On-Farm Education

"Helping children and teachers from inner-city schools to visit working farms is the key role of the Country Trust, enabling the children to have fun learning about how their food is produced and a little about rural life. Neil Ryder meets the trust’s new assistant director, David Thompson.

David Thompson is a passionate man. His enthusiasm for farming has in turn paved the way towards creating his second passion – a charitable trust organising farm visits for inner city school children."

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Supermarket to Install More Eco-Safe Sanitizer Units

"LOS ANGELES, CA -- 01/31/08 -- Eco-Safe Systems USA, Inc. (PINKSHEETS: ESFS) is pleased to announce that a major customer, one of the nation's largest supermarket chains specializing in organic foods, which has in recent months installed several Eco-Safe food sanitizer units, is submitting new orders for immediate installation of more units. In response, the re-ordering process has been streamlined by Eco-Safe's marketing team, working closely with the customer's buyers and store managers to facilitate increased volume and more efficient manufacturing and installation.

Previous installations at this supermarket chain are performing extremely well, and when interviewed, a customer at one of these markets remarked, "I was surprised to find that my fresh chicken now lasts much longer than usual." "

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Irish Organic Growers Defend Nutritional Benefits

"The Irish Organic Farmers & Growers Association has defended the nutritional benefits of organic food.

The association says views expressed at a Dublin conference yesterday showed the level of misconception and bias that operates in Ireland about organic farming.

It says Dr Con O'Rourke of the Food Safety Authority correctly highlighted the need for more scientific research about organic farming.
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But the organic growers criticise research presented by the FSAI suggesting that there is no scientific evidence to show that organic food is more nutritious."

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Strawberry Pesticide Ban?

"CONSUMER advocates are calling for independent mandatory testing on fruit and vegetables following an investigation which found more than half the Australian-grown strawberries tested contained residues of pesticides.

The findings have been described by a national chemicals watchdog as alarming and prompted calls to the Federal Government to remedy years of neglect over pesticide regulation.

The tests by Choice revealed that 17 of the 27 samples of conventionally grown strawberries, bought Coles and Woolworths supermarkets, as well as independent fruit retailers in NSW, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia, registered residues of at least two types of pesticide or fungicide.

Three samples contained pesticide residues at levels that exceeded legal limits set by Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), or traces of pesticides banned for use on strawberries."

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Scotland Schools Encouraged to Go Green

"SCOTLAND'S schools and hospitals should be encouraged to include more organic food on their menus, a city MSP said today.

Labour's environment spokeswoman Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, wants organic producers given easier access to supply public sector institutions. She said she would like to see targets for increasing organic and local food use.

Ms Boyack was speaking on the eve of a debate on the Scottish Government's food policy.

She said a recent European Union-funded study had shown that organic food was good not only for the environment but for people's health.

She said: "Schools and hospitals and the public sector generally have huge purchasing power, but at the moment it's just very big farmers and retailers who get access to that market."

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Pestcide-Free Valentine's Day

"For the guy who doesn't do sonnets, flowers can be the most straightforward expression of love on Valentine's Day. But if you're going to let your bouquet do the talking, be sure it's saying the right thing. About $200 million worth of roses sold in the U.S. are grown out of the country, mostly in Central and Latin America, where over-fumigating with toxic pesticides is common, protective equipment scarce and exposed workers risk getting asthma. In Ecuador, 35 out of 72 children tested by the Harvard School of Public Health had been exposed to organophosphate pesticides in the womb while their mothers worked for flower companies. These children showed both higher blood pressure and poorer spatial ability than children without prenatal exposures. And they may continue to be exposed through contaminated food or home pesticide use, causing significant increases in reaction times to stimuli."

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French Retailers Into Organic

"France's leading retailers yesterday pledged to reduce their impact on the environment under an ambitious plan backed by the government.
The Fédération des Entreprises du Commerce et de la Distribution (FECD), which represents 93 per cent of the country's hypermarkets and more than 80 per cent of supermarkets, signed a charter that aims to promote sales of environmentally friendly goods, as well as those produced organically. It will also seek to increase levels of recycling in the country and lower carbon emissions from supermarkets.

Under the plan, the retailers, with combined sales of €178 billion, will launch a study to assess the carbon emissions of around 300 key items in an average French consumer's shopping basket. The results would then be communicated to consumers on product packaging from 2010."

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