Save our Seeds

The Soil & Health Association welcomes a decision released today by the Environment Court declining Federated Farmers’ attempt to challenge regulation of genetically modified organisms under the RMA.

In the latest case before the Environment Court, Whangarei District Council appealed the Northland Council’s Regional Policy Statement, asking to delete one word – ‘plants’ so that the policy would require a precautionary approach to be adopted towards introducing genetically engineered organisms generally – not just plants – to the environment.

“The court’s decision is a victory for common sense and for the interests of all Northlanders concerned about the possible introduction of GMOs into the environment, whether they be plants, animals, insects or microorganisms,” said Graham Clarke, Soil & Health’s chair.

A quarter (25%) of all food and drink products launched in Germany in 2017 carried organic claims, according to new data from Mintel Global New Products Database (GNPD).

Organic launches have grown steadily over the past ten years in Germany, with the number of launches growing almost fourfold (291%) between 2008 and 2017.

Yet, almost three quarters (72%) of Germans would like to have an even wider choice of organic food and drink products where they shop. Over half of German consumers (54%) say that a primary factor in their purchasing decision is if a product is organic or has organic ingredients. Support for both statements is highest among 35-44 year old consumers, with 63% saying that an organic claim is a primary factor in their decision making, and 79% saying they would like to have a wider choice of organic groceries where they shop.

BERLIN, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Svenja Schulze (SPD), new German minister for the environment, has identified the protection of insect populations as a key goal of her legislative term on Friday.

"Preventing mass species extinction is one of the overriding political tasks of our generation", Schulze told the "Funke" media group. She warned that if "the insects disappear, so will the birds, as well as all of the valuable contributions which insects make towards pollination, water clearing and improving soil fertility."

The minister has consequently announced the launch of a programme, together with Agricultural Minister Julia Kloeckner (CDU), to prevent a further decline in German insect populations. "I want to take the agricultural minister's statement at face value that bees are critical for the functioning of wider ecological systems and need to be protected", Schulze said.

The SPD politician argued that toxic pesticides and herbicides would have to be used with greater moderation in order to avert irreparable damage to the environment. "We need a full exit from glyphosate (a controversial herbicide produced by U.S. agrochemical company Monsanto) during this legislative period. Glyphosate kills everything that is green, depriving insects of their food source", Schulze demanded.

ROME (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Asian farmers are growing rice and rearing fish in the same fields to increase their income and reduce weeds, while Ghanaians are using crop residues as compost to boost yields.

Such eco-farming techniques could deliver nutritious, environmentally friendly food for a growing world, increase farmers’ earnings and make farms more resilient to climate change, according to campaigners.

“Agriculture is in transition,” Pasquale Steduto, regional program leader for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in the Middle East and North Africa told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“Climate change is adding new uncertainty as well as increasing uncertainty. By introducing agroecology principles, you can reduce the risks of exposure to climate change.”

The most recent global and European data can be found in The World of Organic Agriculture: Statistics and Emerging Trends 2018 produced by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) and the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL). This yearbook docum

What is the Precautionary Principle?

Better safe than sorry. Err on the side of caution. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. We have many ways to say that it is wise to avoid foreseeable problems whenever possible. This idea is so important that the governments of the world created the precautionary principle: a globally agreed upon system for navigating possible risks in situations where scientific understanding is lacking or incomplete.

The most comprehensive and well-known iteration of the precautionary principle comes from the World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology (COMEST), part of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). While the precautionary principle itself is not a legally-binding document, it is an important guiding principle found in many international treaties–you can read this document in its entirety to learn more.

In a nutshell, it says that we all have a moral obligation to employ caution when evaluating human activities that could hurt people or the environment.

How GMOs enter the EU unnoticed

This morning, the NGO Mighty Earth published a powerful report on the dire consequences of the current EU meat, milk and eggs production system on those countries, especially in Latin America, which produce the feed for farm animals.

The report explains that The EU imports 27.8 million tons of soy from South America every year, and highlights the terrible conditions in which it is produced. Massive deforestation to make room for soy crops - more than 8 million hectares in the last 12 years - released the equivalent of 3.024 million metric tons of CO2 and endangered rare species and fragile ecosystems. According to the World Bank, the use of agrichemicals - especially glyphosate - increased by 1000 % in 20 years due to the cultivation of GM soy; this has resulted in water, air and soil pollution, and has provoked disastrous effects on the health of local populations. A staggering 19 % of deaths in Argentina are caused by cancer, disproportionally located in soy cultivation areas.

This terrible reality is the direct cause of a major, and terribly hypocritical, contradiction at the heart of the EU’s policy on GMOs.

The African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) has prepared this policy discussion document as a contribution towards national and regional seed policies in Africa that recognise and support farmer seed systems. The document is an effort to synthesise the policy issues emerging from our research and advocacy work on farmer seed systems in the past few years.

The discussion document considers a range of policy issues including plant variety protection (PVP), distinct, uniform and stable (DUS) and value for cultivation and use (VCU) tests, variety registration, seed production quality controls, storage and packaging, and phytosanitary measures.

A Bayer-Monsanto merger would mean four companies would control about 70 per cent of the world's seed markets. This is bad news for farmers, seed diversity and humanity's capacity to adapt to climate change.

This week, the European Union approved the merger between agribusiness giants Bayer and Monsanto, taking the controversial union one step closer to a reality.

A Bayer-Monsanto merger would mean four companies – accountable only to their shareholders – would control about 70 per cent of the world's seed markets. This is bad news for farmers, seed diversity and humanity's capacity to adapt to climate change.

"Seeds are the heart of our food system. If you control seeds, you control farmers and you control food," says Martin Settle, Executive Director of USC Canada. "This has repercussions for what lands on our plates. But increased corporate control over seeds also has dire consequences for seed diversity and humanity's ability to adapt to climate change."

After a thorough scientific assessment, the Canadian government has ruled that Golden Rice poses no greater risk to human health than rice varieties currently available on the Canadian market.

Golden Rice is the name of a rice that has been genetically modified to produce beta-carotene, which the body can convert into vitamin A. This beta-carotene gives the rice grains the yellowish color that has inspired its name.

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While this news is a positive step forward for Golden Rice, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) has indicated that this product is not intended to be sold in Canada at this time.