The European Parliament just voted to re-authorise glyphosate, writes Peter Melchett - but with significant restrictions on its use. So what does the vote mean for the world's biggest selling herbicide? And how come the UK's National Farmers' Union welcomed the decision as an unqualified victory?
The beginning of the end for glyphosate? Peter Melchett Soil Association | 15th April 2016 Comment EU UK Farming Food Pesticides Health Politics Science glyphosate-spray-cut.jpg The European …
The UK government's insistence of pursuing fracking is based on a flawed and utterly misinformed vision of our future, write Alex Russell and Peter Strachan. Rather than delivering the prosperity they promise, large scale fracking would cause massive pollution of air and water, undermine vital export industries, and leave us with an irretrievably damaged economy and natural environment.
Challenging the delusion of cheap, safe shale gas extraction Alex Russell Peter Strachan | 20th October 2016 News Fracking Fossil Fuels Pollution UK England Wales Scotland Water Health Food …
The global catch of fish and seafood is falling at three times the rate reported by the United Nations and urgently needs to be slowed to avoid a crash, reports Christopher Pala. The finding comes in a new study for Nature which quantifies the huge illegal industrial fish pillaging taking place around the world, together with artisanal catches, which in 2010 added over 50% to UN estimates.
… for Nature which quantifies the huge illegal industrial fish pillaging taking place around … the world's international fleets of industrial fishing vessels are seeing their … and Agriculture Organization their so-called industrial catches - few large vessels, few …
The European Commission is poised to renew the licence for glyphosate - the herbicide last year deemed ‘probably carcinogenic' by the WHO - for another 15 years. The decision follows from EFSA's contrary finding, based on secret, non peer-reviewed, industry-funded studies.
Another 15 years? EU set to relicense glyphosate Arthur Neslen Guardian Environment | 25th February 2016 News EU Health Toxics Food Farming Regulation Politics Corporations spraying-cut.jpg The …
Bananas are at the sharp end of industrial agriculture's chemical war on pests and pathogens, writes Angelina Sanderson Bellamy. But even 60 pesticide sprays a year isn't enough to keep the diseases at bay. It's time to seek new solutions with little or no use of chemicals, working with nature, growing diverse crops on the same land - and breaking the dominance of the banana multinationals.
… Bananas are at the sharp end of industrial agriculture's chemical war on pests …
For decades Israel has been driving Palestinian farmers off their land by imposing restrictions on agriculture, writes JONATHAN COOK. But one company, Canaan Fair Trade, has found an innovative way to resist peacefully, increasing resilience and prosperity in rural West Bank communities, and forging international alliances in the global movement for good food and farming.
… to an impoverished population in a series of industrial zones, removing them from their … could afford to fight for long. A system of industrialised humiliation By the time the … - and so was born the idea of free-trade industrial zones. This solution had been …
How to dissent peacefully from the corruption, waste and destruction of the world? By a mindful disengagement from evil, writes Julian Rose: from fossil fuel energy to propagandist media, from sweatshop clothing to the predatory financial system. Some of the steps we can take are easy, others very difficult - but what ultimately matters is the direction of travel.
… wash the clothes. Going off-grid (in the post industrial Northern hemisphere) may constitute … gaol when they fail to pay for the military industrial complex to go blundering into …
Today (Friday, 8th July) the charity Viva! will debut its new short thriller/documentary, film SWINE which exposes the dirty secrets of factory farming in UK - including the growing health risks to humans from MRSA Superbugs
… more broadly highlights the failings of the industrialised meat industry. There is a …
There's no such thing as 'healthy food' if it's not produced by sustainable farming systems on living soils, Patrick Holden told the recent 'Food: The Forgotten Medicine' conference. But after 70 years of industrial farming, there's a huge job to be done to restore our depleted soils and the impoverished genetic diversity of our seeds and crops.
… Medicine' conference. But after 70 years of industrial farming, there's a huge job to be … crisis. He attributed much of this to the industrialisation of agriculture, particularly … always looked after the soil microbiome. Industrial farming How much does current …
The European Commission was guilty of maladministration and acted unlawfully in approving pesticides for which there was insufficient safety data, the EU Ombudsman has ruled. It must now reform its practices, writes Vanessa Amaral-Rogers, or face legal action.
'Unlawful'! EU's hasty approval of pesticides condemned Vanessa Amaral-Rogers | 22nd February 2016 News Food Farming EU Regulation Toxics Law farmer spraying field.jpg The European Commission was …
The European Parliament has had a great week, writes Molly Scott Cato MEP - for those who oppose GMOs in food and farming. MEPs voted on five occasions to say no to GMOs, and gave their support to agroecology as the only sustainable way to feed the world.
… it with a pesticide. The problems of industrial agriculture will not be solved … which push us further into input-intensive, industrial agriculture. Another report by MEP … the University of Roehampton. The problems of industrial agriculture will not be solved …
What's the point of farming? To produce an abundance of wholesome food, writes Colin Tudge, while supporting a flourishing rural economy and a sustainable, biodiverse countryside. Yet the powers that be, determined to advance industrial agriculture at all costs, are achieving the precise opposite. It's time for a revolution in our food and farming culture, led by the people at large.
… Yet the powers that be, determined to advance industrial agriculture at all costs, are … agriculture that the oligarchs now advocate - industrialized, centralized, high-input, … dairy farm every day , edged out by high-tech industrialization, with corporate takeover …
Among Cuba's greatest achievements is its organic farming sector, writes Miguel Altieri. Developed in the 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union, small agroecological farms now employ 300,000 campesinos and provide an abundance of healthy fruit and vegetables. But now US food and agribusiness corporations are eyeing up a multi-billion dollar business opportunity.
… strategy that characterizes modern industrial agriculture. It encourages local … managed carefully, Cuba could revert to an industrial approach that relies on … the 1990s are examples of this process. If US industrial agriculture expands into Cuba, …
Food has never been more affordable for middle class families in rich countries. But it comes at a high cost: the impact of industrial food production on health, environment and society has never been greater as Patrick Holden explained to Emily Lewis-Brown. Now the real cost of food US production will be examined in a ground-breaking conference in San Francisco.
… But it comes at a high cost: the impact of industrial food production on health, … The post war drive for food security through industrial farming and ever-cheaper food has, … that's routinely inflicted on animals under industrial farming systems. "You've got damage …
The increasingly militant protests by dairy farmers against low prices forced on them by the corporate 'free market' represent serious and effective resistance against the 'free trade' agenda being forced on the world by neoliberal governments, writes David Miller. They are the first steps to building a new global food system that respects food, people, culture and environment.
Dairy farmers' uprisings lead the way to a democratic world food system David Miller | 17th February 2016 News Protest Farming Food Trade EU Canada USA Labour Corporations Law Politics …
The TTIP 'trade agreement between the US and the EU would devastate EU farms as it opens them up to competition from larger, less regulated US operations, writes Dario Sarmadi. This is the conclusion of a new study to be published tomorrow, which also finds that small-scale farmers would be the first to go - with the big winners the large agri-food corporations.
TTIP: the downfall of European agriculture? Dario Sarmadi EurActiv.de | 14th January 2016 News Trade Farming Food EU USA GMOs Economics Health german-farms-cut.jpg The TTIP 'trade agreement between …
The 'cancer industry', including charities with close links to chemicals corporations, is always keen to blame cancer victims for their morally deficient lifestyles, writes Colin Todhunter. But the real fault lies with the commercial interests touting bad food, nutritionally unbalanced and laced with toxic agrochemicals - like the ubiquitous glyphosate - and their residues.
… unaddressed. CRUK - blaming the victims of industrial food, pollution A piece, ' People …
Bayer's $66 billion takeover of Monsanto represents another big click on the ratchet of corporate power over farming and food, writes Colin Todhunter. With the 'big six' of global agribusiness now set to turn into the 'even bigger three', farmers and consumers are facing more GMOs and pesticides, less choice, and deeper price gouging. Agroecology has never looked more attractive.
… conglomerates specialise in a globalised, industrial-scale, chemical-intensive model of … you choose to look at it. It's the system of industrialised, capital-intensive agriculture …
GMO enthusiasts insist that organic, agroecological farming could never feed the world, writes Colin Todhunter. But it has been feeding us all for millennia - and it's the only way to continue while enriching the soils and biodiversity on which all farming depends. As Mahatma Gandhi once observed, industrial agriculture is but a nine-day wonder. And its time will soon be up.
… depends. As Mahatma Gandhi once observed, industrial agriculture is but a nine-day … a more plant-based diet." The unpaid costs of industrial agriculture The authors also say …
It looked like such a good idea: take the pressure off wild fish stocks by growing GM oilseeds that produce health-enhancing long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, writes Claire Robinson. But as a new study has established, those fish oils, novel in terrestrial ecosystems, cause wing deformities in cabbage white butterflies. Yet a third open field trial of these GM crops could soon be under way.
Nutritionally-enhanced GM crops? Too bad about the deformed butterflies Claire Robinson GMWatch | 18th April 2016 News GMOs Nutrition Food Ecology Fishing Health cabbage-white-cut.jpg It looked like …
The organizers of tomorrow's International Monsanto Tribunal describe it as a 'moral trial', while the company dismisses it as a 'mock trial' and 'stunt'. The truth, writes Pete Dolack, is that it's about much more than this one company. On trial is the entire neoliberal system of 'free market' finance and monopoly capitalism.
… Company's practices and the dangers of industrial and chemical agriculture. The … will serve as an example for the entire agro-industrial system whereby putting on trial all … the aggregate interests of the most powerful industrialists and financiers. And they have …
Greenpeace is being attacked for 'crimes against humanity' by 100 Nobel laureates for blocking GMO 'golden' rice, reports Claire Robinson. But the low-yielding crop is years away from going on sale, and there is no proof of any nutritional benefit to the malnourished children it's meant to benefit. Could the distinguished prize-winners have fallen for slick pro-GMO PR and spin?
Pro-GMO campaign exploits Nobel laureates in 'Golden Rice' Greenpeace attack Claire Robinson | 4th July 2016 Comment GMOs Campaigning Science Health Food golden_rice-cut.jpg Greenpeace is being …
To feed the world we must abandon not just GMOs but all diversity-destroying selective crop breeding, organic farmer John Letts told Oliver Tickell. Only by using biodiverse local seed mixtures that evolve in the field can food production adapt to climate change without ever-increasing chemical inputs, and meet human needs for wholesome nourishment.
… happening in the fields even without GMOs? "Industrial agriculture only works with tons of … just the final tweak in the entire system of industrial agriculture that is destroying our …
Regulatory failures are allowing Danish pigs infected with lethal antibiotic-resistant bacteria into British farms, writes Andrew Wasley, with contaminated pork found in UK supermarkets, and three human infections recorded. The official response? Deny there's a problem, take no action, and hope for the best. Six people may have died from the bug in Denmark, but the UK is safe, surely?
Superbug-infected pigs get into Britain unchecked, contaminate food chain Andrew Wasley Bureau of Investigative Journalism | 14th October 2016 News Health Food Farming UK Denmark EU Regulation …