish his novel tweet by tweet, despite the site’s ’140 characters per post’ restrictions.  Speaking to Hebrides News, he said: 

“My new ‘novel’ – ‘MacKenzie’s Issue’ – will be written tweet by tweet with an undertaking by me to add at least one new tweet section every day until the end is reached and the archive of tweets will remain accessible so that new readers can catch-up at any time.”

This will certainly be a challenge for Mr Urpeth, but it is a positive step forward in showing the potential usage of social networking sites such as twitter.  Perhaps it will make literature more accessible to those who don’t have enough time to spare to sit and read a book. 

Hebrides News

BBC

Organic Analysis

AFTER watching an episode of my favourite Come Dine With Me, I started thinking about this ‘organic’ phenomenon and whether people really understand the concept or is it just a fleeting fancy.  My no-nonsense dairy farming Dad always says to my Mum not to ‘waste money on organic food because it’s a con’.  I’ve always thought he was just being a grump but now I realise he was probably highlighting the fact that people are now beginning to shun non-organic food when in reality there is nothing wrong with it. 

On this particular episode of Come Dine With Me, the cook in question kept wittering on about how his food was of the highest organic quality; I mean please, non-organic food can also be good quality.  From what I understand, organic food is just food produced in a certain way without using chemicals.  However, as I posted previously this week, chemicals are needed in the form of GM (Genetically Modified) farming in order to produce enough food to feed the planet. 

In an article in today’s Farmers Guardian, the public expectations of organic food was described as ‘too high’.  The article discusses a recent reported conducted by the University of Exeter which found that expectations of organic food exceeded their production values i.e. the public put organic food on a pedastol.  Dr Matt Lobley from the University of Exeter said:

“There may be a danger of an ‘expectations gap’ developing between what is legally required of farmers to receive organic certification for their produce and what consumers expect it could deliver.”

This perception of being superior because you buy something organic really gets on my nerves, I mean surely a food should be valued on it’s quality, locality and most importantly TASTE! It seems these days that those who can afford it will buy something upon seeing the word organic without knowing naf all else about the food. 

I have decided to do a little experiment about the true costs of ‘organic food’ by comparing organic food prices with their non-organic equivalents and figuring out how much extra the average shopper is spending on something they believe to be infinitely better.

Another interesting article.

Britain encouraged to develop GM farming

THE GOVERNMENT’S chief scientist, John Beddington, is set to encourage GM (genetically modified) methods of farming as the solution to climate change and an evergrowing population.  In a report due to be released late this week by the Royal Society titled ‘Reaping the Benefits: Towards a Sustainable Intensification of Global Agriculture’, Mr Beddington is expected to encourage GM farming in Britain.

There is much controversey surrounding the topic of GM farming.  In a recent interview with The Farmers Guardian, Peter Melchett, Soil Association policy director, said:  “Consumers in the UK, and in most countries throughout the world, want to be able to buy food that doesn’t contain GM ingredients.  They feel that GM is an inherently risky technology with unknown consequences, and science supports their views.” 

This opinion is contrary to that of Mr Beddington, who at a recent global food summit said:  “Ten years ago, when GM was first started, people were understandably worried about about health and environmental impacts. But I think current regulations mean those risks are now mitigated.”

The Telegraph

Emergency dairy fund rejected by UK

JIM FITZPATRICK, the Farming Minister, has said that the UK will reject the EU plans for an emergency dairy fund.  The 280 million euro fund proposed at yesterday’s agriculture meeting in Luxembourg by EU Agriculture Commissioner, Mariann Fischer Boel,  was seen as an attempt to save the floundering dairy industry.  It can be seen as a response to the numerous farming protests all over Europe.  The UK governement vowed to fight this proposed plan with Mr Fitzpatrick saying:”We want to see a viable and competitive dairy sector in Europe, but will not support anything that takes us backwards to a regime of heavy market support for inefficient dairy producers at the expense of taxpayers and consumers.”  The UK government is concerned about where this extra money is to come from.  While Mrs Fischer Boel acknowledged that it would mean draining the fund dry, she said it was a move which the majority of the European states wanted. 

The Farmers Guardian

The Daily Mail

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