OrganicNews 3. issue October by AgroMunch s

Organic news

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Issue 3

THE GOOD NEWS

World hunger New GMO facts

EXTREME WEATHER DROUGHT

HOW TO:

ORGANIC FOOD STUDY:

Store Fruits and Vegetables

They missed the point?

NEW SHOCKING STUDY:

GMO’s are toxic

Organic news

Issue 3

THE GOOD NEWS

www.organicnews.eu

Publisher: AgroMunch s.r.o. Editing: Krešimir Hranjec kresimir@organicnews.eu Matej Moharič matej@organicnews.eu Marketing: Mojca Roženičnik Korošec

mojca@agromunch.eu

marketing@organicnews.eu

Info: info@organicnews.eu

EXTREME WEATHER DROUGHT

HOW TO:

ORGANIC FOOD STUDY:

Store Fruits and Vegetables

They missed the point?

NEW SHOCKING STUDY:

GMO’s are toxic

Issue: 3 / October 2012 Address: Agromunch s.r.o. Bancíkovej 1/a, SK-821 03, Bratislava, Slovakia e-mail: info@agromunch.eu web: http:www.agromunch.eu

content

World hunger New GMO facts

10 12

Severe Droughts Drive Food Prices Higher

What’s Behind Rising Food Prices

Extreme Weather Means Extreme Food Prices Worldwide

World Hunger

Wild Pollinators Support Farm Productivity And Stabilize Yield

Organic Food Is Not Better Than Any Other Food

Organic Food Study ‘Missed The Point’

Monsanto Roundup Weedkiller And Gm Maize Implicated In ‘Shocking’ New Cancer Study

Spread The Word: Gmos Are Toxic!

The Gmo Debate Is Over - Gm Crops Must Be Immediately Outlawed

Landsat Satellites Find The ‘Sweet Spot’ For Crops

Organic Pest Control

Top 10 Organic Wines

How To: Store Fruit & Vegetables Without Plastic

How Tomatoes Lost Their Taste

Europe’s Grains Won’t Make Up For Drought Losses

Organic News

Organic News eMagazine Dear reader, Here we are with the new issue of Organic News e-magazine. In this issue of Organic News we bring you interesting topics regarding global extreme situation caused by world drought. Extreme weather patterns throughout the whole world are causing extreme food prices, food shortages and we aer looking at another difficult year regarding world hunger. What’s behind it all that - you can find out more on the next pages. Last month was very interesting and important for future of organic farming and for the whole world. First, there was Stanford’s University “anti organic” study with statement that organic food is not better in any way than normal conventional food. Study was directed to support worldwide GMO campain. Many were discussing this topic around the globe until shocking “french study’” from University of Caen published scary facts about rats fed with GMO food. Finally, the proof that GMO is toxic was here. No more discussion about that. Further, we bring you articles about organic pest control, insects in your garden and plants related to them, articles about Hi-Tech space technology and farming, we bring you Top 10 organic wines and much more. Once again, we are inviting you to join our Facebook page. Post comments and share with others. Talk about your experiences, know how, create interesting topics, and discuss them with others. Spread The Good News. Explore the Organic World with us. If you have any suggestion, question, comment or proposal, please write it to our project coordinator Kresimir Hranjec at kresimir@organicnews.eu.

Let’s get connected. Let’s work together, let’s help each other, let’s get united.

Join Us on Facebook We started with Organic News Facebook page. Please, join our community on Facebook and fell free to post anything interesting or useful. Post, tell us your story, your difficulties or problems, as well as your successes. Help us and we will return the avour. Organic News facebook page 4

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PUSH A PEDAL FOR THE PLANET SUPPORTED BY ORGANIC NEWS 6

December 5-7, 2012 Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre

AgriPro Asia Expo 2012 Support Organic Sector in International Trade Market

Organic Market grows rapidly around the world In accordance to “The World of Organic Agriculture 2012”, the pursuit of healthy eating style has become a fab and accelerated the great demand of organic products globally; especially in EU. This promising growth has triggered the blossom of organic products development in South East Asia for countries like China, India, Malaysia and Thailand as well. The report states that the organic agricultural land in Asia has grown from 0.06 (million hectares) in 2000 to 2.78 (million hectares) in 2010, indicating that the Asian countries also expand aggressively in the organic market. Besides, the higher profit margin from organic products has encouraged the Southeast Asian countries to develop in organic business. At the same time, other western counties, like Europe are also eager to expand their market to affluent, new market like Asia. Hong Kong has long been known for its sophisticated consumers who appreciate upscale food products. A survey conducted by the Hong Kong Organic Resource Centre in 2007 stated that “one-third of the 7 million people in Hong Kong now buy organic food at least once a week.” However, limited supply of the organic food cannot satisfy the great demand of Hong Kong.

Hong Kong Trade Show Benefits Organic Industry AgriPro Asia Expo (APA) 2012 is the specialized agricultural B2B trade fair in Hong Kong supporting the organic sector. Taking place in a central location of East Asia, Hong Kong, which serves as an international business, trade and financial hub and is recognized as a springboard to China, Asia Pacific and international market with its free trade policy, low tax rate and excellent transportation network, APA helps the industry achieve more. APA 2011 had received a remarkable success with trade visitors and conference attendees coming from 30

countries and regions. APA provides an agri-trade platform for importers, exporters, wholesalers, retailers, traders, distributors, producers, consulting and service providers to get access to the business networking opportunities and the industry latest trend development. Co-located expo, Hong Kong International Bakery Expo (HKIBE) would be another highlight which showcases bakery ingredients, flavorings and additives etc. Exhibitors and visitors would be benefited from the synergy effect brought by both expos.

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ISSUE III

WORLD DROUGHT

Severe Droughts Drive Food Prices Higher Food prices rose again sharply threatening the health and well-being of millions of people. Africa and the Middle East are particularly vulnerable, but so are people in other countries where the prices of grains have gone up abruptly.

lobal food prices soared by 10 percent in July from a month ago, with maize and soybean reaching all-time peaks due to an unprecedented summer of droughts and high temperatures in both the United States and Eastern Europe, according to the World Bank Group’s latest Food Price Watch report. rom June to July, maize and wheat rose by 25 percent each, soybeans by 17 percent, and only rice went down, by 4 percent. Overall, the World Bank’s Food Price Index, which tracks the price of internationally traded food commodities, was 6 percent higher than in July of last year, and 1 percent over the previous peak of February 2011.

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ood prices rose again sharply threatening the health and well-being of millions of people,” said World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim. “Africa and the Middle East are particularly vulnerable, but so are people in other countries where the prices of grains have gone up abruptly.” verall, food prices between April and July continued the volatile trend observed during the previous 12 months, which halted the sustained increases between mid-2010 and February 2011. Prices increased in April, came down in May and June, and sharply increased in July.

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harp domestic price increases have continued in this quarter, especially in Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa, in particular, experienced the highest price increases in maize, including 113 percent in some markets in Mozambique. Meanwhile, the Sahel and eastern Africa regions experienced steep price increases of sorghum: 220 percent in South Sudan, and 180 percent in Sudan, for instance. ccording to Food Price Watch, weather is the critical factor behind the abrupt global price increases in July. The drought in the U.S. has resulted in vast damages to the summer crops of maize and soybeans, for which the country is the world’s largest exporter. Meanwhile, the dry summer in the Russian Federation, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan has contributed to projected wheat production losses. he abrupt food price increases turned favorable price prospects for the year upside down. World Bank experts do not currently foresee a repeat of 2008; however, negative factors -- such as exporters pursuing panic policies, a severe El Nino, disappointing Southern hemisphere crops, or strong increases in energy prices -- could cause significant further grain prices hikes such as those experienced four years ago.

strengthen their targeted programs to ease the pressure on the most vulnerable population, and implement the right policies.” he World Bank has stepped up its support to agriculture to its highest level in 20 years, and will keep helping countries respond to the food price hikes,” continued Kim. he World Bank’s support for agriculture in FY12 was over $9 billion—a level not reached in the past two decades. The Bank is also coordinating with UN agencies through the High-Level Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis and with non-governmental organizations, as well as supporting the Partnership for Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS) to improve food market transparency and to help governments make informed responses to global food price spikes. hould the current situation escalate, the World Bank Group stands ready to go even further to assist client countries protect the most vulnerable against future shocks. Measures can include increased agriculture and agriculture-related investment, policy advice, fast-track financing, support for safety nets, the multi-donor Global Agriculture and Food Security Program, and risk management products.

roughts have severe economic, poverty and nutritional effects. In Malawi, for instance, it is projected that future severe droughts observed once in 25 years could increase poverty by 17 percent, hitting especially hard rural poor communities. And in India, dismal losses from droughts occurred between 1970 and 2002 to have reduced 60-80 percent of households’ normal yearly incomes in the affected communities. e cannot allow these historic price hikes to turn into a lifetime of perils as families take their children out of school and eat less nutritious food to compensate for the high prices,” said Kim. “Countries must

rograms and policies to help mitigate food price hikes include safety nets to ensure poor families can afford basic staples, sustained investments in agriculture, the introduction of drought-resistant crop varieties--which have provided large yield and production gains--and keeping international trade open to the export and import of food. ccording to Food Price Watch, prices are expected to remain high and volatile in the long-run as a consequence of increasing supply uncertainties, higher demand from a growing population, and the low responsiveness of the food system.

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Source

WORLD DROUGHT

Europe’s Grains Won’t Make Up for Drought Losses

he grain harvest in the European Union, the world’s third-largest grower, is unlikely to ease a global supply shortfall as dry weather hurts yields from Spain to Romania and British crops are delayed by rain.

rance and Germany, Europe’s top growers, are set to boost grain output by 8.5 percent this year, not enough to offset declines in the U.K., Spain and Italy, according to Hamburg- based trader Alfred C. Toepfer International GmbH. Europe’s wheat harvest may be the smallest in five years, helping send stockpiles at the end of the 201213 season to 10.9 million metric tons, the lowest since at least 1999, U.S. Department of Agriculture data show.

illing wheat surged 35 percent this year on NYSE Liffe in Paris on concern dry weather would spur Russia, last season’s third-biggest exporter, to restrict shipments. Corn rallied to a record last month on the Chicago Board of Trade as top producer U.S. suffered its worst drought in more than 50 years. While world consumption of grains may exceed output for the second time in three years, European shipments will be steady from the previous

season, International Grains Council data show.

“O

verall supplies will be tighter than they were last year,” Amy Reynolds, an economist at the London. “While there may be strong export demand for EU grain, the amount Europe is able to export won’t really increase.”

ewer supplies may spur a 9.1 percent drop in global grain trade this season, the biggest decline since 1986, to 289.37 million tons, according to the USDA. Shipments include nine grains, ranging from wheat to rice to barley, tracked in the department’s monthly world supply and demand report. China is the world’s largest cereal producer, followed by the U.S. and the EU, according to the USDA. Best Performers

rops are the best performing commodities this year on the Standard & Poor’s GSCI gauge of 24 raw materials, led by a 46 percent jump in soybeans and

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35 percent gain in wheat. The MSCI All-Country World Index of equities rose 6.9 percent. Treasuries returned 2.5 percent, according to Bank of America Corp.

that weigh less and produce less flour, said George Phillips, a

U cereal production may be 279 million this season, about 2 percent smaller than the fiveyear average because of dry weather in some regions, the European Commission said. The soft wheat harvest may be 127 million tons, similar to the previous average, while corn output at 60 million tons is expected to be about 2 percent higher than normal.

wheat samples weighing 71.9 kilograms per hectoliter (2.84

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armers are finished harvesting soft wheat in France, according to crops office FranceAgriMer, while some grain still needed to be collected in northern Germany, Toepfer said. In the U.S., farmers are just beginning to harvest corn, while Russia has collected 62 percent of its grains and legumes, government data show. Germany & France

erman grain production may climb 6.7 percent from last year to 44.7 million tons, after a cold snap last February failed to dent the country’s crop, the Agriculture Ministry said. Toepfer pegs the German harvest at 45.2 million tons, and France’s crop at 69.15 million, 8.9 percent more than a year earlier. Still, combined grain output in the U.K., Spain and Italy may be 11 percent below a year earlier, the company said.

n the U.K., the harvest started about 10 days later than normal because of rain, and crops on about 40 percent of the country’s wheat area had been collected , the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board said.

he U.K. had its wettest summer since 1912, with the fewest hours of sunshine in the three months through August since 1980, the Met Office said, citing provisional data. Testing of the country’s winter-wheat crop showed 97 percent of samples had signs of fungal diseases that can reduce yields, with some fields carrying species that can be toxic to humans and animals, crop-quality service CropMonitor reported. Quality Affected

xcess moisture has reduced the quality of the country’s crop, leading to “shriveled up” kernels

ISSUE III

grain buyer at Wessex Grain, a merchant in Somerset, England. An AHDB provisional survey Aug. 31 showed U.K. bushels), down from the previous three-year average of 77.5 kilograms.

“I

t’s been a bad year,” Phillips said. “The grain hasn’t filled properly because of lack of sunlight

and damp conditions for a long period of time and uneven ripening in the crop.”

uropean grain exports may total 26.9 million tons, little changed from 26.8 million a year ear-

lier, the IGC estimates. On Aug. 23, the agency cut its forecast from an earlier projection of 27.3 million tons. The IGC expects production in the bloc to total 275.8 million tons. Crop Losess

rought and hail caused almost 3 billion euros ($3.8 billion) in crop damage in Italy this year, farming union Coldiretti said yesterday. Corn yields in Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary may be more than 35 percent smaller than a year earlier because of “very dry soil conditions,” while Spain’s wheat yields may drop 29 percent, the EU’s Monitoring Agricultural Resources unit said.

he USDA estimates that drought may cut the corn harvest in top exporter U.S. to 10.78 billion bushels, a six-year low. In June the agency projected output would surge to a record 14.79 billion bushels this year.

Russian Harvest

ussia’s Agriculture Ministry estimates that the wheat harvest may be smaller than in 2010, when the worst drought in half a century spurred the country to ban grain exports for 10 months.

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rom the Black Sea, Bulgaria, Romania, into Ukraine and Russia and further east into Kazakhstan, none of those countries had a good year,” said London-based Dan Hofstad, an INTL FCStone Inc. risk-management consultant for the Commonwealth of Independent States/Black Sea region. “It’s playing into the whole global supply issues we’re seeing. The grain markets remain bullish.” Source

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BEYOND THE WORLD DROUGHT

WHAT’S BEHIND RISING FOOD PRICES Consumers see buying from area farmers and producers as a good way to keep money and jobs close to home, improving the local economy while protecting American jobs.

BUT DOES BUYING LOCAL REALLY MAKE A SIGNIFICANT ECONOMIC DIFFERENCE?

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verybody is looking for local food,” says John Stanton, Ph.D., professor of food marketing. “But whether we like it or not, the food world is global and what happens in Brazil can have just as big an impact on U.S. consumers as what happens in Nebraska.”

he biggest cost in a box of corn flakes isn’t the corn,” Stanton says. “It’s everything from the price of oil to transport the product to the marketing and the packaging. So something like the cost of oil will have a much more lasting effect on the price of your cereal than the supply of crops.”

lthough many U.S. consumers were alarmed to see news reports this summer of droughts leaving shriveled crops dying in the fields, Stanton warns other factors will have a greater effect on Americans’ wallets.

tanton predicts higher food prices are an inevitability, whether the local food movement is here to stay or not.

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rice increases from the droughts are likely to have short-term effects, but global issues can have a longer and greater impact,” Stanton explains, citing increasing demand from the rest of the world for crops like corn.

S “U

.S. farmers are doing everything they can to keep America’s food inexpensive,” Stanton says. “But while I like to get my tomatoes from a local New Jersey farm stand or my mother’s garden, most of the prices of the food products that I buy are likely to be just as affected by storms in China, a growing middle class in India, or drought in Argentina, as they are by a drought in the Midwest.” Source

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AID AGENCY WARNS

EXTREME WEATHER MEANS

EXTREME FOOD PRICES WORLDWIDE

educing greenhouse gases and saving the polar bears tend to dominate discussions on climate change. But to the booming world population, one climate change issue may be even more pressing – hunger.

households.

new report by a leading international relief agency warns that climate change will increase the risk of large spikes in global food prices in the future, and lead to more hungry people in the world. That’s because extreme weather like droughts, floods and heat waves are predicted to become much more frequent as the planet heats up.

or example, price swings between 2007 and 2008 resulted in an 8 percent increase in the number of malnourished people in African nations, according to a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization.

“O

ur planet is boiling and if we don’t act now, hunger will increase for millions of people on our planet,” says Heather Coleman, climate change policy adviser for Oxfam America, which released the report today.

he combination of the severe drought in the U.S. this summer and droughts in Eastern Europe led to a sharp increase in world food prices in July, according to the World Bank. And the world’s poorest are particularly vulnerable to spiking food prices, because they use most of their income on food.

ome of the sting may be yet to come. The drought in the U.S. is particularly hard on animal feed, and increases in meat prices may be on the way as a result, although they are not predicted to be as high here as you might expect.

till, any price increases can make it difficult for poor families to get enough food, even in rich countries. For example, before the recession in 2008, one in 10 U.S. households couldn’t find enough food. (The government calls them “food insecure.”) For 2010 and 2011, as Pam Fessler reports, that number has increased to one in seven

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ut poor countries in Africa and the Middle East stand to suffer most. That’s due in part to the fact that different countries handle price spikes differently.

eanwhile, large, stable countries like China were able to stabilize grain prices for their people, but smaller countries were vulnerable to high global prices.

n 2010, when an extreme drought in Russia shriveled its crops, food prices there increased, so Russia banned wheat exports, which sent global grain prices soaring.

s climate change makes extreme weather events even more common, the Oxfam report warns that spikes in global food prices may “become the new normal.” The relationship between climate and hunger is a complex one.

ut there are ways people are trying to protect the most vulnerable from the effects of climate change, says Siwa Msangi, a fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute.

nvestments in water storage and irrigation systems can help countries get through droughts. Paving roads and improving ports can help prevent floods from disrupting food supplies. Better feeding programs can also help poor people keep their families fed despite price spikes, Source Msangi says.

FOOD INFLATION, FOOD SHORTAGES, FAMINE

World Hunger It has been the worst drought in more than 50 years, and it has absolutely devastated corn crops all over the nation

devastating global food crisis unlike anything we have ever seen in modern times is coming. Crippling drought and bizarre weather patterns have damaged food production all over the world this summer, and the UN and the World Bank have both issued ominous warnings about the food inflation that is coming. o those of us in the Western world, a rise in the price of food can be a major inconvenience, but in the developing world it can mean the difference between life and death. Just remember what happened back in 2008. When food prices hit record highs it led to food riots in 28 different countries. Today, there are approximately 2 billion people that are malnourished around the globe. Even rumors of food shortages are enough to spark mass chaos in many areas of the planet. When people fear that they are not going to be able to feed their families they tend to get very desperate. That is why a recent CNN article declared that “2013 will be

a year of serious global crisis”.

he truth is that we are not just facing rumors of a global food crisis - one is actually starting to unfold right in front of our eyes. The United States experienced the worst drought in more than 50 years this summer, and some experts are already declaring that the weather has been so dry for so long that tremendous damage has already been done to next year’s crops. On the other side of the world, Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan have all seen their wheat crops devastated by the horrible drought this summer. Australia has also been dealing with drought, and in India monsoon rains were about 15 percent behind pace in midAugust. Global food production is going to be much less than expected this year, and global food demand continues to steadily rise. What that means is that food inflation, food shortages and food riots are coming, and it isn’t going to be pretty.

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he United States exports more food than anyone else in the world, and that is why the entire globe has been nervously watching the horrific drought in the United States this summer with deep concern. t has been the worst drought in more than 50 years, and it has absolutely devastated corn crops all over the nation. According to Bill Witherell, the U.S. corn crop this year “is said to be on a par with that of 1988 crop, the worst in the past thirty years.” adly, this will be the third year in a row that the yield for corn has declined in the United States. That has never happened before in the history of the United States. nd coming into this year we were already in bad shape. In fact, U.S. corn reserves were sitting at a 15-year low at the end of 2011. So where will we be at the end of 2012? he official estimates for corn yields put out by the U.S. government just keep dropping, but many fear that they aren’t dropping quickly enough. There have been some reports on the ground from some areas of the country that have been very distressing. The following is from a recent Wall Street Journal article.... Meanwhile, scouts with the Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour on Monday reported an average estimated corn yield in Ohio of 110.5 bushels per acre, down from the tour’s estimate of 156.3 bushels a year ago. In South Dakota, tour scouts reported an average yield estimate of just 74.3 bushels per acre, down from 141.1 bushels a year ago. Those are catastrophic numbers. ut farmers are not the only ones that have been impacted by the dry weather. A recent article by Chris Martenson summarized some of the other effects of this drought..... ven though the mainstream media seems to have lost some interest in the drought, we should keep it front and center in our minds, as it has already led to sharply higher grain prices, increased gasoline costs (via the pass-through of higher ethanol costs), impeded oil and gas drilling activity in some areas (due to a lack of water), caused the shutdown of a few operating electricity plants, temporarily reduced red meat prices (but will also make them climb sharply later) as cattle are dumped in response to feed- and pasture-management concerns, and blocked and/or reduced shipping on the Mississippi River. All this and there’s also a strong chance that today’s drought will negatively impact next year’s Winter wheat harvest, unless a lot of rain starts

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falling soon.

anchers have had a particularly hard time during this drought. If you expect to pay about the same for meat this time next year as you are doing now you are going to be deeply disappointed. The following is from a recent Reuters article....The worst drought to hit U.S. cropland in more than half a century could soon leave Americans reaching deeper into their pockets to fund a luxury that people in few other countries enjoy: affordable meat. rought-decimated fields have pushed grain prices sky high, and the rising feed costs have prompted some livestock producers to liquidate their herds. This is expected to shrink the long-term U.S. supply of meat and force up prices at the meat counter. ll over the western United States pastures have been destroyed and there is not enough hay. It would be hard to overstate the damage that this nightmarish drought is doing to our ranchers.... he relentlessly hot dry weather, amplified in many areas by wildfire, has been devastating to farmers, ranchers and other horse owners. Everybody is using their winter hay now. The pastures are destroyed and they probably won’t recover before winter,’ said Caldwell. ‘The price of hay has doubled, and the availability is down by 75 percent.’ aldwell is somewhat sanguine about his own lot, but not optimistic about what lies ahead. ‘Today the problem is not nearly as bad as it’s going to be,’ he stated. ‘It’s terribly bad today, but it is going to get a lot worse.’ ut of course this is not just an American problem. The truth is that the entire globe is facing a rapidly growing food crisis. According to the UN, the global price of food rose 6 percent in the month of July alone. ccording to the World Bank, global food prices actually rose 10 percent during July. Either figure is really, really bad. The other day, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the World Food Program issued a joint statement in which they stated the following.... ‘We need to act urgently to make sure that these price shocks do not turn into a catastrophe hurting tens of millions over the coming months.’ f the price of food at our supermarkets suddenly went up 20 percent that would really stretch our family budgets here in the United States, but we would survive.

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n the other side of the globe, such a price change can mean the difference between life and death. The following is from the CNN article mentioned above.... But step outside the developed world, and the price of food suddenly becomes the single most important fact of human economic life. In poor countries, people typically spend half their incomes on food -- and by ‘ food,’ they mean first and foremost bread. hen grain prices spiked in 2007-2008, bread riots shook 30 countries across the developing world, from Haiti to Bangladesh, according to the Financial Times. A drought in Russia in 2010 forced suspension of Russian grain exports that year and set in motion the so-called Arab spring. lready, 18 million people in Niger, Mali, Chad, Mauritania and Senegal are dealing with very serious food shortages. n Yemen, things are even worse.... Yemen has a catastrophic food crisis. Nearly half the population, 10 million people, does not have enough to eat. While 300,000 children are facing life threatening levels of malnutrition. he United Nations says Yemen is already in the throes of a disaster. ‘The levels are truly terrible.

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Whatever we do thousands upon thousands of children will die this year from malnutrition,’ Unicef’s man in Yemen, Geert Cappelaere, said. ‘In some areas child malnutrition is at 30%, to put it in context, an emergency is 15%. It is double that already.’ ut this is just the beginning. These food shortages are going to spread and we will eventually see food riots that will absolutely dwarf the food riots of 2008. any scientists fear the worst. Some are even now warning that food shortages will become so severe that they will eventually force much of the globe on to a vegetarian diet.... eading water scientists have issued one of the sternest warnings yet about global food supplies, saying that the world’s population may have to switch almost completely to a vegetarian diet over the next 40 years to avoid catastrophic shortages. umans derive about 20% of their protein from animal-based products now, but this may need to drop to just 5% to feed the extra 2 billion people expected to be alive by 2050, according to research by some of the world’s leading water scientists. ‘There will not be enough water available on current croplands to produce food for the expected 9 billion population in 2050 if we follow current trends

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and changes towards diets common in western nations,’ the report by Malik Falkenmark and colleagues at the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) said. The days of very cheap meat are coming to an end. Meat will be increasingly viewed as a “luxury” around the globe from now on. adly, there are some in the financial world that actually intend to make lots of money off of this crisis.... The United Nations, aid agencies and the British Government have lined up to attack the world’s largest commodities trading company, Glencore, after it described the current global food crisis and soaring world prices as a ‘good’ business opportunity. ith the US experiencing a rerun of the drought ‘Dust Bowl’ days of the 1930s and Russia suffering a similar food crisis that could see Vladimir Putin’s government banning grain exports, the senior economist of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, Concepcion Calpe, told The Independent: ‘Private companies like Glencore are playing a game that will make them enormous profits.’

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Does that disturb you? It should.

riving up the price of food for starving people is not a good way to make money. Food is one of our most basic needs. When people are deprived of food they become very desperate. ust look at what is already happening in Spain. The economic crisis in that country has just begun, and people are already looting supermarkets. You can see a video news report about Spanish activists looting 3 tons of food from local supermarkets right here. uch of that food was donated to food banks, but in the future I am sure that the desperate “activists” will not be so generous when things get really tight. n other areas of Spain, large numbers of people have been filmed digging through trash dumpsters for food. ould you ever see yourself doing that? Don’t be so sure that hunger will never come to you.

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THE FUTURE WAS UNCERTAIN UNTIL WE DECIDED TO UNITE.

UNITE FOR BETTER, HEALTHIER AND MORE NATURAL FUTURE FOR US AND OUR CHILDREN.

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Wild Pollinators Support Farm Productivity and Stabilize Yield Most people are not aware of the fact that 84% of the European crops are partially or entirely dependent on insect pollination. While managed honeybees pollinate certain crops, wild bees, flies and wasps cover a very broad spectrum of plants, and thus are considered the most important pollinators in Europe

he serious decline in the number of managed honeybees and wild bees reported in Europe over the last few decades has the potential to cause yield decreases with threats to the environment and economy of Europe. The future of the pollination services provided by bees is therefore of serious concern. Effective actions for the mitigation of the pollinator declines need to be taken across Europe.

lthough honeybees are important pollinators in large scale plantations, for some crops, including sunflowers, a combination of wild bees and honeybees are essential to provide optimal pollination. Wild bees can support farm productivity when the honeybees can’t do the work, for example when their number is insufficient, or when weather conditions prevent them from flying. Moreover, it is well known for several crops, that wild bees are more efficient at pollinating than honeybees, such as mason bees on apples and bumblebees on beans. In addition, wild bees can be a lower cost alternative to honeybees since they do not need to be rented commercially if sufficient high quality pollinator habitat is available in and around farms.

o raise awareness among farmers for the importance of wild pollinators, the EC FP7 project

STEP -- ‘Status and Trends of European Pollinators’ published a farmers’ factsheet in 15 European languages. The factsheet encourages farmers to utilize the benefits of wild insect pollination services, and thus reduce the risks of relying on the honeybee as a single species for crop production. Farmers are encouraged to take actions to protect pollinators by selecting appropriate agri-environmental schemes and modifying agricultural practices to become more pollinator friendly.

imultaneously, STEP is undertaking a broadscale survey of the public opinion through online questionnaires available in seven European languages. The survey aims to reveal if, and to what extent, people are aware of the role of pollinators in agricultural ecosystems and the consequences for the environment from the decline of bees and other insect pollinators. People are also being asked to give their opinion on the importance of insect pollination for agriculture to share their perception on the status of pollinators in Europe, their importance for public health, wildlife and the European economy and how important they believe this issue to be. Readers of all nationalities are invited to express their opinions through this online survey. Source

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Status and Trends of European Pollinators

http://www.step-project.net ISSUE III

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THE ILLUSION OF CHOICE IN THE

onsumers may look at the grocery store shelves and think theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got a multitude of options, but the truth is, the same huge corporations own all of the brand names, use the same toxic ingredients in the products and care not the slightest about your nutrition or health. Take a look at this diagram for proof that your freedom of choice in the grocery store is an illusion. 26

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COMMERCIAL FOOD INDUSTRY

A ginormous number of brands are controlled by just 10 multinationals, according to this amazing infographic from French blog Convergence Alimentaire. Now we can see just how many products are owned by Kraft, Coca-Cola, General Mills, Kelloggâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, Mars, Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, P&G and Nestle. ISSUE III

Source

STANFORD ANTI-ORGANIC STUDY

RODIN’S THE GATES OF HELL, STANFORD UNIVERSITY

Organic food is NOT better than any other food ? “Some believe that organic food is always healthier and more nutritious, but we were a little surprised that we didn’t find that.”

ou’re in the supermarket eyeing a basket of sweet, juicy plums. You reach for the conventionally grown stone fruit, then decide to spring the extra $1/pound for its organic cousin. You figure you’ve just made the healthier decision by choosing the organic product — but new findings from Stanford University cast some doubt on your thinking. here isn’t much difference between organic and conventional foods, if you’re an adult and making a decision based solely on your health,” said Dena Bravata, MD, MS, the senior author of a paper comparing the nutrition of organic and nonorganic foods, published in the Sept. 4 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. team led by Bravata, a senior affiliate with Stanford’s Center for Health Policy, and Crystal Smith-Spangler,

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MD, MS, an instructor in the school’s Division of General Medical Disciplines and a physician-investigator at VA Palo Alto Health Care System, did the most comprehensive meta-analysis to date of existing studies comparing organic and conventional foods. They did not find strong evidence that organic foods are more nutritious or carry fewer health risks than conventional alternatives, though consumption of organic foods can reduce the risk of pesticide exposure. he popularity of organic products, which are generally grown without synthetic pesticides or fertilizers or routine use of antibiotics or growth hormones, is skyrocketing in the United States. Between 1997 and 2011, U.S. sales of organic foods increased from $3.6 billion to $24.4 billion, and many consumers are willing to pay a premium for these products. Organic foods are often twice as expensive as their conventionally grown counterparts.

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lthough there is a common perception — perhaps based on price alone — that organic foods are better for you than non-organic ones, it remains an open question as to the health benefits. In fact, the Stanford study stemmed from Bravata’s patients asking her again and again about the benefits of organic products. She didn’t know how to advise them. o Bravata, who is also chief medical officer at the healthcare transparency company Castlight Health, did a literature search, uncovering what she called a “confusing body of studies, including some that were not very rigorous, appearing in trade publications.” There wasn’t a comprehensive synthesis of the evidence that included both benefits and harms, she said. his was a ripe area in which to do a systematic review,” said first author Smith-Spangler, who jumped on board to conduct the meta-analysis with Bravata and other Stanford colleagues. or their study, the researchers sifted through thousands of papers and identified 237 of the most relevant to analyze. Those included 17 studies (six of which were randomized clinical trials) of populations consuming organic and conventional diets, and 223 studies that compared either the nutrient levels or the bacterial, fungal or pesticide contamination of various products (fruits, vegetables, grains, meats, milk, poultry, and eggs) grown organically and conventionally. There were no long-term studies of health outcomes of people consuming organic versus conventionally produced food; the duration of the studies involving human subjects ranged from two days to two years. fter analyzing the data, the researchers found little significant difference in health benefits between organic and conventional foods. No consistent differences were seen in the vitamin content of organic products, and only one nutrient — phosphorus — was significantly higher in organic versus conventionally grown produce (and the researchers note that because few people have phosphorous deficiency, this has little clinical significance). There was also no difference in protein or fat content between organic and conventional milk, though evidence from a limited number of studies suggested that organic milk may contain significantly higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids. he researchers were also unable to identify specific fruits and vegetables for which organic appeared the consistently healthier choice, despite running what Bravata called “tons of analyses.” ome believe that organic food is always healthier and more nutritious,” said Smith-Spangler, who is also an instructor of medicine at the School of Medicine. “We were a little surprised that we didn’t find that.” he review yielded scant evidence that conventional foods posed greater health risks than organic products. While researchers found that organic produce had a 30 percent lower risk of

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pesticide contamination than conventional fruits and vegetables, organic foods are not necessarily 100 percent free of pesticides. What’s more, as the researchers noted, the pesticide levels of all foods generally fell within the allowable safety limits. Two studies of children consuming organic and conventional diets did find lower levels of pesticide residues in the urine of children on organic diets, though the significance of these findings on child health is unclear. Additionally, organic chicken and pork appeared to reduce exposure to antibiotic-resistant bacteria, but the clinical significance of this is also unclear. s for what the findings mean for consumers, the researchers said their aim is to educate people, not to discourage them from making organic purchases. “If you look beyond health effects, there are plenty of other reasons to buy organic instead of conventional,” noted Bravata. She listed taste preferences and concerns about the effects of conventional farming practices on the environment and animal welfare as some of the reasons people choose organic products. ur goal was to shed light on what the evidence is,” said Smith-Spangler. “This is information that people can use to make their own decisions based on their level of concern about pesticides, their budget and other considerations.” he also said that people should aim for healthier diets overall. She emphasized the importance of eating of fruits and vegetables, “however they are grown,” noting that most Americans don’t consume the recommended amount. n discussing limitations of their work, the researchers noted the heterogeneity of the studies they reviewed due to differences in testing methods; physical factors affecting the food, such as weather and soil type; and great variation among organic farming methods. With regard to the latter, there may be specific organic practices (for example, the way that manure fertilizer, a risk for bacterial contamination, is used and handled) that could yield a safer product of higher nutritional quality. hat I learned is there’s a lot of variation between farming practices,” said Smith-Spangler. “It appears there are a lot of different factors that are important in predicting nutritional quality and harms.” ther Stanford co-authors are Margaret Brandeau, PhD, the Coleman F. Fung Professor in the School of Engineering; medical students Grace Hunter, J. Clay Bavinger and Maren Pearson; research assistant Paul Eschbach; Vandana Sundaram, MPH, assistant director for research at CHP/PCOR; Hau Liu, MD, MBA, clinical assistant professor of medicine at Stanford and senior director at Castlight Health; Patricia Schirmer, MD, infectious disease physician with the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System; medical librarian Christopher Stave, MLS; and Ingram Olkin, PhD, professor emeritus of statistics and of education. The authors received no external funding for this study. Source

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SOME REACTIONS TO STANFORD STUDY

Organic Food Study ‘Missed the Point’

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ew weeks ago controversy surrounding a Stanford study claiming to have established that organic food is no more nutritious than non-organic illustrates the pitfalls of talking about food issues in a consumer frame. And people all around the country are saying so. ood issues are never solely or even mainly about individual consumer choice — our food and farming system connects us with each other and is by most measures our most impactful daily interaction with the environment. Food is, for instance, the largest single-sector contributor to climate change, and industrial agriculture consumes 70 percent of the earth’s freshwater supplies. Food is at the center of human culture, and always has been. More to the point, food is unavoidably political and we are increasingly understanding ourselves as food citizens much more than consumers.

ccordingly, from the Los Angeles Times to the Des Moines Register people are responding to the Stanford study with some variation of “so what?” or “you’ve missed the point.” People choose and afford organic when they can for a variety of reasons, a good many of them having to do with not wanting pesticides to be used on their food or in their name.

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P P P

esticide residues on food in unknown combinations can have real health impacts — especially at critical life junctures like pregnancy, early childhood or when we are older, or sick. Pesticides are driving biodiversity loss and play a key role in the decline of pollinators. esticide use in the fields puts farmers, and especially farmworkers and their families on the frontlines in ways that are profoundly unjust. Farmworkers face so many risks and get so much sicker than just about any other workforce, that they are largely exempt from our nation’s labor laws. esticide use on food is, in other words, about so much more than the consumer benefits of organic. Yet media insistently seek to frame organic as a consumer issue (and as the folks at the Framework Institute note, we in the food advocate world too often play into this). As a result, we get a distracting and ideologically charged “debate” that misses the mark every time.

What the data really say:

r. Chuck Benbrook of the Organic Center wrote a full technical review of the Stanford study, noting a variety of methodological flaws like undercounting and the failure to meaningfully define terms. Key among the flaws is a misleading math trick which allows the study to depict the increased risk of exposure to pesticide residues on food at around 30 percent. In fact, the data show “an overall 81 percent lower risk or incidence of one or more pesticide residues in the organic samples compared to the conventional samples.”

aking the study on in its own terms (i.e. the individual consumer benefits of organic), Benbrook’s corrections Source boil down to this:

From my read of the same literature, the most significant, proven benefits of organic food and farming are: 1. a reduction in chemical-driven, epigenetic changes during fetal and childhood development, especially from pre-natal exposures to endocrine disrupting pesticides; 2. the markedly more healthy balance of omega-6 and -3 fatty acids in organic dairy products and meat; and 3. the virtual elimination of agriculture’s significant and ongoing contribution to the pool of antibiotic-resistant bacteria currently posing increasing threats to the treatment of human infectious disease. So, fewer sick kids, better good fats and a better shot at having antibiotics that actually work. And so much more.

As Maressa Brown of CafeMom.com wisely notes: “Ultimately, the glaring issue with this study is that the researchers weren’t looking at the reasons people buy certain groceries organic. I don’t stick to organic strawberries and organic poultry because I think either food will provide me with more of anything … be that vitamin C or protein. I’m buying organic, because I want fewer toxins.”

ISSUE III

NEW SHOCKING STUDY

Monsanto Roundup weedkiller and GM maize implicated in ‘shocking’ new cancer study The world’s best-selling weedkiller, and a genetically modified maize resistant to it, can cause tumours, multiple organ damage and lead to premature death, new published research reveals.

n the first ever study to examine the long-term effects of Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller, or the NK603 Roundupresistant GM maize also developed by Monsanto, scientists found that rats exposed to even the smallest amounts, developed mammary tumours and severe liver and kidney damage as early as four months in males, and seven months for females, compared with 23 and 14 months respectively for a control group.

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his research shows an extraordinary number of tumours developing earlier and more aggressively - particularly in female animals. I am shocked by the extreme negative health impacts,” said Dr Michael Antoniou, molecular biologist at King’s College London, and a member of CRIIGEN, the independent scientific council which supported the research.

M crops have been approved for human consumption on the basis of 90-day animal feeding trials. But three months is the equivalent of late adolescence in rats, who can live for almost two years (700 days), and there have long been calls to study the effects over the course of a lifetime.

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he peer-reviewed study, conducted by a team of researchers at the University of Caen, found that rats fed on a diet containing NK603 Roundup resistant GM maize, or given water containing Roundup at levels permitted in drinking water, over a two-year period, died significantly earlier than rats fed on a standard diet. p to half the male rats and 70% of females died prematurely, compared with only 30% and 20% in the control group. Across both sexes the researchers found that rats fed Roundup in their water or NK603 developed two to three times more large tumours than the control group. By the beginning of the 24th month, 50-80% of females in all treated groups had developed large tumours, with up to three per animal.

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y contrast, only 30% of the control group were affected. Scientists reported the tumours “were deleterious to health due to [their] very large size,” making it difficult for the rats to breathe, [and] causing problems with their digestion which resulted in haemorrhaging. he paper, published in the scientific journal Food and Chemical Toxicology today, concluded that NK603 and Roundup caused similar damage to the rats’ health, whether they were consumed together or on their own. The team also found that even the lowest doses of Roundup, which fall well within authorised limits in drinking tap water, were associated with severe health problems.

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he rat has long been used as a surrogate for human toxicity. All new pharmaceutical, agricultural and household substances are, prior to their approval, tested on rats. This is as good an indicator as we can expect that the consumption of GM maize and the herbicide Roundup, impacts seriously on human health,” Antoniou added.

oundup is widely available in the UK, and is recommended on Gardeners Question Time. But this also represents a potential blow for the growth of GM Foods.

ith the global population expected to increase to nine billion by 2050, the UN has said that global food production must increase by 50%. And a consultation led by DEFRA entitled Green Food Project recommended as recently as 10 July 2012 that GM must be reassessed as a possible solution.

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ome 85% of maize grown in the US is GM, while 70% of processed foods contain GM ingredients without GM labelling. In the UK and Europe GM maize is not consumed directly by humans but is widely used in animal feed without the requirement for GM labelling. ntoniou said there could be no doubting the credibility of this peer-reviewed study. “This is the most thorough research ever published into the health effects of GM food crops and the herbicide Roundup on rats.”

ed by Professor Gilles-Eric Seralini, the researchers studied 10 groups, each containing 10 male and 10 female rats, over their normal lifetime. Three groups were given Roundup – developed by Monstanto – in their drinking water at three different levels consistent with exposure through the food chain from crops sprayed with the herbicide. hree groups were fed diets containing different proportions of Roundup resistant maize at 11%, 22% and 33%. Three groups were given both Roundup and the GM maize at the same three dosages. The control group was fed an equivalent diet with no Roundup or NK603 containing 33% of non-GM maize. spokesman for Monsanto said: “We will review it thoroughly, as we do all studies that relate to our products and Source technologies.”

ISSUE III

MORE ABOUT NEW SHOCK FINDINGS IN GMO STUDY

Spread the word: GMOs are toxic!

ating genetically modified corn (GM corn) and consuming trace levels of Monsanto’s Roundup chemical fertilizer caused rats to develop horrifying tumors, widespread organ damage, and premature death. That’s the conclusion of a shocking new study that looked at the longterm effects of consuming Monsanto’s genetically modified corn.

he study has been deemed “the most thorough research ever published into the health effects of GM food crops and the herbicide Roundup on rats.” News of the horrifying findings is spreading like wildfire across the internet, with even the mainstream media seemingly in shock over the photos of rats with multiple grotesque tumors... tumors so large the rats even had difficulty breathing in some cases. GMOs may be the new thalidomide.

t reported, “Scientists found that rats exposed to even the smallest amounts, developed mammary tumors and severe liver and kidney damage as early as four months in males, and seven months for females.”

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he Daily Mail reported, “Fresh row over GM foods as French study claims rats fed the controversial crops suffered tumors.” (link) t goes on to say: “The animals on the GM diet suffered mammary tumors, as well as severe liver and kidney damage. The researchers said 50 percent of males and 70 percent of females died prematurely, compared with only 30 percent and 20 percent in the control group.”

he study, led by Gilles-Eric Seralini of the University of Caen, was the first ever study to examine the long-term (lifetime) effects of eating GMOs. You may find yourself thinking it is absolutely astonishing that no such studies were ever conducted before GM corn was approved for widespread use by the USDA and FDA, but such is the power of corporate lobbying and corporate greed.

he study was published in The Food & Chemical Toxicology Journal and was just presented at a news conference in London.

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Here are some of the shocking findings from the study: • Up to 50% of males and 70% of females suffered premature death. • Rats that drank trace amounts of Roundup (at levels legally allowed in the water supply) had a 200% to 300% increase in large tumors. • Rats fed GM corn and traces of Roundup suffered severe organ damage including liver damage and kidney damage. • The study fed these rats NK603, the Monsanto variety of GM corn that’s grown across North America and widely fed to animals and humans. This is the same corn that’s in your corn-based breakfast cereal, corn tortillas and corn snack chips.

The study is entitled, “A Comparison of the Effects of Three GM Corn Varieties on Mammalian Health.” That abstract include this text. (Note: “hepatorenal toxicity” means toxic to the liver). Our analysis clearly reveals for the 3 GMOs new side effects linked with GM maize consumption, which were sex- and often dosedependent. Effects were mostly associated with the kidney and liver, the dietary detoxifying organs, although different between the 3 GMOs. Other effects were also noticed in the heart, adrenal glands, spleen and haematopoietic system. We conclude that these data highlight signs of hepatorenal toxicity, possibly due to the new pesticides specific to each GM corn. In addition, unintended direct or indirect metabolic consequences of the genetic modification cannot be excluded. Here are some quotes from the researchers: “This research shows an extraordinary number of tumors developing earlier and more aggressively - particularly in female animals. I am shocked by the extreme negative health impacts.” - Dr Michael Antoniou, molecular biologist, King’s College London. “We can expect that the consumption of GM maize and the herbicide Roundup, impacts seriously on human health.” - Dr Antoniou. “This is the first time that a long-term animal feeding trial has examined the impact of feeding GM corn or the herbicide Roundup, or a combination of both and the results are extremely serious. In the male rats, there was liver and kidney disorders, including tumors and even more worryingly, in the female rats, there were mammary tumors at a level which is extremely concerning; up to 80 percent of the female rats had mammary tumors by the end of the trial.” - Patrick Holden, Director, Sustainable Food Trust. Source

READ THE ABSTRACT OF THE STUDY HERE

The Daily Mail is reporting on some of the reaction to the findings: France’s Jose Bove, vice-chairman of the European Parliament’s commission for agriculture and known as a fierce opponent of GM, called for an immediate suspension of all EU cultivation and import authorisations of GM crops. ‘This study finally shows we are right and that it is urgent to quickly review all GMO evaluation processes,’ he said in a statement. ‘National and European food security agencies must carry out new studies financed by public funding to guarantee healthy food for European consumers.’ ISSUE III

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MONSANTO HALTED FROM THREATENING HUMANITY

The GMO debate is over GM crops must be immediately outlawed

he GMO debate is over. There is no longer any legitimate, scientific defense of growing GM crops for human consumption. The only people still clinging to the outmoded myth that “GMOs are safe” are scientific mercenaries with financial ties to Monsanto and the biotech industry.

MOs are an anti-human technology. They threaten the continuation of life on our planet. They are a far worse threat than terrorism, or even the threat of nuclear war.

s a shocking new study has graphically shown, GMOs are the new thalidomide. When rats eat GM corn, they develop horrifying tumors. Seventy percent of females die prematurely, and virtually all of them suffer severe organ damage from consuming GMO. These are the scientific conclusions of the first truly “long-term” study ever

conducted on GMO consumption in animals, and the findings are absolutely horrifying.

hat this reveals is that genetic engineering turns FOOD into POISON. Remember thalidomide? Babies being born with no arms and other heartbreaking deformities? Thalidomide was pushed as “scientific” and “FDA approved.” The same lies are now being told about GMO: they’re safe. They’re nutritious. They will feed the world!

ut the real science now coming out tells a different picture: GMOs may be creating an entire generation of cancer victims who have a frighteningly heightened risk of growing massive mammary gland tumors caused by the consumption of GM foods. We are witnessing what may turn out to be the worst and most costly blunder in the history of western science: the mass poisoning of billions

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Science for sale of people with a toxic food crop that was never properly tested in the first place. Remember: GMOs are an anti-human technology. And those who promote them are, by definition, enemies of humankind. The evidence keeps emerging, day after day, that GMOs are absolutely and without question unfit for human consumption. France has already launched an investigation that may result in the nation banning GM corn imports. It’s already illegal to grow genetically modified crops in France, but the nation still allows GMO imports, meaning France still allows its citizens to be poisoned by imported GM corn grown in America.

he GMO industry, not surprisingly, doesn’t want any independent research conducted on GMOs. They don’t want long-term feeding trials, and they most certainly do not want studies conducted by scientists they can’t control with financial ties. What they want is to hide GMOs in products by making sure they’re not listed on the labels. Hence the biotech industry’s opposition to Proposition 37.

The tactics of the biotech industry are: •

HIDE genetically modified ingredients in foods

•

FALSIFY the research to claim GMOs are safe

•

MANIPULATE the scientific debate by bribing scientists

•

DENY DENY DENY just like Big Tobacco, DDT, thalidomide, Agent Orange and everything else that’s been killing us over the last century

onsanto is now the No. 1 most hated corporation in America. The company’s nickname is MonSatan. It is the destructive force behind the lobbying of the USDA, FDA, scientists and politicians that have all betrayed the American people and given in to genetically modified seeds. These seeds, some of which grow their own toxic pesticides right inside the grain, are a form of chemical brutality against children and adults. This is “child abuse” at its worst. It’s an abuse of all humans. It is the most serious crime ever committed against nature and all of humankind.

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hat’s what you get with payola science... science “for sale” to wealthy corporations. Nearly all the studies that somehow conclude GMO are safe were paid for by the biotech industry. Every one of those studies is unreliable and most likely fraudulent. Every scientist that conducts “research” for Monsanto is almost certainly a sellout at minimum... and more likely a jackal operative working for an industry of death. Corporate science is fraudulent science. When enough money is at stake, scientists can be bought off to even declare smoking cigarettes to be safe. And they did, throughout the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s. Some of those very same scientists are now working for the Monsantos of the world, peddling their scientific fraud to the highest bidder (which always happens to be a wealthy corporation). There is no poison these scientists won’t promote as safe -- even “good for you!” There is no limit to their evil. There are no ethics that guide their actions.

MO-promoting scientists are the most despicable humanoid creatures to have ever walked the surface of this planet. To call them “human” is an insult to humanity. They are ANTI-human. They are demonic. They are forces of evil that walk among the rest of us, parading as authorities when in their hearts and souls they are actually corporate cowards and traitors to humankind. To pad their own pockets, they would put at risk the very future of sustainable life on our planet... and they do it consciously, insidiously. They feed on death, destruction, suffering and pain. They align with the biotech industry precisely because they know that no other industry is as steeped in pure evil as the biotech industry. GMO pushers will lie, cheat, steal, falsify and even mass-murder as many people as it takes to further their agenda of total global domination over the entire food supply... at ANY cost.

his is war at the genetic level. And this kind of war makes bullets, bombs and nukes look downright tame by comparison. Because the GMO war is based on self-replicating genetic pollution which has already been released into the environment; into the food supply; and into your body.

he hundreds of millions of consumers who eat GMO are being murdered right now, with every meal they consume... and they don’t even know it. GMO-pimping scientists are laughing at all the death they’re causing. They enjoy tricking people and watching them die because it makes their sick minds feel more powerful. These

ere the geeks in school who were bullied by the jocks. But now, with the power of genetic manipulation at their fingertips, they can invoke their hatred against all humankind and “bully” the entire world with hidden poisons in the food. That makes them smile. It’s the ultimate revenge against a world that mistreated them in their youth. Death to everyone!

Society must respond in defense of life on Earth

he sheer brutality of what the GMO industry has committed against us humanity screams out for a decisive response. It is impossible to overreact to this. No collective response goes too far when dealing with an industry that quite literally threatens the very basis of life on our planet.

o march government SWAT teams into the corporate headquarters of all GMO seed companies and shut down all operations at gunpoint would be a mild reaction -- and fully justified. To indict all biotech CEOs, scientists, employees and P.R. flacks and charge them with conspiring to commit crimes against humanity would

be a small but important step in protecting our collective futures. To disband all these corporations by government order have their assets seized and sold off to help fund reparations to the people they have harmed is but a tiny step needed in the defense of life.

he truth is that humanity will never be safe until GMO seed pushers and manufacturers are behind bars, locked away from society and denied the ability to ever threaten humanity again. What the Nuremberg trials did to IG Farben and other Nazi war crimes corporations, our own government must now do to Monsanto and the biotech industry.

t is time for decisive intervention. Monsanto must be stopped by the will of the People. The mass poisoning of our families and children by an evil, destructive corporation that seeks to dominate the world food supply must be halted.

he GMO debate is over. The horrors are now being revealed. The truth can no longer be hidden, and the reaction from the public cannot be stopped. Source

SIGN THIS PETITION Petition for the dismantling of Monsanto Why this is important? Monsanto’s pesticides kill bees, disrupt ecosystems, pollute rivers and groundwater and are the source of a number of cancers and malformations. It has been scientifically proven that GMOs are responsible for the development of cancer.

ENTER PETITION HERE WWW.ORGANICNEWS.EU

MODERN SPACE FARMERS

Landsat Satellites Find the ‘Sweet Spot’ for Crops Farmers are using maps created with free data from NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey’s Landsat satellites that show locations that are good and not good for growing crops.

armer Gary Wagner walks into his field where the summer leaves on the sugar beet plants are a rich emerald hue -- not necessarily a good color when it comes to sugar beets, either for the environment or the farmer. That hue tells Wagner that he’s leaving money in the field in unused nitrogen fertilizer, which if left in the soil can act as a pollutant when washed into waterways, and in unproduced sugar, the ultimate product from his beets. he leaf color Wagner is looking for is yellow. Yellow means the sugar beets are stressed, and when the plants are stressed, they use more nitrogen from the soil and store more sugar. Higher sugar content means that when Wagner and his family bring the harvest in, their farm, A.W.G. Farms, Inc., in northern Minnesota, makes more dollars per acre, and they can better compete on the world crop market. o find where he needs to adjust his fertilizer use -- apply it here or withhold it there -- Wagner uses a map of his 5,000 acres that span 35 miles. The map was created using free data from NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey’s Landsat satellites and tells him about growing conditions. When he plants a different crop species

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the following year, Wagner’s map will tell him which areas of the fields are depleted in nitrogen so he can apply fertilizer judiciously instead of all over. farmer needs to monitor his fields for potential yield and for variability of yield, Wagner says. Knowing how well the plants are growing by direct measurement has an obvious advantage over statistically calculating what should be there based on spot checks as he walks his field. That’s where remote sensing comes in, and NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey’s Landsat satellites step into the spotlight.

The Sensors in the Sky

roviding the longest, continuous record of observations of Earth from space, Landsat images are critical to anyone -- scientist or farmer -- who relies on month-to-month and year-to-year data sets of Earth’s changing surface. Landsat 1 launched in 1972. The Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), the eighth satellite in the series, will launch in 2013 and will bring two sensors -- the Operational Land Imager (OLI) and the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) -- into low orbit over Earth to continue the

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work of their predecessors as they image our planet’s land surface. and features tell the sensors their individual characteristics through energy. Everything on the land surface reflects and radiates energy -- you, your backyard trees, that rocky outcropping, and a field where a farmer is growing a crop of sugar beets. The sensors on LDCM will measure energy at wavelengths both within the visible spectrum -- what people can see -- and at wavelengths that only the sensors, and some other lucky species, such as bees and spiders, can see. LI will measure energy in nine visible, near infrared, and short wave infrared portions, or bands, of the electromagnetic spectrum, and TIRS will measure energy in two thermal infrared bands. And that’s what makes them such powerful tools. im Irons, NASA Project Scientist for LDCM at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., says that the instruments will deliver data-rich images that tell a deeper story than your average photograph of how the land changes over time. agner’s map -- a special kind of map known as a zone map -- shows the difference between healthy and stressed plants by representing the amount of light they’re reflecting in different bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. To display this information on his map, the visible colors of light -- red, green, and blue -- are each assigned to a different band. Red, for example, is assigned to the near-infrared band that isn’t visible to humans. Healthy leaves strongly reflect the invisible, near-infrared energy. Therefore green, lush sugar beets pop out in bright red on Wagner’s map while the yellow-leaved stressed plants appear as a duller red. Wagner can use this map to track and document changes in his crop’s condition throughout the season and between seasons. As a tool, this map supports and enhances his on-the-ground crop analyses with independent and scientific observations from space. ifferent band combinations tell farmers -- and scientists, insurance agents, water managers, foresters, mapmakers, and many other types of users -- different information. Additionally, since the Landsat data is digital, computers can be trained to use all the bands to rapidly recognize and differentiate features across the landscape and to recognize change over time with multiple images. Therein lies the power of the Landsat data archive,” says Irons. “It is a multi-band analysis across the landscape and over a 40-year time span.” oth OLI and TIRS use new “push-broom” technology, in which a sensor uses long arrays of light-sensitive detectors to collect information across the

field of view, as opposed to older sensors that sweep mirrors side-to-side. The new technology improves on earlier instruments because the sensors have fewer moving parts, which will improve their reliability. LI will also be more sensitive to electromagnetic radiation than previous Landsat sensors, which is akin to giving users access to a new and improved ruler with markings down to one-sixty-fourth of an inch versus markings at every quarter inch. For Wagner, this means that next summer with LDCM in orbit, he will be able to better discriminate the degree of stress on his sugar beets, giving him a more finely tuned view of what his plants need across the field.

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ISSUE III

FARMER GARY WAGNER KNEELS IN FIELD WITH MAP AND CELL PHONE

The View of the Field is the Right Fit for its Purpose

ach step of the way, OLI will look at Earth with a 15-meter (49 foot) panchromatic and a 30-meter (98 foot) multispectral spatial resolution along a ground swath that is 185 kilometers (115 miles) wide. TIRS will measure two thermal infrared spectral bands with a spatial resolution of 100 meters (328 feet) and cover the same size swath as OLI. ifferent scale resolutions -- low, moderate, and high -- deliver different levels of detail in remote sensing images, and each has its purpose. The 30-meter (98 foot) resolution of the Landsat images Wagner uses allows him to see what is happening on his spread, quarteracre by quarter-acre. He doesn’t need a view so narrow that the high resolution image tells him who’s sitting in the combine parked in his field, or a view so big that it shows him smoke

from forest fires drifting over the North American continent with no detail on his farm. he moderate resolution also means Landsat satellites are able to fly over the same piece of real estate more frequently than high resolution satellites. Once every sixteen days, Landsat 7 in orbit now or LDCM after it launches, will revisit Wagner’s farm, and every other place on Earth, too, for global coverage. “We’re looking forward to having a real quality instrument in space,” says Irons, who is excited about having OLI and TIRS come online. He says the Landsat 30-meter resolution has been assessed in the scientific literature as being a suitable resolution for observing land cover and land use change at the scale in which humans interact with and manage land. The sensors will record 400 scenes a day, giving users 150 more scenes than previous instruments. Data from both of the sensors will be combined in each image.

The Legacy in the Landsat Mission is its Continuity

n daily operations on his farm, Wagner has used Landsat data in near real time. He’s anxious for the launch of LDCM and NASA’s newest sensors, OLI and TIRS, because not having the remote sensing data really puts him in a bind. A lack of current satellite data disrupts Wagner’s understanding of what his plants need, what the soil needs, the long-term performance history of his place, and his budget. or now, with his zone map in hand, Wagner adjusts his care for his sugar beet crop, allowing the plants to deplete fertilizer in the soil so he can change the bright red on the satellite image to the yellow of sweet beets in his field.

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RECOMMENDED BOOK

Tomorrow’s Table: Organic Farming, Genetics, and the Future of Food Written by Pamela C. Ronald and R. W. Adamchak

“Here’s a persuasive case that, far from contradictory, the merging of genetic engineering and organic farming offers our best shot at truly sustainable agriculture”--Stewart Brand, creator of the Whole Earth Catalog Description: By the year 2050, Earth’s population will double. If we continue with current farming practices, vast amounts of wilderness will be lost, millions of birds and billions of insects will die, and the public will lose billions of dollars as a consequence of environmental degradation. Clearly, there must be a better way to meet the need for increased food production. Written as part memoir, part instruction, and part contemplation, Tomorrow’s Table argues that a judicious blend of two important strands of agriculture--genetic engineering and organic farming--is key to helping feed the world’s growing population in an ecologically balanced manner. Pamela Ronald, a geneticist, and her husband, Raoul Adamchak, an organic farmer, take the reader inside their lives for roughly a year, allowing us to look over their shoulders so that we can see what geneticists and organic farmers actually do. The reader sees the problems that farmers face, trying to provide larger yields without resorting to expensive or environmentally hazardous chemicals, a problem that will loom larger and larger as the century progresses. They learn how organic farmers and geneticists address these problems. This book is for consumers, farmers, and policy decision makers who want to make food choices and policy that will support ecologically responsible farming practices. It is also for anyone who wants accurate information about organic farming, genetic engineering, and their potential impacts on human health and the environment.

Contact: 0030 210 6836860, www.chfamily.gr, info@chb.gr, 151 25 Marousi - Greece

Bug’s Life

Organic Pest Control P

esticides — even organic varieties — are not the safest, healthiest or most effective natural pest control options. The addition of certain plants from the list below to your garden or farm will encourage biodiversity and a healthy population of beneficial garden insects that act as Mother Nature’s best organic pest control. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and sustainable agriculture methodology both rely heavily on the use of plants known to attract beneficial insects that prey on damaging garden pests. According to Dr. Geoff Zehnder, Professor of entomology at Clemson, “If you are going to farm or garden organically, you need to build in attractants for beneficials.” he first rule to learn is the distinction between the “good guys” and the “bad guys”: Not all pests are a threat to your garden plants, and many of them are actually helpful in fighting off other plant predators. We can classify the good guys using the three “P’s” system: he three ‘P’s’ of beneficial insects are pollinators, predators and parasites. Pollinators, such as honeybees, fertilize flowers, which increases the productivity of food crops ranging from apples to zucchini. Predators,

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such as lady beetles and soldier bugs, consume pest insects as food. Parasites use pests as nurseries for their young. On any given day, all three ‘P’s’ are feeding on pests or on flower pollen and nectar in a diversified garden. If you recognize these good bugs, it’s easier to appreciate their work and understand why it’s best not to use broad-spectrum herbicides. he use of such herbicides and pesticides can be detrimental to the complex relationships between plants, pests and predators — all the more reason why natural insect control works better. Because pesticides, even organic varieties, make no distinction between helpful and hurtful insects, in the end their regular use can have many negative impacts, including the suppression of the soil food web and pollution of waterways. Instead, encouraging the presence of predatory warriors that will defend and protect your garden plants from common pests is not only an environmentally sound management strategy, it also encourages biodiversity and plant pollination. sing a strategy known as farmscaping, you can keep your pest population under control by adding plants to attract beneficial insects. A general rule of

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thumb is to designate between 5 and 10 percent of your garden or farm space to plants that bring in beneficials. An important key is to plant so that there are blooms year-round — the beneficial insects will not stay or survive through a season if no food is available. This continuous-bloom feature in farmscaping has earned the practice the nickname “chocolate box ecology” — your garden or farm will be beautiful year-round with a variety of colorful blooms and humming insects.

some emit a chemical alarm signal when pest insects begin

ay and night, pesticide-free organic gardens are abuzz with activity, much of it a life-and-death struggle between predators and prey. We seldom see much of this natural pest control, in which tiny assassins, soldiers and lions — aka “beneficial insects” (the bugs that eat other bugs) — patrol their surroundings in pursuit of their next meal. Assassin bugs aren’t picky: They will stab, poison and devour a wide range of garden pests, including caterpillars, leafhoppers and bean beetles. Soldier and carabid beetles work the night shift, emerging after dark from beneath rocks, mulch and other daytime hiding places to feast upon soft-bodied insects and the eggs of Colorado potato beetles. Aphid lions (the larvae of the lacewing) have a hooked jaw that helps them dispatch huge numbers of aphids, caterpillars, mites and other pests.

ing a welcoming habitat — shelter, water and alternate

hese and many other beneficial insects are wellequipped to see, smell and/or taste a potential meal. Sometimes they’re alerted by the plants themselves, as

feeding on them, and nearby beneficial insects are quick to respond. If your garden is teeming with beneficials, these bugs may often thwart budding pest infestations before you’ve even noticed the threat. It’s nature’s way of managing pests — no pesticides required.

udging from different reports across the globe, tapping the support of beneficial garden insects

is one of our best tools for natural pest control. By providfood — you’ll encourage these insect helpers to maintain year-round residence in your garden. You can then kick back and enjoy the natural pest control provided by the diverse and amazingly complex balance among what we humans see as the “good bugs” and the “bad bugs.”

abitats for beneficial bugs go by several names, such as “farmscape,” “eco-scape” and, in Eu-

rope, “beetle banks.” The concept of “farmscaping” to promote natural pest control isn’t new, but designing studies to confirm exactly what works best for a given crop in various regions is challenging. An increasing number of researchers has been exploring these complex interactions between insects and plants to find new ways gardeners and farmers can grow food without resorting to toxic pesticides. The information here will equip you to put this growing body of knowledge to work in your garden.

7 Ways to Welcome Beneficial Insects 1. PLANT A NECTARY SMORGASBORD OF FLOWERS.

hen they can’t feed on insect pests in your garden, beneficial insects need other food to survive and reproduce. Having certain flowering plants in or near your garden supplies that food in the form of nectar and pollen. Beneficials use the sugar in nectar as fuel when searching for prey and reproducing, and the protein in pollen helps support the development of their eggs. hich plants are easiest for them to tap? Researchers have identified the following groups whose flowers provide easily accessible nectar and pollen: 1) plants in the daisy family, such as aster, cosmos and yarrow; 2) plants in the carrot family, such as cilantro, dill, fennel,

ISSUE III

parsley and wild carrot; 3) alyssum and other members of the mustard family; 4) mints; and 5) buckwheats. lants in these families are especially good because their clusters of very small flowers make accessing their nectar and pollen easier for many insects. Beneficial garden insects can be broadly categorized as generalists — those that eat most anything they can catch — and specialists — those that feed on just one or a small array of prey. The plants mentioned above can be used by both types, says Mary Gardiner, assistant professor of entomology at Ohio State University.

“A

lso be sure to consider bloom time,” Gardiner says. “You want to provide a diversity of flowers from early to late in the season so that food is always available for the beneficials.” n addition, be sure to include some plants with extrafloral nectaries, which are nectar-producing glands apart from the plant’s flowers. Such plants are an important supplemental food source for lady beetles and other beneficial insects, especially during periods of drought or other extreme weather. Plants with extrafloral nectaries include sunflower, morning glory, peony, elderberry, vetch,

willow, plum and peach. ntil your season-long flower supplies become well-established, you can supplement beneficials’ diets with a simple solution of sugar water. Several studies conducted by Utah State University found a sugar solution effective for attracting parasitic wasps. The researchers used a mix of about three-quarters of a cup of sugar per 1 quart of water, and they applied it in a fine mist with a handheld sprayer onto the crop’s foliage. (The researchers used the solution on alfalfa.) Be sure to use fresh solution, Gardiner advises.

2. A HOME OF THEIR OWN

“B

ather than just interplanting a few of these

y taking an annual cropping system and

flowering plants within your vegetable gar-

adding borders or strips of diverse perennial

den, try to give them a wider berth: their own permanent

vegetation, we mimic natural systems,” says Don Weber, a

space near your garden crops. Doing so will help create an

research entomologist with the Agricultural Research Service

undisturbed habitat where insect predators and parasites can

who is based in Beltsville, Md. “From there, predators can

feed, reproduce and overwinter. Many beneficials, including

move quickly into nearby annual crops to help suppress

ground beetles and soldier beetles, spend at least part of their

pests.”

life cycle underground, so having patches of soil that won’t be churned up by digging or tilling is helpful.

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3. GO NATIVE

eneficial and pest species vary regionally, so be sure to incorporate some native plants into your beneficial habitat. Native plants provide not only nectar and pollen but also alternate insect prey. “Take milkweed, for instance,” Gardiner says. “It hosts aphids, which draw in lady beetles. The native aphids only feed on the milkweed, but the lady beetles can go on to feed on garden pests.” Native plants have other benefits, too: They increase biodiversity and provide food for birds and native bees. n 2004 and 2005, researchers at Michigan State University tested 46 native plants and identified a group that provided flowers throughout the growing season

and attracted a diversity of beneficial insects. What set the winners apart? All had very showy floral displays. hat could be due to either having large individual blooms, like the cup plant, or a large number of smaller blooms that together appear large, like the milkweeds,” says Doug Landis, the Michigan State University entomologist who led the study. Landis advises gardeners in other regions to select natives that are known to be insectpollinated, that grow vigorously in the specific conditions and that have large floral displays.

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4. HEDGE YOUR BETS

nclude shrubs and perennial grasses in or near your garden, too, if possible. California researchers have taken a long, hard look at hedgerows to find out how they may be able to increase beneficial insect activity on farms. Hedgerows — diverse plantings of native flowering perennials, grasses, shrubs and trees — were previously used as windbreaks, boundary markers and sources of wood, but have become less common in recent decades.

ISSUE III

he studies have shown that a hedgerow can provide an ideal habitat for many beneficial bugs, such as predatory bugs (assassin bugs and minute pirate bugs), syrphid flies, lady beetles, and parasitic wasps and flies. From the shelter of a hedgerow, these “good bugs” can quickly move to nearby garden crops to feed on aphids, caterpillars, leafhoppers and squash bugs.

“O

nce these hedgerow plants are established, they can bloom for a long period and produce a large quantity of flowers with high-quality nectar,” says Rachael Long, farm adviser with the University of California Cooperative Extension Service. “Hedgerows provide shelter from wind and cold, too, as well as alternate prey species, which is especially important at the end of the growing season when beneficials need a place to overwinter. It encourages them to stay in the area.” n a home garden setting, even a small mixed border of shrubs, grasses and perennial flowers should achieve similar results. Select plants with different

bloom times, advises Long. The closer the planting is to garden crops, the better, although beneficials will travel as far as several thousand feet if necessary. ne note of caution: Letting the margins of your property go “wild” with weeds is not necessarily the kind of diversity you want to encourage. “We found that weedy, semi-managed areas actually were a resource for insect pests, while managed hedgerows with native plants had fewer pests and more beneficials that moved to nearby crops,” Long says.

5. COVER MORE GROUND

over your soil with an organic mulch or cover

food crops overlap for at least some of the time, so beneficials

crop. Bare ground exposes beetles, spiders and

can move directly from the cover crop to the crop pests,” says

other beneficial garden insects to climate extremes (tempera-

Robert Bugg, a University of California, Davis entomolo-

ture, wind, humidity) that can threaten their survival. “Use

gist who has been studying the relationship between plants

any locally available organic mulch,” Gardiner says. “As long as

and beneficials for several decades. At the end of the season,

it helps retain moisture, is well-aerated, and is not infected with

ignore the conventional advice to remove all spent vegeta-

fungal pathogens, it will protect the beneficials from the sun and

tion. If you know you have a pest that will overwinter in

also provide food for some predators as it decays.”

the debris, go ahead and remove it or till it under. But if

over crops such as buckwheat, cowpea, sweet

not, leaving the debris is better because beneficials will seek

clover, fava bean, vetch, red clover, white clover

shelter in it. Bunch grasses and clumping perennials such as

and mustards can also provide food and shelter for ben-

comfrey provide especially good winter shelter for a number

eficials. “The key is to make sure that both the cover crop and

of beneficial insects.

6. WATER WORKS

rovide shallow, gravel-filled dishes of water

water frequently to avoid creating a habitat for mosquitoes.

in your garden if you don’t have other water

Better yet, try growing the cup plant (Silphium perfolia-

sources such as ponds or wetlands nearby to support benefi-

tum), which holds water in its leaves.

cial insects (including native bees). Be careful to change the

7. USE ORGANIC INSECTICIDES SELECTIVELY

nsecticides are designed to kill insects, and even natural, plant-based pesticides such as pyrethrum can kill beneficials. Use only pesticides approved for use by organic growers, use them as a last resort, and use them

selectively. Besides, experts say having a few insect pests in your garden isn’t so bad anyway — they help keep the good guys hangin’ around, hungry for more.

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Top 10 Beneficial Insects 1. Braconid Wasps (Hymenoptera)

orth America is home to nearly 2,000 species of these non-stinging wasps. Adults are less than half an inch long, with narrow abdomens and long antennae. Adults lay eggs inside or on host insects; the maggot-like larvae that emerge consume the prey. Diet: Caterpillars (including tomato hornworms), flies, beetle larvae, leaf miners, true bugs and aphids. Adults consume nectar and pollen.

2. Ground Beetles (Coleoptera)

ost of the 2,500 species are one-eighth to 1 1/2 inches long, dark, shiny and hard-shelled. Diet: Asparagus beetles, caterpillars, Colorado potato beetles, corn earworms, cutworms, slugs, squash vine borers and tobacco budworms. Some are also important consumers of weed seeds.

3. Hover or Syrphid Flies (Diptera)

arvae are small, tapered maggots that crawl over foliage. Black-and-yellow-striped adults resemble yellow jackets but are harmless to humans. The adults hover like hummingbirds as they feed from flowers. Diet: Larvae eat mealybugs, small caterpillars, and are especially helpful in controlling early season aphids. The adults feed on nectar and pollen.

4. Lacewings (Neuroptera)

arvae, sometimes called â&#x20AC;&#x153;aphid lions,â&#x20AC;? measure to half an inch long and are light brown with hooked jaws. Adults are light green or brown and one-half to 1 inch long with transparent wings. Diet: Larvae prey upon aphids, small caterpillars and caterpillar eggs, other larvae, mealybugs, whiteflies and more. Adults eat honeydew, nectar and pollen, and some eat other insects.

5. Lady Beetles (Coleoptera)

ll of the nearly 200 beneficial North American species are one-quarter-inch long. Larvae, which can resemble tiny alligators, are usually dark and flecked with red or yellow. Adults are rounded and often have orange or red bodies with black spots. Diet: Larvae and adults both dine on aphids, small caterpillars, small beetles and insect eggs. Specialist species feed on scale insects, mealybugs, mites and even powdery mildew. Adults also eat honeydew, nectar and pollen.

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6. Predatory Bugs (Hemiptera)

his group includes big-eyed, minute pirate, assassin, damsel and even certain predatory stink bugs. All use their mouth, or “beak,” to pierce and consume prey. Adults range in size from the minute pirate bug (onesixteenth-inch long) to the wheel bug (an assassin bug that’s 1 1/2 inches long). Diet: Nymphs or larvae and adults feed on aphids, caterpillars, scale insects, spider mites and insect eggs. Many also prey upon beetles.

7. Soldier Beetles (Coleoptera)

hese elongated, half-inch-long beetles have soft wing covers. Larvae are brownish and hairy. Adults usually have yellow or red and black markings and resemble fireflies. Diet: Larvae feed on the eggs and larvae of beetles, grasshoppers, moths and other insects. Adults feed on aphids and other soft-bodied insects, as well as on nectar and pollen.

8. Spiders (Araneae)

ll of the more than 3,000 North American species — including the crab spider, jumping spider,

wolf spider and orb-web spider — are predatory. Diet: Depends on species, but can include aphids, beetles, cutworms, fire ants, lacebugs, spider mites, squash bugs and tobacco budworms.

9. Tachinid Flies (Diptera)

here are more than 1,300 North American species of parasitic flies. Most resemble houseflies but with short, bristly hairs on the abdomen. All develop as internal parasites of other insects, including many garden pests. Usually, the adult female attaches its egg to the host insect, which is then consumed by the larva, but there are several other patterns: eggs laid on host, eggs laid into host, eggs laid on foliage to be eaten by host, live larvae laid on or near host, and live larvae laid into host. Diet: Larvae feed internally on caterpillars, beetles, bugs, earwigs and grasshoppers. Adults feed on nectar, pollen and honeydew.

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10. Trichogramma (Hymenoptera)

Mini-Wasps

hese extremely small wasps lay their eggs inside the host’s eggs, where the young trichogramma develop as internal parasites. Parasitized eggs turn black. Because the trichogramma’s life cycle is very short — just seven to 10 days from egg to adult — their populations can grow rapidly. Diet: Pest eggs, especially those of cabbageworms, codling moths, corn earworms, diamondback moths, and other moths and butterflies

Put a HIPPO in Your Garden!

hen pest insects attack crops, many plants release chemicals that signal to beneficial insects that lunch is nearby. One of the more common HIPPOs — Herbivore-Induced Plant Protection Odors — is methyl salicylate, aka oil of wintergreen. Numerous studies have confirmed that oil of wintergreen attracts a variety of beneficial insects, including ladybugs, lacewings, minute pirate bugs and aphid-eating hover flies. Or, take a DIY approach by soaking cotton balls in the oil, then placing them in the garden inside empty cottage cheese containers with perforated lids. Source

19 Plants Beneficial Insects Love

he following plants will make your garden a boon to beneficial insects that will in turn provide you with free, allnatural pest control. These annual (A) and perennial (P) plants draw an abundance of diverse beneficial insects in many regions. Choose early-, mid- and late-season bloomers. Include flowering perennials and shrubs native to your area, too.

PLANT SWEET ALYSSUM (A) HAIRY VETCH (A) ANGELICA (P) COMMON GARDEN SAGE (P) ORANGE STONECROP (P) THYME (P) CATMINT (P) BUCKWHEAT (A) DILL (A) FENNEL (P) SHASTA DAISY (P) MINTS (P) COREOPSIS (P) CILANTRO (A) COSMOS (A) OREGANO (P) YARROWS, COMMON AND FERN-LEAF (P) GOLDENROD (P) ASTERS (P)

ISSUE III

BLOOM TIME SPRING THROUGH FROST SPRING TO SUMMER, DEPENDING ON SEEDING TIME LATE SPRING LATE SPRING TO EARLY SUMMER LATE SPRING TO EARLY SUMMER LATE SPRING TO EARLY SUMMER LATE SPRING TO MIDSUMMER THREE WEEKS AFTER PLANTING; CONTINUES UP TO 10 WEEKS SUMMER SUMMER SUMMER MIDSUMMER SUMMER TO FALL SUMMER TO FALL, IF RESEEDED SUMMER TO FALL SUMMER TO FALL SUMMER TO FALL LATE SUMMER TO FALL LATE SUMMER TO FALL Source

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Top 10 Organic Wines Neil Palmer, co-director of wine merchants, Vintage Roots, and wine connoisseur extraordinaire, gives us his pick of the best organic wines around

nce seen as a niche product, consumption of organic wine is now growing faster than that of conventional vintages. Last year, the market for organic wine increased by 3.7 percent compared to 2 percent for the non-organic product. So what’s brought it about? Partly, it’s the increasingly sophisticated products making it onto the shelves. roducers such as Jean Pierre Fleury, Monty Waldin and Jean Bousquet are making innovative and delicious wines as good as or better than anything

made by conventional vintners, and a growing awareness of the environmental consequences of conventional vintages is making itself felt. Then, there’s the perception that organic wine is healthier and results in fewer hangovers. While the veracity of the latter largely depends on how much you quaff, it’s true that fewer pesticides means fewer chemicals in your glass and a correspondingly healthier product. But with so many marvellous organic and biodynamic wines out there, which do you choose? Here are a few of the favourites.

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AOC Champagne Fleury Vintage 1995 (France) Why it’s good: Jean Pierre Fleury was the first producer in Champagne to go biodynamic back in 1992. The 1995 vintage has a firm structure with remarkable freshness, a sparkling intensity and great longevity. It’s simply one of the finest champagnes available and was the gold trophy winner at the International WINE Challenge in 2008.

Cullen Mangan Margaret River 2009 (Australia) Why it’s good: Produced on a biodynamically certified and forward-thinking estate, this is a wine that offers immense elegance and freshness. Matured in French oak barrels for 12 months, the unusual single-vineyard red blend of Malbec, Petit Verdot and Merlot has intense mulberry and blackberry flavours and fine-grained tannins. It’s very drinkable now but if you can wait a bit longer, it will be even better in a couple of years.

The Millton Vineyards Te Arai Chenin Blanc 2008 (New Zealand) Why it’s good: Pioneering, passionate and talented biodynamic producer, James Millton makes the superb Te Arai Chenin Blanc on the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island. Slightly dry and refreshing, it has hints of pear, quince and honey. So good is this wine, it features in Neil Beckett’s 1001 Wines You Must Try Before You Die: quite a recommendation.

Gigondas ‘Terre des Aînés’ Montirius AC 2004 (France) Why it’s good: A distinguished combination of Grenache and Mourvedre grapes, ‘Terre des Aînés’ is rich and full-bodied with a bright, berry tang. Unusually elegant for a Rhône heavyweight, it has power and sophistication in spades

Stellar Fairtrade Heaven-on-Earth Sweet Muscat (South Africa) Why it’s good: An excellent sweet wine, which is both organic and Fairtrade, Heaven-on-Earth represents fantastic value for money. Its constituent Muscat D’Alexandrie grapes are partially dried on beds of straw and local Rooibos tea, before being gently pressed and fermented. Heaven-on-Earth is a real local speciality and an artisan wine with a big personality and memorable flavours.

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Domaine Josmeyer La Kottabe Alsace Riesling 2008 (France) Why it’s good: The Meyer family converted this quality 28-hectare estate to organic and biodynamic culture towards the end of the 90s. Their 35-year-old vines create a mineral scented Riesling in a drier style than you would usually expect from Alsatian wines, replete with hints of citrus and spice. The spiciness of the wine is underpinned by a firm backbone of crisp apple acidity. Delicious!

Jean Bousquet Malbec Reserva 2008 (Argentina) Why it’s good: The Jean Bousquet estate is committed to producing world class wines by applying both French (the owner is from a third generation French wine family) and Argentinean know-how in the winemaking process, using the exceptional local terroir [soil] and 100 percent organic grapes. This deliciously smooth, award-winning Malbec is proof that they have succeeded.

Rueda Sauvignon Blanc Palacio de Menade 2009 (Spain) Why it’s good: An award–winning white with intense tropical and citrus fruit flavours and great balance. Well structured and elegant, this is a refreshing, clean and uplifting take on the classic Sauvignon Blanc.

Coyam Emiliana 2007 (Chile) Why it’s good: From one of the largest biodynamic vineyards in the southern hemisphere, this Chilean red has become a cult wine. Winner of the first ‘Best Wine of Chile’ competition with the 2001 vintage, it features a blend of five grape varieties (Syrah, Cabernet, Carmenere, Petit Verdot and Mouvedre), aged in oak for 13 months. The resulting wine is big, with soft, spicy, berried tones that are positively gluttonous and long lasting. There are hints of blueberry and dark chocolate too, wrapped in gentle well managed tannins.

San Polino Helichrysum Brunello di Montalcino 2004 (Italy) Why it’s good: Bottled in 2007, this wine is made in tiny quantities from old-fashioned, low yield Sangiovese vines grown only on one particular hillside. It’s certainly not cheap but if you’re lucky enough to get your hands on a bottle you’ll understand why. Hugely complex with leather, spice, plum, cherry and chocolate notes all knitted together with a lively acidity. It has been described as an ‘opera of wine’ - a couple of sips will show you why. Source 60

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HOW TO:

Store Fruit & Vegetables Without Plastic You gotta love summer’s abundant fruits and vegetables: Strawberries, juicy tomatoes, fresh carrots, dark leafy spinach, spicy arugula. If you’re busy harvesting all of this organic goodness from your garden, you’re probably wondering what the best way to keep it fresh and tasty as long as possible. Yes, plastic baggies and cling wrap may be popular containers for storing food, but there are better, less-wasteful, less-plastic options.

Here are some fantastic tips provided by the Berkeley Farmer’s Market on how to extend the life of your produce in and out of the refrigerator, without resorting to plastic. Apples —Store on a cool counter or shelf for up to two weeks. For longer storage, place in a cardboard box in the fridge. Arugula —Arugula,  like  lettuce,  should  not  stay  wet!  Dunk  in  cold  water  and  spin  or  lay  flat  to  dry.  Place  dry  arugula  in  an  open  container,  wrapped  with  a  dry  towel  to  absorb  any extra  moisture.

Carrots —Cut the tops off to keep them fresh longer. Place them in closed container with plenty of moisture, either wrapped in a damp towel or dunk them in cold water every couple of days if they’re stored that long. Cauliflower —Will  last  a while  in  a  closed  container  in  the  fridge,  but  they  say  cauliflower  has  the  best  flavor  the  day i t’s  bought.

Asparagus —Place the upright stalks loosely in a glass or bowl with water at room temperature. Will keep for a week outside the fridge. Basil —Difficult to store well. Basil does not like to be cold or wet. The best method here is an airtight container/jar loosely packed with a small damp piece of paper inside, left out on a cool counter. Beets —Cut the tops off to keep beets firm, and be sure to keep the greens! Leaving any top on root vegetables draws moisture from the root, making them loose flavor and firmness. Beets should be washed and kept in an open container with a wet towel on top. Berries —Don’t forget, they’re fragile. When storing be careful not to stack too many high, a single layer if possible. A paper bag works well, only wash before you plan on eating them.

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Corn —Leave unhusked in an open container if you must, but corn really is best the day it’s picked. Cucumber —Wrapped  in  a  moist  towel  in  the  fridge.  If  you’re  planning  on eating  them  within  a  day  or  two  after  buying  them,  they  should  be  fine  left  out  in  a  cool  room.  Eggplant —Does fine left out in a cool room. Don’t wash it, eggplant doesn’t like any extra moisture around its leaves. For longer storage, place loose in the crisper. Greens —Remove any bands, twist ties, etc. Most greens must be kept in an airtight container with a damp cloth to keep them from drying out. Kale, collard greens, and chard do well in a cup of water on the counter or fridge.

Green  beans —They like  humidity,  but  not  wetness.  Sweet peppers —Only wash them right before you A  damp  cloth  draped  over  an  open  or  loosely  closed  plan on eating them because wetness decreases storage time. container.   Store in a cool room to use in a couple of days, place in the crisper if longer storage is needed. Melons —Keep uncut in a cool dry place, out of the sun for up to a couple weeks. Cut melons should be in the SUMMER  SQUASH —Does  fine  for  a  few  fridge; an open container is fine. days  if  left  out  on  a  cool  counter,  even  after  cut.  Peaches (and most stone fruit) —Refrigerate only when fully ripe. Firm fruit will ripen on the counter. Rhubarb —Wrap in a damp towel and place in an open container in the refrigerator. Spinach —Store  loose  in  an  open  container  in  the  crisper,  cool  as  soon  as  possible.  Spinach loves  to  stay  cold.  Strawberries —Don’t like to be wet. Do best in a paper bag in the fridge for up to a week. Check the bag for moisture every other day.

SWEET POTATOES —Store in a cool, dark, well-ventilated place. Never refrigerate, sweet potatoes don’t like the cold. TOMATOES —Never refrigerate. Depending on ripeness, tomatoes can stay for up to two weeks on the counter. To hasten ripeness, place in a paper bag with an apple. ZUCCHINI —Does fine for a few days if left out on a cool counter, even after cut. Wrap in a cloth and refrigerate for Source longer storage.

TOMATO’S GREEN SHOULDERS

How Tomatoes Lost Their Taste Decades of breeding the fruits for uniform color have robbed them of a gene that boosts their sugar content.

ave you ever bitten into a ripe tomato picked from a plant? Yes, I know that all tomatoes come from plants, but one that you’ve picked yourself and ate while still warm from the sun. Do you remember how flavorful those are? That’s how they are opposed to taste. f you compared that with the ones you purchase from a supermarket, the latter taste like water with a dash of tomato flavor. What’s wrong with those lame supermarket tomatoes? ou are probably thinking that pesticides and fertilizer have crippled the flavor of the red vegetable, and you are also thinking that picking them when not completely ripe and ship them across nations would affect their flavor. But that’s not the reason. y chance two separate groups of plant geneticists found that the lack of flavor has to do with the search for perfect redness.

f you were around 30-40 years ago, maybe you can recall noticing a green or yellowish zone near the stem, tasteless and tough to eat. This is called the green shoulder. armers didn’t know, until now, that the green shoulder is responsible for the tomato’s sweetness and complexity and when in the 30s a strain of tomato uniformly red was discovered, commercial farmers quickly adopted the tomato variety with no green shoulder just because it looked prettier. But that perfectly red tomato missed the key element that would harvest the Sun’s energy and store it in the vegetable, the green shoulder. hanks to Harry Klee,a professor of horticulture at the University of Florida, farmers can now switch back to the less pretty but tasty tomatoes for the joy of our taste buds.

Source

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A Family Group.

Quality control and efficient logistic system.

We trade organic • • • • •

grains oilseeds seed protein oil oil-cakes

TopAgri Spa It is the interface of the holding with Europe. Top Agri Spa is responsible for organizing logistics and quality control of the holding. The company employs three external warehouses with a total storage capacity of approximately 35,000 tons and a daily capacity of 1000 tons of drying.

• Traceability of the goods from production to sale • Full logistic organization. Top Agri can load kippers, silo trucks, containers, big bags and ships • It’s able to offer to its clients products with defined and constant features in the goods Contact Us Top Agri Italia via Cappafredda, 6/b 37050 Roverchiara (VR) Italy Tel +39 0442 685251 Fax +39 0442 685250 P. Iva: IT04023410238

Agricola Soave Via Cappafredda 6/b 37050 – Roverchiara (VR) Italy Tel. +39 0442 685211 Fax +39 0442 685210 P. Iva: IT02254620236

Top Agri Romania Str. Soveja Nr. 96, Bl. 70, Sc. E, Ap. 73 900402 – Constanta Romania Tel. +40 241 613840 Fax +40 241 518930 P. Iva: RO12982421

www.topagri.it/it/

A company with tradititon and future

As the BAGeno Raiffeisen eG company we offer you Raiffeisen market - In our six BAGeno Raiffeisen markets you can get everything for hobby, home and garden and advice from real experts Agriculture - In agricultural products, farmers can rely on us! Technology - we sale machines for professional use! Building materials - selling professional building materials, disposal and recycling and our rental fleet Petroleum refueling - Mineral oil (refuel), heating oil and diesel R+V Insurance Agency - our insurance experts offers from health and life insurance to industrial and commercial insurance. Energy - Heating with wood pellets - heat from the natural.

Organic products are gaining in popularity. BAGeno is strong supporter of organic farming. Our marketer bears fruit and grain from organic cultivation or Demeter, the organic seal of approval and is supervised by the BCS Ă&#x2013;kogarantie GmbH.

Organic farming and BAGeno fit together easily! www.bageno.de

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WHAT IS ORGANIC NEWS? Organic News gathers professional food buyers, wholesale producers, distributors, industry suppliers and farmes in one dynamic newsletter. It is a revolutionary way to connect with and get useful information about the organic business community in Europe. Each month the e-magazine will include important news, studies, interviews and exhaustive listings of all the companies in Europe, who work in the field of the organic industry; from the smallest farmers in Romania to well-known producers in Italy. WHY JOIN ORGANIC NEWS? • • •

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