August 30, 2005
Saskatoon, Sask. CANADA

Organic farmers granted leave to appeal class certification decision

Today the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal released Honourable Mr. Justice
Cameron's decision granting the certified organic farmers of Saskatchewan
leave to appeal the Court of Queen's Bench decision dated May 11, 2005
denying them class certification under Saskatchewan's Class Actions Act.
The farmers are seeking compensation for losses due to contamination of
organic fields and crops by Monsanto's and Bayer's genetically engineered
canolas.

Judge Cameron agreed that the issues raised by the plaintiffs should be
dealt with by the Appeal Court. He agreed that the questions of whether
Judge Smith erred in her finding of no cause of action - an error which
cascades through her decisions on the remaining four tests required to
grant class certification - and whether she applied an overly rigorous
standard for class certifications should be examined by the Appeal Court.

Justice Cameron stated, " I am satisfied the proposed appeal raises some
comparatively new and potentially controversial points of law, that it
transcends the particular in its implications, and that it is of sufficient
importance to the practice pertaining to this subject to warrant attention
by this Court. 

Plaintiff Larry Hoffman says he feels encouraged by the decision. "It
gives us a chance to argue how the Class Actions Act should be applied. The
spirit of the law is to even out the odds between the Davids and the
Goliaths in the world. The lower court decision made it too hard on us
Davids, and we think that's unfair. A farmer like me can't afford to take
on a big company like Monsanto when it threatens my livelihood and way of
life. But if we can join together in a class action, our combined strength
can make it possible to hold these companies accountable for their actions.

"This is great", says plaintiff Dale Beaudoin. "On behalf of 1000 plus
organic farmers we can continue to fight for our right to remain stewards
for sustainable agriculture. This is no minor issue. It is a matter of
independence and survival for all farmers world-wide. 

For more information please contact:
Arnold Taylor, Chair, OAPF Committee, phone: (306) 252-2783 or (306) 241-6125
Marc Loiselle, Research Director, OAPF Committee, phone (306) 258-2192 or
(306) 227-5825
For the decision and other details of the class action suit, please see
http://www.saskorganic.com

MP my man

I gather from Green MP Ian Ewen-Street that his Hazardous
Substances and New Organisms (Moratorium Reinstatement) Amendment Bill
would re-impose the GM moratorium that was lifted last year. He tells me
the Bill has been picked from the Members' Ballot and is expected to be
introduced to the House tomorrow Wednesday 20 October 2004.

As the senior NZ biochemist critical of GM I might be expected to
play some role in drafting such a bill, or at the very least to be favoured
with a copy of what the experts Susan Kitschley list-MP and Jeanette
Fitzsimons list-MP have drafted. But of course my many y of criticising
also their PC ideologies gets me blacklisted, as with the PC media. So I
can assure you my opinion on GM is independent of those 'Rainbow' PC
poseuses.

Nevertheless I guess the bill is along the right lines and should
be sent to Jeanette's Local govt & Environment cttee. Your party, judging
by previous manoeuvres in amending of this Act, may try to send it to the
appallingly unsuitable Educ & Sc cttee - if the bill is introduced at all.

Anyhow I urge you to vote for the first reading. You should be
able to do so honourably, without intoning the favourite Green weasel-words
'we support this bill to Select Cttee but are neither for nor against'.

Our nation's record in control of GM is not nearly so impressive as
our self-protection from nuclear hazards. I must therefore exhort you: the
most dangerous technologies must be confined to special labs. Current
field trials are far too sloppy; open plantings of GM crops or trees should
not be allowed. ERMA should not be allowed to entertain applications for
GM releases.

And BTW Eichers' recommendation 6.2 has not been taken seriously -
review lab containment procedures & permits.

If the morality reflected in Sir John Marshall's autobiography is
still supported by your party, would youse have any difficulty being
conservative about letting loose uncharacterised GMOs? (And, yes, they
are *all* uncharacterised.)

cheers

-
Robt Mann
consultant ecologist
P O Box 28878 Remuera, Auckland 1005, New Zealand
(9) 524 2949

Business Week
SEPTEMBER 6 [sic] 2004

Does It Pay To Buy Organic?

For pregnant women and children, the benefits are worth the higher price
Kim Dennis -- with her 2-, 4-, and 6-year-olds in tow -- looked over the
fruit at a Whole Foods Market in Atlanta. She picked up a pint of organic
blueberries selling for $5.99. Nearby, conventionally grown ones went for
$4.99. She put the organic berries in her basket.

"I think it's definitely worth paying more," she says. "If they sit there
and eat a whole pint of berries, that's a lot of pesticides for their
little bodies." With shoppers like Dennis willing to plunk down 10%, 20%,
sometimes even 100% more, organic food sales hit $10 billion in 2003, up
from $178 million in 1980. Responding to the growing demand, mainstream
grocers are stocking more organic produce, milk, baby food, and meats,
while healthy-food chains such as Whole Foods have opened dozens of stores
in the past five years. Food certified under U.S. Dept. of Agriculture
regulations as organic must be produced without most synthetic pesticides
and fertilizers. Antibiotics, growth hormones, and feed made from animal
parts are also banned.

Is organic worth the extra money? Research has yet to prove an adverse
health effect from consuming the low levels of pesticides commonly found in
U.S. food. But for the most vulnerable groups -- children and pregnant
women -- going organic whenever possible for fruits and vegetables that
carry the heaviest pesticide load makes sense. For organic meat, poultry,
eggs, and milk, the direct health
benefit is less clear. It might come down to your willingness to pay more
to avoid supporting certain agricultural practices, such as antibiotic use
in animals, which could promote resistant bacterial strains, or the use of
growth hormones, which could prematurely wear down the animal.

Even organic advocates say certain fruits and vegetables are probably not
worth the premium. For example, at the Atlanta Whole Foods, organic bananas
cost 78 cents a pound, 30 cents more than regular bananas. But there's
almost no health benefit to buying organic in this case, according to
Charles Benbrook, technical director of the nonprofit Organic Center for
Education & Promotion, founded with the support of the industry's Organic
Trade Assn. Any pesticide residue is probably discarded along with the
peel.

REPEAT OFFENDERS

Other produce contains several times the amount of pesticides as the
organic equivalents, and the residue can't be peeled or washed away. Some
98% of the peaches tested by the USDA in 2002 showed evidence of at least
one pesticide (www.ams.usda.gov/science/pdp). Other repeat offenders over
the years include apples, strawberries, and pears -- fruits children gobble
as finger food.

That's worrisome given that contaminants pose the biggest risk to children
and fetuses. Pesticides have been shown to cross the placenta during
pregnancy, and a recent study by scientists at the Columbia Center for
Children's Environmental Health in New York found a link between pesticide
use in New York apartments and impaired fetal growth. Another study, from
the University of Washington in Seattle, found that preschoolers fed
conventional diets had six times the level of certain pesticides in their
urine as those who ate organic foods. And a 2003 report from the Centers
for Disease Control & Prevention detected twice the level of some
pesticides in the urine of children as in that of adults.

Few doubt that high doses of pesticides can cause neurological or
reproductive damage. With infant reproductive organs still forming and the
brain developing through age 12, and with young livers and immune systems
less able to rid bodies of contaminants, eating organic is more important
for children and pregnant or breast-feeding women.

But even then, the argument for some foods is less compelling. While 47%
of the produce sampled by the USDA in 2002 had detectable pesticide
residues, only 16% of grains and 15% of meat tested did. Most of the
residues found in meat (almost always in the fat) were from long-banned
chemicals like DDT, which remain in the environment and is not a problem
organic farming methods can solve.

Widespread use of antibiotics and growth hormones is a larger issue for
those considering organic meat, poultry, eggs, and milk. Here, the major
health benefit to consumers is indirect. Antibiotic use in animals helps
promote antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria, explains Urvashi Rangan,
director of eco-labels.org, a site developed by Consumers Union, publisher
of Consumer Reports. And while the U.S. Food & Drug Administration says
the growth hormone used in cattle is virtually identical to what cows
naturally produce, consumer groups such as Consumers Union argue that milk
from treated cows has higher levels of a growth factor linked to increased
cancer risk.

With meat, a more recent concern is bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or
mad cow disease. The disease spreads when cows ingest animal feed made
with parts from dead animals. The human form of the illness,
Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease, is believed to be caused by eating contaminated
beef. It is always fatal. The risk of contracting the disease, however, is
low. The U.S. has had only one confirmed case of mad cow disease, and the
only American case of CJD involved a woman who contracted it in Great
Britain. Whether to shell out more for organic beef will depend on your
budget -- and how seriously you take the threat of mad cow disease.
Other ways to lower the odds include avoiding processed meats such as hot
dogs and preground hamburger that might contain bits of brain or spinal
cord and eschewing cuts sold with the bone, says Michael Hansen, a senior
research associate at Consumers Union.

The next product in line for organic certification is fish. The USDA is
studying what such certification would involve.

Remember that despite all the things you could worry about, America's food
supply is among the safest in the world. And organic or not, it's still
important for your children to eat their vegetables.

By Carol Marie Cropper

[plus color chart not reducible to ASCII 'Pick Your Produce' -
Some fruits & vegetables are more likely to have pesticide residues than
others ; less likely incl banana, & kiwi [sic - meaning 'kiwifruit', a PR
name for what is properly called Chinese gooseberry]

The paper below shows that organic is truly effective and provides convincing
molecular profiles to back up that conclusion.

Published online before print July 12, 2004
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 10.1073/pnas.0403496101

Agricultural Sciences
An alternative agriculture system is defined by a distinct expression
profile of select gene transcripts and proteins

Vinod Kumar *, Douglas J. Mills , James D. Anderson , and Autar K. Mattoo *¶
*Vegetable Laboratory, Sustainable Agricultural Systems Laboratory, and Plant
Sciences Institute, Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center,
United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service,
Building 010A, Beltsville, MD 20705-2350

Conventional agriculture has relied heavily on chemical inputs that have
negatively impacted the environment and increased production costs. Transition
to agricultural sustainability is a major challenge and requires that
alternative agricultural practices are scientifically analyzed to provide a
sufficiently informative knowledge base in favor of alternative farming
practices. We show a molecular basis for delayed leaf senescence and tolerance
to diseases in tomato plants cultivated in a legume (hairy vetch) mulch-based
alternative agricultural system. In the hairy vetch-cultivated plants,
expression of specific and select classes of genes is up-regulated compared to
those grown on black polyethylene mulch. These include N-responsive genes such
as NiR, GS1, rbcL, rbcS, and G6PD; chaperone genes such as hsp70 and BiP;
defense genes such as chitinase and osmotin; a cytokinin-responsive gene CKR;
and gibberellic acid 20 oxidase. We present a model of how their protein
products likely complement one another in a field scenario to effect efficient
utilization and mobilization of C and N, promote defense against disease, and
enhance longevity.

From: "Shantu Sharma"
Subject: GM Crops & Organic Farming+Medicinal Herbs
Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2004

In The Financial Express, India, March 29, 2004
*********

Here Are FOUR News Stories :-

1. No Transgenic Tech For Organic Crops, Say Experts
2. Rectify Estimates On Organic Farms In India - FARM FRONT Column
3. ON MEDICINAL PLANTS - Global Demand To Touch $ 5 Trillion By 2050
4. Go Back To Basics - Organic Farming : Experts
----------------------------------

No Transgenic Tech For Organic Crops : Experts

Global Market For Organic Food Pegged At $ 36.89 billion;
Grows At 15-30 Per Cent Annually

http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=55802

ASHOK B SHARMA
New Delhi, March 28

Indian agro experts are of the view that transgenic technology should not
be applied to crops selected for organic farming, if the country is to take
any advantage of the lucrative $ 36.89 billion global market for organic
food.

The global market for organic food has grown at the rate of 15 to 30 per
cent annually in the last three years while Indian export of organic food
has remained negligible at $ 19.99 million (Rs 89.42 crore). Organic food
gets a price premium of 20 to 30 per cent over non-organic food.

Organic food retail sales took place in Europe and US in 2002 is estimated
to between $ 10,000 million to $ 11,000 million. If the country's export of
organic food increases optimistically by 25 per cent, the gains will be
substantial, they said.

Vowing to keep organic crops protected from any possible influence of
transgenics, the experts advocated that organic farming areas should be
distinctly earmarked away from areas of approved genetically modified (GM)
crops cultivation or field trial sites of GM crops. So far only GM crop
approved for commercial cultivation is Bt cotton which is grown in parts of
Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh
and Madhya Pradesh.

The deputy director-general (horticulture and crop science) in the Indian
Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Dr Gautum Kalloo said, "Europe is a
growing market for organic food. The European consumers are against any food
containing even traces of transgenics. The EU Regulation 2092/91 forbids the
use of varieties obtained by genetic engineering in organic agriculture.
Further the regulation insists that parent plants of annual crops are to be
grown at least for one generation under organic conditions, while biennial
plants and pernnials for two years. We should, therefore, be very careful in
implementing these basic norms in our organic farming."

Dr Kalloo also exploded the myth that organic practices generally lead to a
lower yield. He said "our field experiments have shown that certain crops
respond exceptionally well to organic practices. Organic farming in
sugarcane has resulted in an increase in yield by 25 per cent. We should
select crops for organic farming with a view to boost our exports in dollar
terms. Crops like Basmati rice, soyabeans, cashewnuts, medicinal plants,
spices, tea, coffee and select fruits and vegetables should be taken up for
organic farming."

Though one of the ICAR's affiliate body, Indian Agricultural Research
Institute (IARI) has developed two Bt transgenic rice namely IR-64 and Pusa
Basmati-1 and has conducted bioassay for yellow stem borer resistance, the
ICAR director-general, Dr Mangla Rai has clearly said "the geographical
indications such as Basmati rice should be kept in tact and untouched by
transgenics. The developed GM Basmati rice will not be released for
commercial cultivation."

The public sector research system under ICAR have developed 14 experimental
transgenics in various crops and the private sector have developed 18
transgenic crops. All these transgenic crops will be released for commercial
cultivation only after assessing the situation vis-a-vis the organic farming
and export potential of organic food.

Several states governments have joined the race for organic farming.
Uttaranchal has established an Organic Commodities Board and the chief
minister, Narayan Dutt Tiwari has vowed to keep his state GM-free. Mizoram
has also declared itself totally organic and has not asked for allocation of
any chemical fertiliser in the current year's kharif (summer) season.

Sikkim, Nagaland and Meghalaya are in the process of declaring themselves as
organic states. Madhya Pradesh government has identified about 3,300
villages where only organic farming would be practiced. Madhya Pradesh
government and Khadi & Village Industries Commission (KVIC) and some private
organisation and NGOs are actively engaged in promoting sale of branded
organic produce. Organic cotton produced in South India are marketed for
exports through an FAO-assisted programme.
-----------------------------

FARM FRONT Column

Rectify The Estimates Of Organic Farms In India

http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=55789

ASHOK B SHARMA

Government says that it is encouraging organic farming in the country so
that the farmers can get a better deal in terms of prices and the country
can earn foreign exchange. But all the plans seems to remain in paper work
rendering the gesture only as a lip service.

This is evident from the low official estimates which recognise only 5347
farms as organic covering 37,050 hectare in total. The estimated figure of
organic farms is not only erroneous but is also designed to benefit select
farmers.

The fact is that a large part of the country is organic by default and
without any effort of the government. One of the main reason for a large
part of the country remaining organic by default is that 60 per cent of the
cultivated area is rainfed where the use of chemical fertilisers is either
minimum or negligible or there is no use of it all.

The Economic Survey 2002-03 says "Of the 142.6 million hectares of net
cultivated area, 57 million hectares (40 per cent) is irrigated. The
remainder, 85.6 million hectare (60 per cent) is rainfed." It is common
knowledge that farmers resort to excessive use of fertilisers where there is
an assured irrigation. The farmers in rainfed areas by and large use organic
manure and traditional farming practices.

Also mechanised farming in the country is in areas under assured
irrigation. In rainfed areas the where the tilling of the soil is through
traditional means, the soil health in rainfed areas are better preserved
than that in areas under assured irrigation due to low tillage.

The Fertiliser Association of India has recently published `Fertiliser
Statistics 2002-03' giving in detail the district-wise consumption of
chemical fertilisers. Certainly the consumption of chemical fertilisers
cannot be more than that sold by the companies. The policy makers and the
bureaucrats should do well to study these data and find out the consumption
of chemical fertilisers per unit farm area before estimating the area under
organic farming.

The Fertiliser Statistics 2002-03 also states green manure crops covering
62,000 hectare area which is more than the government's estimate of 37,050
hectare area under organic farming. Certainly these green manure crops are
not grown with the help of chemical fertilisers. Besides green manure crops
there are other crops which are grown under organic farming conditions.
Hence the actual area under organic farming is much higher than the official
estimates.

Apart from 142.6 million hectare of net cultivated area in the country
there are orchards, plantation areas, forest and farm forestry areas (for
medicinal plants) many of which practice organic farming.

The next paramater for judgement of an organic farm is whether it uses any
chemical pesticides or not. Yes, some rainfed areas use some amount of
chemical pesticides to contain pests which occur on account of excessive
humidity in the atmosphere. Out of the total 85.6 million hectare of rainfed
area in the country, only the coastal areas and areas where the incidence of
rainfall is higher use a good amount of chemical pesticides. The use of
chemical pesticides in dry, arid and semi arid zone where there is no source
of assured irrigation, is negligible.

What is most interesting is that the government says that bio-control
agents are being used over 4.857 million hectare of cultivated land in lieu
of chemical pesticides (vide : Agenda Notes - National Conference on
agriculture For Kharif Campaign - 2004, page 82). The government's own
figure of cultivated area where bio-control agents are used in lieu of
chemical pesticides contradicts its estimate of 37,050 hectare under organic
farming!

The official estimate of 37,050 hectare under organic farming is designed
to benefit only 5347 farmers out of the estimated 127.6 million farmers in
the country, ignoring many organic farmers in the country. The government's
estimates of organic farm in the country is erroneous. States like
Uttaranchal, Sikkim, Nagaland and Meghalaya have declared themselves as
states for organic farming and Madhya Pradesh has declared 3,300 villages
under organic farming. Certainly the total cultivated area in these states
would aggregate to more than the official figure of 37,050 hectare!

Government should, therefore, take up in right ernest to rectify the
estimate of area under organic farming so that millions of farmers in the
country can benefit from the lucrative $ 36.89 billion global market for
organic food.
---------------------------

`Global Medicinal Plants Demand May Touch $ 5 Trillion By 2050'

Of 400 families of plants, 315 found in India; experts
urge government to capitalise on growing demand

http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=55804

ASHOK B SHARMA
New Delhi, March 28

India is also developing strategies to capture the $ 14 billion global
market for medicinal herbs (plant raw materials) and $ 60 billion market for
herbal medicines and food supplements.

Medicinal herbs which are largely organic are part of the $ 36.89 billion
global market for organic food. The demand for medicinal plant based raw
materials is growing at the rate of 15 to 25 per cent annually. According to
the estimate of the World Health Organisation (WHO) the demand for medicinal
plants is likely to increase from the current $ 14 billion a year to $ 5
trillion in 2050.

The global trade in medicines and food supplements made out of herbs is,
however, higher at $ 60 billion a year, of which India's total turnover is
only Rs 2,300 crore. Out this Rs 2,300 crore annual turnover, major
over-the-counter (OTC) products contribute around Rs 1200 crore, other
formulations fetch around Rs 650 crore while classical Ayurvedic
formulations contribute the remaining Rs 450 crore.

According to WHO there are about 400 families of flowering medicinal plants
in the world, out of which at least 315 are found in India. In this context,
the adviser in the Union ministry for science and technology, Dr Manju
Sharma while inaugurating an international conference on medicinal herbs and
products, organised jointly by Oxfam GB in India and the Community
Enterprise Forum of India (CEFI) in Delhi said "We therefore can capitalise
on this natural inherent strength and caputre large part of the growing
trade, provided we remain price competitive and ensure quality of the
produce and maintain standards."

Noted agri scientist Dr MS Swaminathan said "the main issues involves four
Cs - Conservation, Consumption, Commercialisation and Convergence. Organic
farming of medicinal plants should be promoted and health literacy
movemements should include ayurvedic, siddha and other Indian systems of
medicines in theier ambit. Moreover, brand names need to be established for
sustainable commercialisation". He also mooted setting up of an
International Research Centre for Intercultural Synergy for Herbal
Healthcare to achieve a synthesis of the best in Indian, Chinese and African
systems of medicines.

However, the spectacular growth of Indian exports that was expected in
medicinal plants is yet to be realised. A major fraction of the domestic
market is still unorganised and, therefore, not reported in most of the
published data.

A recent Oxfam GB supported study conducted in seven states namely Madhya
Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and
Kerala shows that trade in top 25 species account for more than Rs 14 crore.

On an average, each of these states witness trade in more than 300
speciesw in considerable volumes. It can be reasonably concluded that the
total volume of the market in these seven states alone is almost 10 times
the government figures, the study said.

The study further said that the most important fact is that these figures
only represent figures at the lowest end of the medicinal plant supply
chain, these are at the producer level.

As value is added further up the chain so is the profit and the trade
figures in terms of value are substantial if the total supply chain is taken
into consideration.

A number of NGOs are in the field of motivating farmers to grow medicinal
herbs. The government has set up National Medicinal Plants Board for
rendering assistance to growers and developing export stragies.
---------------------------------

Go Back To Bascis, Say Experts

http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=55787

Ashok B Sharma
New Delhi, March 28

The Green Revolution, though, has enabled the country to boost production
of staple crops, it has deteriorated the soil health due to excessive use of
chemical fertilisers and degraded the environment through use of chemical
pesticides.

The groundwater table has also been depleted on account of
over-exploitation. In this context, the experts who deliberated in the
national conference on organic farming for sustainable production which
concluded in Delhi on March 25 gave a clarion call "Go Back To Basics".

Sompal, chairman of the National Commission on Farmers, who is also a
former Union minister for agriculture and member of the Planning Commission
said "the Green Revolution resulted in mono-cropping system of high-yielding
varieties of wheat and rice. The result was that traditional varieties of
wheat and rice which were more nutritious went out of cultivation. Even the
nutritious coarse cereals which were earlier grown in arid and semi-arid
rainfed areas went out of cultivation. It is time to bring back traditional
crop varieties into cultivation and resort to multi-cropping system in the
interest of food and nutritional security."

He also said that not only excessive use of chemical fertilisers has
damaged soil health, the indiscriminate spray of chemical pesticides have
killed the bio-agents occurring in nature which protect the crops against
pests.

Mr Sompal who himself is a farmer also said that last year he tried
cultivation of some traditional varieties of wheat through organic practices
and this resulted in better yields. He said that these traditional varieties
of wheat has more nutrition content as compared to high-yielding varieties.

The clarion call of going back to the basics was also given by several other
experts. The director-general of Indian Council of Agricultural Research
(ICAR), Dr Mangla Rai in his message to the conference advocated the concept
of bio-dynamic agriculture which "has come into being alongwith modified
methodologies for preparations of farmyard manuare and other formulations
for pests and disease control." He said that concepts of integrated nutrient
management (INM) and integrated pest management (IPM) packages evolved by
ICAR includes use of natural or organic products like farmyard manuare, neem
seed kernel extracts, neem and karanj seed cakes and biological agents,
micobial preparations like Rhizobium, Azotobacter, Aspergillus,
Verticillium, Trichoderma to minimise the dependence of agriculture on
synthetic chemicals in effective crop production systems.

Dr Gautum Kalloo, deputy director-general, ICAR, said that shelf life of
organic fruits and vegetable are more than their non-organic counterparts.
organic farming is less expensive for farmers who can earn premium prices
for their produces. Hence proper marketing and cerification of organic
produces is absolutely necessary.

He said that the package for organic farming technology has to be location
specific and therefore "there is a need to explain our organic farming
practices to the international certifying bodies like IFOAM and other
quality certifying bodies in the importing countries. He said there is a
need to encourage farmers to produce on-farm organic manures as the
transportation of organic manures in bulk will invlove higher transportation
cost. He advocated use of green manuare, compost, nadep compost, cow dung,
cow urine, bio-fertilisers, vermicompost, vermi-wash, irrigation management
and biodynamic approach for enhancing soil fertility. For pests and diseases
management Dr Kalloo advocated use of bioagents for insect management and
nematode management.

Other scientists who gave the call `Go Back To Basics' included Dr YL Nene,
former plant pathologist in ICRISAT who advocated the farming principles as
narated in ancient Vedic texts, naming it as Vedic Krishi. Dr Mohan Shanker
Deshpande of Shri Samarath Agriculture Research Centre in Maharashtra
advocated Rishi Krishi ie farming principles as narated by saints. Dr GSR
Murthi said that homeopathic plant nutrients and protectors should be used
in organic farming. Dr Vasant Paranjpe was in favour of incorporating
traditional fire sacrifice, Homa in organic farming for purifying atmosphere
and enhancing plant growth.

Sompal Opposes Setting Up Of Organic Fariming InstituteÆ

http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=55788

Sompal, chairman of the National Commission on Farmers, has opposed the
government's proposal for setting up of a separate research body called
National Institute of Organic Farming (NIOF). He said that there should not
be a separate instutute as such. The entire ICAR system should be devoted to
promote organic farming.
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ORGANIC BYTES #30
Food and Consumer News Tidbits with an Edge!
3/29/2004 By Organic Consumers Association

---------------------------------

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

"The nightmare that county bans on genetically engineered crops
represent to intra- and interstate commerce is ridiculous. We'd be
ground to a halt."

Allan Noe, vice-president of CropLife America, a lobby group working for
Monsanto, DuPont and Syngenta. Quoted in San Jose Mercury (California)
3/1/04

---------------------------------

ALERT: DEFEND THE MENDOCINO VICTORY & SPREAD GE-FREE ZONES EVERYWHERE
People across the U.S. and the world have been inspired by the historic
David versus Goliath victory in Mendocino County, California on March 2,
2004 where voters banned the production of genetically engineered crops
and animals. Mendocino is the first county in the U.S to implement such
a ban. The Mendocino GE ban has rattled Monsanto and the Gene Giants,
who fear that global civil society will now follow Mendocino's example.
Of course this is exactly what is happening. Just in the past week,
halfway across the world, a number of major agricultural states in
Australia, including Western Australia, Tasmania and Victoria, have
already passed, or will soon pass, GE crop bans.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/tasmania032504.cfm

But as the OCA warned in an Action Alert last week, Monsanto and their
friends are fighting back. Sources have warned the OCA that the biotech
lobby will soon introduce a bill in California to nullify the Mendocino
GE ban and make it illegal for other California counties to pass similar
laws. World Trade Organization bureaucrats and the White House have also
made it clear in the past that local citizen control over unpopular
technologies such as genetic engineering will not be tolerated. OCA has
launched a major campaign called the Biodemocracy Alliance to defeat
this legislation and spread GE-Free zones across at least a dozen of
California's 59 counties, as well as counties all over the U.S.

We need your help to spread the word, organize GE bans in your local
area, and, most of all, we need donations to finance this effort. In the
past 10 days, since we sent out an Action Alert, we have raised $20,000
from online donations and checks in the mail, but we need to raise at
least $30,000 more in the next few weeks to keep up the momentum. We
believe this is the most crucial moment in the ten-year history of the
anti-GE foods movement. Please make an online donation today by clicking
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---------------------------------

MONSANTO RESUMES ITS BULLYING ON GE WHEAT
Up until last week, Monsanto had promised that it would not press for
Bush Administration approval for its genetically engineered (GE) wheat
until Canadian regulatory officials were ready to approve the
controversial crop. However, due to strong resistance to GE wheat from
Canadian consumers and farmers, Monsanto has announced it may choose to
break this vow, causing great concern inside the U.S. wheat industry.
"If we introduce and the Canadians do not, that would make it easier for
countries to continue to insist on buying from a country that is GM-free
and it would give Canada a distinct marketing advantage," said U.S.
Wheat President Alan Tracy. Monsanto claims it has every right to do
what it pleases. The bottom line is that Monsanto is desperate and
believes that its friends in the White House have no qualms about
forcing Frankenfoods down consumers' throats--even if it means billions
of dollars in export losses for hapless U.S. wheat farmers.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/forcewheat031904.cfm

---------------------------------

NEW MAD COW REGULATIONS STILL MAKE US MAD
In response to the discovery of the first case of Mad Cow Disease in the
U.S. last December, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced
it will increase testing of the nation's cattle up to 480,000 cows per
year. Consumer groups, including the Organic Consumers Association and
the Consumers Union, say these new projections for testing are
completely inadequate, given that the U.S. Cattle industry slaughters 35
million animals annually. The government and large beef corporations
fear more tests since they know Mad Cow disease has now spread to more
and more cattle in North America. However, many ranchers in Kansas,
California, and other states, desperate to regain their export markets,
say they're willing to test all cows, as Japan and other nations have
demanded. http://www.organicconsumers.org/madcow/nytimes032204.cfm

---------------------------------

EARTH FRIENDLY LABELING LIES
Consumers are quickly learning that government oversight of product
labeling is all too loosely regulated. To add to the already existing
confusion, the Hudson Institute's Center for Global Food Issues (CGFI),
an agribusiness and biotech front group, has announced it will now be
labeling qualifying products as "Earth Friendly". This designation will
be placed on genetically engineered foods and factory farmed meat and
dairy products.. The corporate-funded CGFI claim they have a right to
label products as such, given their "scientific" opinion that certain
aspects of GE crops and densely packed feedlots are better for the
environment than organic agriculture.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/organic/labels031904.cfm

---------------------------------

Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2004 10:40:21 -0600
Organization: Organic Consumers Association
Subject: [SPAM] [Biodemocracy]Organic Bytes #30 - Food and Consumer
Tidbits with an Edge!
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GM WATCH daily
http://www.gmwatch.org
---
EXCERPTS: Dr Kalloo also exploded the myth that organic practices
generally lead to a lower yield. He said, "Our field experiments have
shown that certain crops respond exceptionally well to organic
practices. Organic farming in sugarcane has resulted in an increase in
yield by 25 per cent. We should select crops for organic farming with
a view to boost our exports in dollar terms. Crops like Basmati rice,
soyabeans, cashewnuts, medicinal plants, spices, tea, coffee and
select fruits and vegetables should be taken up for organic farming."

"The geographical indications such as Basmati rice should be kept in
tact and untouched by transgenics. The developed GM Basmati rice will
not be released for commercial cultivation." (item 2)

1.Organic farming: A new boom arena
2.No Transgenic Tech For Organic Crops: Experts

---

1.COMMODITY WATCH
Organic farming: A new boom arena
Go Back To Basics, Say Experts
ASHOK B SHARMA
Financial Express
http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=55787&p
n=
1

NEW DELHI, MARCH 28: The Green Revolution, though it has enabled
the country to boost production of staple crops, has deteriorated the soil
health due to excessive use of chemical fertilisers and degraded the
environment through use of chemical pesticides.

The groundwater table has also been depleted on account of
over-exploitation. In this context, the experts, who deliberated in
the national conference on organic farming for sustainable production
which concluded in Delhi on March 25, gave a clarion call "Go Back To
Basics".

Sompal, chairman, the National Commission on Farmers, who is also a
former Union minister for agriculture and member of the Planning
Commission said, "The Green Revolution resulted in mono-cropping
system of high-yielding varieties of wheat and rice. The result was
that traditional varieties of wheat and rice which were more
nutritious went out of cultivation. Even the nutritious coarse cereals
which were earlier grown in arid and semi-arid rainfed areas went out
of cultivation. It is time to bring back traditional crop varieties
into cultivation and resort to multi-cropping system in the interest
of food and nutritional security."

He also said that not only excessive use of chemical fertilisers has
damaged soil health, the indiscriminate spray of chemical pesticides
have killed the bio-agents occurring in nature which protect the crops
against pests.

Mr Sompal, who himself is a farmer, also said that last year he tried
cultivation of some traditional varieties of wheat through organic
practices and this resulted in better yields. He said that these
traditional varieties of wheat has more nutrition content as compared
to high-yielding varieties. The clarion call of going back to the
basics was also given by several other experts. The director-general
of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Dr Mangla Rai in
his message to the conference advocated the concept of bio-dynamic
agriculture which "has come into being alongwith modified
methodologies for preparations of farmyard manuare and other
formulations for pests and disease control." He said that concepts of
integrated nutrient management (INM) and integrated pest management
(IPM) packages evolved by ICAR includes use of natural or organic
products like farmyard manuare, neem seed kernel extracts, neem and
karanj seed cakes and biological agents, micobial preparations like
Rhizobium, Azotobacter, Aspergillus, Verticillium, Trichoderma to
minimise the dependence of agriculture on synthetic chemicals in
effective crop production systems.

Dr Gautam Kalloo, deputy director-general, ICAR, said that shelf life
of organic fruits and vegetable were more than their non-organic
counterparts. Organic farming is less expensive for farmers who can
earn premium prices for their produces. Hence, proper marketing and
cerification of organic produces is absolutely necessary.

He said that the package for organic farming technology has to be
location specific and therefore, "There is a need to explain our
organic farming practices to the international certifying bodies like
IFOAM and other quality certifying bodies in the importing countries.
He said there is a need to encourage farmers to produce on-farm
organic manures as the transportation of organic manures in bulk will
invlove higher transportation cost. He advocated use of green manuare,
compost, nadep compost, cow dung, cow urine, bio-fertilisers,
vermicompost, vermi-wash, irrigation management and biodynamic
approach for enhancing soil fertility. For pests and diseases
management Dr Kalloo advocated use of bioagents for insect
management
and nematode management.

---

2.No Transgenic Tech For Organic Crops: Experts

Global market for organic food pegged at $36.89 billion; grows at
15-30 per cent annually

ASHOK B SHARMA

NEW DELHI, MARCH 28: Indian agro experts are of the view that
transgenic technology should not be applied to crops selected for
organic farming, if the country is to take any advantage of the
lucrative $36.89 billion global market for organic food.

The global market for organic food has grown at the rate of 15 to 30
per cent annually in the last three years, while the Indian export of
organic food has remained negligible at $19.99 million (Rs 89.42
crore). Organic food gets a price premium of 20 to 30 per cent over
non-organic food.

Organic food retail sales took place in Europe and the US in 2002 is
estimated to between $10,000 million to $11,000 million. If the
countryís export of organic food increases optimistically by 25 per
cent, the gains will be substantial, they said.

Vowing to keep organic crops protected from any possible influence of
transgenics, the experts advocated that organic farming areas should
be distinctly earmarked away from areas of approved genetically
modified (GM) crops cultivation or field trial sites of GM crops. So
far, only GM crop approved for commercial cultivation is Bt cotton
which is grown in parts of Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra
Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.

Dr Kalloo also exploded the myth that organic practices generally lead
to a lower yield. He said, "Our field experiments have shown that
certain crops respond exceptionally well to organic practices. Organic
farming in sugarcane has resulted in an increase in yield by 25 per
cent. We should select crops for organic farming with a view to boost
our exports in dollar terms. Crops like Basmati rice, soyabeans,
cashewnuts, medicinal plants, spices, tea, coffee and select fruits
and vegetables should be taken up for organic farming."

Though one of the ICARís affiliate body, Indian Agricultural Research
Institute (IARI) has developed two Bt transgenic rice namely IR-64 and
Pusa Basmati-1 and has conducted bioassay for yellow stem borer
resistance, the ICAR director-general, Dr Mangla Rai has clearly said,
"The geographical indications such as Basmati rice should be kept in
tact and untouched by transgenics. The developed GM Basmati rice will
not be released for commercial cultivation."

The public sector research system under ICAR has developed 14
experimental transgenics in various crops and the private sector has
developed 18 transgenic crops. All these transgenic crops will be
released for commercial cultivation only after assessing the situation
vis-a-vis the organic farming and export potential of organic food.

Several state governments have joined the race for organic farming.
Uttaranchal has established an Organic Commodities Board and chief
minister Narayan Dutt Tiwari has vowed to keep his state GM-free.
Mizoram has also declared itself totally organic and has not asked for
allocation of any chemical fertiliser in the current yearís kharif
(summer) season.

Sikkim, Nagaland and Meghalaya are in the process of declaring
themselves as organic states. The Madhya Pradesh government has
identified about 3,300 villages where only organic farming would be
practiced.

The essay competition run by Royal Dutch Shell and The Economist has
reached its fourth year. This time the question posed was "Do we need
nature?" Nearly 6,000 people, from all over the world, offered answers.

The first prize of $20,000 was won by Diane Brooks Pleninger from
Anchorage, Alaska, whose essay, printed here in slightly abridged form,
inverted the question neatly and informatively -----

D.P. Good evening, viewers. Our guest is Pilobolus crystallinus, author of
the award winning bestseller, "Do We Need Mankind? A Fungal Perspective".
Mr Pilobolus is a member of the kingdom Fungi, class Zygomycetes. He is a
scholar, lecturer, dung-dweller, and author. Welcome, Mr Pilobolus.

P.c. Thank you, Diane. Good to be here.

D.P. Mr Pilobolus, your most recent book raises tantalising questions about
the future of the biosphere and the role that you and other inhabitants
will play in it. Tell us how you came to write it.

P.c. The book resulted from a series of symposia I attended over the past
two centuries under the sponsorship of the World Federation of Fungi, on
the topic, "What Does Nature Need?" The Academy of the WFF is constituted
of one delegate from each family of fungi. I was fortunate to represent
the Pilobolaceae.

D.P. The 19th, 20th and 21st centuries have been a revolutionary period in
the biosphere. How have fungi been affected by the events of modern
history?

P.c. The modern history of the fungi, which I date from about 400 million
years ago, has been a remarkable success story. The fungi occupy two vital
niches in nature whose importance has never been challenged. In one niche,
we are drivers of the carbon cycle, elite teams of detritivores whose
mission is to digest organic matter and return the component parts to the
ecological system. Without our work, life on earth would long since have
ground to a halt for lack of raw materials.

In another niche, we act in partnership with the roots of plants to extend
their reach into the soil environment and enhance their uptake of water and
nutrients. These partnerships are called mycorrhizas. Myco for the
fungus, rhiza for the root. Animals in turn feed on plants and benefit
from this arrangement. So the fungi play two very distinct roles worldwide,
and both roles are critical to maintaining the biosphere.

D.P. When does mankind come into your history?

P.c. Mankind comes into our history about 20,000 years ago, at the time
they discovered the uses of alcoholic fermentation. We credit the genus
Saccharomyces with this development. Ancestral spores of that yeast
settled in a pot of gruel prepared by a group of hominids whose existence
up to that point was best described as nasty, brutish and short. This
began what we call the honeymoon period in the relationship of man and
fungus. Unfortunately, it didn't last long.

D.P. What happened to end it?

P.c. Two things. Agriculture was one. Monocropping and animal husbandry
led to concentrations of plant and animal populations that were vulnerable
to certain of our members, particularly the smuts, rusts, mildews and
blights. Some crops and herds proved to be sensitive to basic fungal
metabolites. For instance, my colleague Claviceps purpurea produces the
biochemical ergot. Ergot causes gangrene, madness and death in humans.

However, there is no credible scientific evidence that it evolved in
C.purpurea with harm to mega-fauna in mind. The same may be said of
Aspergillus flavus, which occurs on nuts and grains. The aflatoxins
produced by A. flavus are among the most powerful poisons and carcinogens
on earth. To A. flavus, they are merely metabolic by-products, with a
touch of self-defense function as well.

The other change for the worse resulted from transportation. The rapid
movement of species allowed no time for immunities to develop in local
populations. Many fungal species have been vilified for causing mass
exterminations of elms, chestnuts, potatoes and other plants. This mirrors
the unhappy experience of animal and viral micro-organisms implicated in
plagues and epidemics. The real culprits, of course, are the humans who
transport exotics from continent to continent.

D.P. As you see it, what has been the human purpose during recent centuries?

P.c. With the advantage of hindsight, I think we can summarise it as a
failed experiment in individualism. The idea of the individual--and there
is no fungal equivalent--arose during a period of rapid change in human
society. In the abstract, individualism looked defensible, even appealing.
The ideal individual was to be educated and enlightened, someone we'd all
like to know. However, as a practical matter, the culture of enlightened
individualism reformed itself after a brief period into a cult of personal
freedom. Over the next several centuries, unbridled personal freedom and
chance distributions of natural resources led to the creation of certain
wealthy and isolated colonies of humans. Their prosperity excited envy and
the rest of the world did what they could to emulate them. Large
populations of humans moved from a very simple experience of the natural
world to the expectation of a lifestyle similar to what the exploiters were
enjoying. This clamour for plenitude put enormous stress on the biosphere.

D.P. As we know, humans failed to reverse this trend. Can you explain
their failure to act?

P.c It certainly wasn't for want of trying. If you visit the media archives
of mankind--and we fungi are able to do so freely in spite of their efforts
to exclude us--you will see that environmental issues were at the forefront
of concern in all the wealthier nations for the past century and a half.
Treaties, regulations, protocols, public opinion were used to stem the tide
of harmful practices. But population growth outpaced the effectiveness of
trade boycotts and outran the ability of the media to cultivate public
awareness of environmental issues. And population growth added to the
pressure on the biosphere as more and more people demanded higher standards
of living.

A couple of analogies can help us visualise what was happening. One is the
problem of the universal solvent. If there were such a substance, what
would you keep it in? The phenomenon of affluence turned out to be a sort
of universal solvent. Nothing could contain it. More insight is provided
by the old canard about bread and circuses, which refers to the stultifying
effects of amusement. Poor-quality information tends to ferment into
low-grade entertainment. Under the sulphurous glare of continuous,
worldwide news broadcasts, human institutions--government, military,
religious, culture itself-became subjects of human amusement. This
unrelenting, self-referential entertainment left a large part of mankind
chronically inebriated and fundamentally uneducable.

D.P. Many times in your book, you mention what in earlier centuries would
have been called "values"--altruism, moderation, that sort of thing. How do
fungi define ethical values? Or perhaps you call them spiritual values?
P.c. (Laughs.) Much of what others consider spiritual, we call secular.
This does not mean we are without a theology. There are two major systems
of mycotheism in the fungal world. The more recent religion is only about
50 million years old, but it has a strong representation among the younger
orders. The older religion is more widespread, although it is also more
rationalised from the original texts. Overall, 99.4% of fungi are
adherents of one or the other faith. But the important thing to note is
that there are no tensions, no doctrinal disputes between the two theisms.
The core principle of both religions is identical.

D.P. And that principle is...?

P.c. Whereas the root principle of virtually all the religions of mankind
is behaviour modification, our core religious value is species recognition.
The fungi comprise nearly a million and a half species and uncounted
millions of mating types. The pressures that result from diversity of this
magnitude cannot be overstated. We have long recognized that the best way
to maintain order in the system is to encourage institutionalized
mycotheism. As a result, we are widely considered to be the polity most
capable of reaching consensus among ourselves and acting in concert upon
that consensus.

D.P. How do you describe the present relationship between nature and
mankind?

P.c. I can only speak for the fungi, who characterise mankind as
expendable. My chapter, "Many Keystones, One Arch", explores the uses that
mankind has made of the fungi, which range from antibiotics and
immunosuppressants to papermaking to bread, beer, cheeses and wines, and
the familiar delights of mycophagy.

Our members observed and recorded millions of human-fungus interactions
over a period of two centuries. Again, humans cannot escape our
observation. We are everywhere: on their skin, in their homes,
underground, in the stratosphere. After intensive analysis of these data,
the Academy was not able to identify even one indispensable human-fungus
transaction. No obligate parasitism, no essential relationships, no sine
qua non. I ask readers to remember this important fact as they learn the
startling outcome of our deliberations.

D.P. Without revealing the ending to your book, can you speak briefly about
the last chapter?

P.c. Recently, the Academy convened a plenary forum to review our findings
on the place of man-kind in the world ecosystem. We evaluated the state of
the biosphere, giving due weight to man-kind's most recent energy policies,
bioengineering innovations, developments in agriculture, industry and
transportation, the efforts made towards environmental remediation and
detoxification of hazardous and radioactive wastes.

We considered the question of just how much perturbation of the natural
order we should tolerate from human activities. We agreed that the
biosphere presently stands at 9.6 on a scale of disturbance from zero to
ten. Based on these findings, the Academy adopted a position statement
which we presented to the WFF. I have taken the title of that statement for
my last chapter, "The Knot of a Thousand Tyings". I'd like to read from it,
if I may.

D.P. Please do.

P.c. "Our members do not recoil from the future. We believe that life on
earth is embarked on a unique trajectory, one that will not be repeated.
We believe that the outward journey has entailed a long and intricate
interweaving of the interests of all living things. We believe that the
homeward path will entail the systematic unweaving of those threads. We
believe we are eminently suited for a role in this process."

---The full version of this essay, and the seven other prize-winning
entries, can be found at www.shelleconomistprize.com

Michigan State Researchers Find Companion Crops Control Weeds
Organically.

Traditionally, organic soybean growers have used only
mechanical cultivation to control weeds. This can cause soil erosion and
lead to poor soil structure. Researchers at the Michigan Agricultural
Experiment Station (MAES) have shown that organic soybean producers may
be able to use winter cereal rye as an inter-seeded companion crop to
control weeds. MAES researchers found that inter-seeded winter cereal
rye decreases the amount of weeds in soybeans and increases organic
soybean yield in years when soil moisture was not a yield-limiting
factor.

The research is published in the January-February 2004 issue of
Agronomy Journal. (Global Technoscan, Jan. 28 - Feb. 3, 2004,
http://www.globaltechnoscan.com/28thJan-3rdFeb04/crop.htm )

Farmed salmon loaded with chemicals, study confirms

- Farmed salmon contains far more toxic chemicals than wild salmon, high
enough to suggest that fish-eaters limit how much they eat, U.S.
researchers say.

http://www.enn.com/news/2004-01-09/s_11895.asp

ISIS Press Release 06/01/04
Organic Outperforms Conventional in Climate Extremes

Long-term research has shown that organic cropping systems give higher
yields than conventional during periods of drought or torrential rains.

Lim Li Ching reports.

Sources for this report are available in the ISIS members site. Full
details here

The Rodale Farming Systems Trial was started in 1981 at the Rodale
Institute in Pennsylvania, USA. It compares the benefits and risks of
three farming systems, two organic - manure-based (MNR) and legume-based
(LEG) - and one conventional (CNV), on a long-term basis.

The MNR system is a 5-year maize-soybean-wheat-clover/hay rotation, the
LEG a 3-year maize-soybean-wheat-green manure, and the CNV a 5-year
maize-soybean rotation. The MNR system includes livestock and uses
manure as fertilizer, while LEG incorporates leguminous crops into the
soil. Both the organic systems rely on mechanical cultivation and
heterogeneous crop mixes for their weed and pest control. The CNV system
uses mineral fertilizer and pesticides.

After a transition period of four years, crops grown under the organic
systems yielded as much as and sometimes better than conventional crops.
Average maize and soybean yields were relatively similar in all three
systems over the post-transition years (1985-199.

Five moderate drought years, with total April-August rainfall less than
350 mm, occurred between 1984 and 1998. In four of them the organic
maize out-yielded the CNV by significant margins. For example, in 1998,
organic maize yielded 141% and 133% relative to CNV in the LEG and MNR
treatments, respectively.

In 1999, a severe crop season drought in the northeastern US was
followed by hurricane-driven torrential rains in September, offering a
unique opportunity to observe how the systems responded to
climate-related stress. As evidence of global warming gathers (see "Life
of Gaia" series, SiS 20), there is greater likelihood of increased
incidence and severity of droughts, flooding and other extreme climatic
events. Long-term crop yield stability and the ability to withstand
climatic stresses will be crucially important for sustainable and secure
food production.

The Rodale researchers examined crop and water dynamics by measuring
cover crop and crop biomass, weed biomass, grain yields, percolated
water volumes, soil water content and water infiltration rates.

Crop season rainfall for April, May, June, July and August 1999 were
55%, 66%, 17%, 29% and 40% of normal for those months, respectively.
September 1999, with 268%, was a complete reversal of previous months as
a result of Hurricane Floyd, and was the wettest September on record in
the Northeast US.

Due to the severe drought, all crop systems suffered heavy depressions
in yield in 1999: to less than 20% of the long-term average in maize and
60% in soybean.

There were substantial yield differences between systems. With one
exception (LEG maize), organic systems gave significantly better yields
than the conventional system.

Organic LEG and MNR maize yielded 38% and 137% respectively relative to
CNV. LEG soybean yields were significantly higher than MNR, and MNR in
turn yielded significantly higher than CNV. Organic LEG and MNR soybean
yielded 196% and 152% respectively relative to CNV.

The severely reduced yields in the LEG maize plots were largely due to
pressure from weeds and excessive cover crop biomass (nearly twice that
necessary for adequate nitrogen inputs) in that year. Skill in managing
weeds is therefore an important part of organic farming. Both these
factors contributed to over-consumption of the limited soil water,
thereby more than canceling out the benefits of the LEG soilís good
water-holding capacity and infiltration rate.

The primary mechanism thought to be responsible for the higher yields in
the organic systems is indeed the improved water-holding capacity of the
soils during water deficits. Data collected over the past 10 years of
the Rodale research show that the MNR and LEG treatments improve the
soils' water-holding capacity, infiltration rate and water-capture
efficiency. LEG maize soils averaged a 13% higher water content than CNV
soils at the same crop stage, and 7% higher than CNV soils in soybean plots.

In combination, these factors have led to optimum drought adaptiveness
in the MNR maize plots and both the MNR and LEG organic soybean plots.
In contrast, the CNV system had poor soil water-holding capacity and
infiltration, limiting the ability of the crop to adapt to drought
despite negligible water use by weeds and no water use by a cover crop.

Earlier research showed that organic techniques significantly improve
soil quality, as measured by structure, total soil organic matter (a
measure of soil fertility) and biological activity. The improved soil
structure created a better root-zone environment for growing plants and
allowed the soil to better absorb and retain moisture. Apart from the
benefit during low-rainfall periods, it reduced the potential for
erosion in severe storms. The higher organic matter content also made
organic soils less compact so that roots could penetrate more deeply to
find moisture.

Furthermore, the organic soils showed good late-season flood
performance, with good water capture and reduced runoff. Water capture
is important for groundwater recharge. Soils in the organic plots
captured more water and retained more of it in the crop root zone than
in the CNV treatment in 1999. Water capture averaged 30% higher in the
organic plots than in the CNV plots, and in September, following high
rainfall, water capture in the organic plots was approximately 100%
higher than in CNV plots.

In May, at the onset of drought, the CNV plots, for the only time in
1999, had more percolated water than the other treatments, indicating
that in the LEG and MNR plots more water was retained in the soil for
crop use during a time when water was limiting. Over a 5-year period,
the LEG and MNR systems captured 16% and 25% more water than the CNV
system, respectively. The MNR plots captured significantly more water
than the LEG system.

The Rodale Instituteís research provides yet more evidence that organic
agriculture can help ensure sustainable long-term food production (see
also The Case for a GM-Free Sustainable World by the Independent Science
Panel, ). These results highlight the benefits to soil quality organic
farming brings, and itsí potential to avert crop failures. "Our trials
show that improving the quality of the soil through organic practices
can mean the difference between a harvest or hardship in times of
drought", said Jeff Moyer, Farm Manager at Rodale Institute.

Given the increasing incidences of climate extremes, and projections
that these are likely to occur more frequently, organic crop management
techniques will be important in providing soil and crop characteristics
that can better buffer environmental extremes.

This article can be found on the I-SIS website at
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/OrganicOutperforms.php

from a half-decade ago

'ORGANIC METHODS COULD SAVE FARMING', SAYS CHARLES

By Nick Meo, PA News

The Prince of Wales said today he believed agriculture had "lost its soul",
but could be saved by organic farming.

He spoke of his sympathy for Britain's small farmers and rural communities
struggling to survive - and warned of the dangers of rushing into genetic
crop-farming - when he opened a university research centre.

The prince, who has farmed his Highgrove estate in Gloucestershire
organically for seven years, made his call at the opening of the 5 million
Aberdeen University Centre for Organic Agriculture.

The prince, who was later today expected to meet Scottish National Party
leader Alex Salmond for a private meeting, told his audience: "I believe
agriculture lost its soul.

"Organic farming can put its soul back."

Farm management required "a bit of science and a great deal of art," and
the prince said: "It would be a tragedy of immense proportions if we
repeated the same mistake and became obsessed with genetic crops only to
learn our mistake in 30 years' time."

He added: "We have treated the land and animals as machines. Hopefully we
will learn from our mistakes before it becomes too late.

"The demand for organic produce is a consequence of great concerns over
modern scientific farming."

Addressing an audience of farmers, scientists and academics, the Prince
spoke of the crisis facing small farmers, and his particular concern at the
plight of livestock farmers.

And he warned that Scotland's rural culture was at stake.

"I hope this centre can provide help to those farmers who are struggling to
survive.

"The demand for organic produce is at an all-time high. There are real
opportunities for farmers at a time other avenues are becoming
unprofitable."

He said the arguments for organic farming were not just economic, but
across a whole range of environmental benefits. "I believe they will become
more and more apparent as time goes on."

Warning of a "catastrophic decline" in once-common farmland birds like
skylark, red partridge and lapwing and tree-sparrows, he lamented: "We grew
up with sparrows everywhere. Now you rarely see them."

* * * * *

FOOD:
2) New Report Exposes Myths About World Hunger By Danielle Knight
WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 (IPS) - The myth that world hunger is the unavoidable
result of the forces of nature, coupled with a population explosion,
prevents policy makers from understanding the real causes of starvation
worldwide, says a new report.

"The way people think about hunger is the greatest obstacle to ending
it," says Peter Rosset, director of the California-based Institute for
Food and Development Policy, in a report released Thursday - World Food
Day.

"As millions of people starve, powerful myths block our understanding of
the true causes of hunger and prevent us from taking effective action to
end it." Rosset says.

The report - 'World Hunger: Twelve Myths' - says these notions prevent a
true understanding of the real causes of millions of people starving around
the world.

"The true source of world hunger is not scarcity but policy; not
inevitability but politics," says the report. "The real culprits are
economies that fail to offer everyone opportunities, and societies that
place economic efficiency over compassion." Abundance, not scarcity, best
describes the world's food supply. The world produces enough grain and
many other commonly eaten foods to provide at least 4.3 pounds of food per
person a day, according to the report.

Even as countries have excess food, people still go hungry. In 1997, for
example, the American Association for the Advancement of Science found
that, in the developing world, 78 percent of all malnourished children
aged under five live in countries with food surpluses.

"The problem is that many people are too poor to buy readily available
food," says Twelve Myths. "Even though 'hungry countries' have enough
food for all their people right now, many are net exporters of food and
other agricultural products."

Believing that scarcity is the problem, many governments and international
development institutions - like the World Bank - say the answer to solving
the problem is increasing food production. Dramatic production advances of
the 1970s known as the 'Green Revolution', did increase grain supplies.

"But focusing narrowly on increasing production cannot alleviate hunger
because it fails to alter the tightly concentrated distribution of economic
power that determines who can buy the additional food," says the report.

This is why that in several of the biggest Green Revolution successes -
India, Mexico, and the Philippines for example - grain production and in
some cases exports, have climbed while hunger has persisted.

That nature is to blame for famine is another popular hunger myth that
blurs the real causes of starvation. "It's too easy to blame nature; food
is always available for those who can afford it while starvation during
hard times hits only the poorest," the report says.

"Millions live on the brink of disaster in south Asia, Africa and
elsewhere, because they are deprived of land by a powerful few, trapped in
the unremitting grip of debt, or miserably paid." Natural events rarely
explain deaths, they are simply the final push over this brink. Population
growth is another mythical cause of hunger, says the report.

"Although rapid population growth remains a serious concern in many
countries, nowhere does population density explain hunger," it says. "For
every Bangladesh - a densely populated and hungry country - we find a
Nigeria, Brazil or Bolivia where abundant food resources coexist with
hunger."

Costa Rica, with only half of Honduras' cropped acres per person, boasts a
life expectancy - 11 years longer than that of Honduras and close to that
of developed countries, explains the report.

About half of the myths listed in the report involve false assumptions used
to develop current food, land and agriculture policy. Large farms, the
free-market, free trade and more aid from industrialised countries, have
all been falsely touted as the "cure" to end hunger.

Large landowners who control most of the best land often leave much of it
idle, says Twelve Myths. "By contrast, small farmers typically achieve at
least four to five times greater output per acre, in part because they work
their land more intensively and use integrated, and often more sustainable,
production systems," it says.

Redistribution of land would give millions of small farmers in developing
countries the incentive to invest in land improvements, to rotate crops and
leave land fallow for the sake of long-term soil fertility, according to
the report.

Comprehensive land reform has markedly increased production in countries as
different at Japan, Zimbabwe, and Taiwan. A World Bank study of northeast
Brazil estimates that redistributing farmland into smaller holdings would
raise output by 80 percent.

Free-markets and lifting tariffs on trade have also been touted as the
solution to ending world hunger.

"Such a market is good, government is bad formula can never help address
the causes of hunger," says the report. "Such thinking misleads us into
believing that a society can opt for one or the other, when in fact every
economy on earth combines market and government in allocating resources and
distributing wealth."

Because the market responds to money not actual need, it can only work to
eliminate hunger when purchasing power is widely dispersed, says the report.

As the rural poor are increasingly pushed from land, they are less and less
able to make their demands for food register in the market.

Promoting free trade to alleviate hunger has proven to be a failure, says
Twelve Myths. In most developing countries exports have boomed while hunger
has continued unabated or actually worsened, its says.

"While soybean exports boomed in Brazil to feed Japanese and European
livestock - hunger spread from one-third to two-thirds of the population,"
says the report.

"Where the majority of people have been made too poor to buy the food
grown on their own country's soil, those who control productive resources
will, not surprisingly, orient their production to more lucrative markets
abroad." Pro-trade policies like the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA) and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) promotes
export crop production and squeezes out basic food production, it says.
Foreign aid from industrialised countries, often seen as an essential key
to ending hunger and famine, has propped up such free trade and free
market policies. Foreign aid, says the report, "works directly against
the hungry."

U.S. aid in particular is used to promote exports and food production - not
to increase the poor's ability to buy food, it adds. "Even emergency, or
humanitarian aid, which makes up five percent of the total, often ends up
enriching U.S. grain companies while failing to reach the hungry." With
different policies, says Twelve Myths, the world could feed itself.

"Hunger is caused by decisions made by human beings, and can be ended by
making different decisions," says Rosset. "Informed social movements like
those that fought for and won landmark civil rights legislation or
abolished slavery or helped end the war in Vietnam, can end hunger too."
Following its own call to action, the Institute for Food and Development
Policy recently launched an "Economic Human Rights" campaign in the
United States which calls for an end to hunger and poverty in the
wealthiest country in the world.

"The scientific evidence shows it is possible to eliminate hunger," says
Rosset. "As societies we have to decide that it is a priority."

Universities have grown addicted to the process of grants from
corporations and government (both of which are dominated by corporate
interests). The British Royal society subscribed to the corporate
ideology as did the US National Academy. Consequently full and truthful
reporting was replaced by public relations. The old dictum "publish or
perish" is replaced with "public relations for corporations or perish".

Nature 426, 591 - 5914 (11 December 2003);
doi:10.1038/426591a
REX DALTON

Berkeley accused of biotech bias as ecologist is denied tenure

[SAN FRANCISCO] An ecologist at the University of California, Berkeley,
best known for his outspoken criticism of genetically modified crops and
of the university's links with the biotech industry, has been denied
tenure. But some of his colleagues are now questioning the integrity of
the decision-making process.

The Berkeley campus has been wracked by dissent ever since it signed a
lucrative deal in 1998 with the Swiss-based firm Novartis, giving the
company privileged access to the university's plant scientists. Ignacio
Chapela was prominent among a group of vocal protesters against the
deal. Subsequently, he became embroiled in controversy after publishing
disputed research suggesting that transgenes flowed from modified crops
into natural maize in his native Mexico.

Chapela's supporters now charge that his denial of tenure calls into
question the prestigious university's willingness to back academics who
challenge powerful agricultural industrial interests. But university
administrators argue that Chapela's publishing record in the seven years
since he arrived at Berkeley is too weak to justify tenure.

One Berkeley scientist involved in the tenure review was so upset at the
handling of the case that he has broken the strict confidentiality of
the process to complain. Population biologist Wayne Getz, who sat on an
ad hoc faculty committee that recommended giving Chapela tenure, says
that the ecologist received overwhelming faculty support, but alleges
that the review then was "hijacked" by Chapela's opponents in the
university.

"The process was so irregular; it is illegitimate," asserts Chapela, who
received notice on 26 November from Berkeley's chancellor Robert Berdahl
that his academic contract will expire next June. University officials
won't comment on the specifics of Chapela's case, but a spokesman says:
"We stand by our tenure process; it is the most strenuous in the country."

Documents from the chancellor's office raise a number of concerns about
Chapela's performance, including the disputed maize article and his
research publications. "The overall assessment of reviewers was that
Chapela's good record of teaching and excellent service stood in sharp
contrast to a disappointingly modest publication record," says the
document rejecting tenure.

Chapela works for the university's Department of Environmental Science,
Policy, and Management. Shortly after arriving at Berkeley, he became
embroiled in the row over the deal with Novartis - now known as
Syngenta. Then, in 2001, Chapela and a student published a paper in
Nature reporting that transgenes had flowed into native maize in the
southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, fragmenting and integrating across the
genome (D. Quist and I. H. Chapela Nature 414, 541-543; 2001). The
article stirred international debate and, after additional review,
Nature issued a statement saying that it would not have been published
had certain technical issues been uncovered during the paper's initial
review. Chapela and his student acknowledged some flaws, but stood by
their main findings (D. Quist and I. H. Chapela Nature 416, 602; 2002).

Chapela's tenure at Berkeley has been under review since November 2000.
As part of the process, in his department, 32 faculty members voted for
tenure and one against, with three abstentions. And in summer 2002, an
ad hoc committee of five colleagues familiar with Chapela's field voted
unanimously in favour of tenure.

But the review then took an unusual course. The chair of the ad hoc
committee was quizzed by the university hierarchy about his committee's
report and its membership; questions were raised about whether two
members were biased. The chair, whose identity has not been revealed,
then resigned in the autumn of 2002, disavowing his committee's report.
But committee members weren't told that this had occurred.

Getz, a tenured professor in Chapela's department, only learned of what
happened to the report of the committee he had served on in June this
year. He immediately wrote to the chancellor's office: "I am concerned
that the process of tenure evaluation, that works so well in almost all
cases, has somehow been tainted or corrupted by those on our campus who
belong to the camp that believes Chapela should not be tenured."

Another faculty member involved in the review says: "The process clearly
failed when the chairman resigned. This sort of case sends a chill
through the community of researchers."

A university spokesman claims that the ad hoc committee's chair resigned
after realizing that his committee didn't have the required expertise to
analyse Chapela's research, and argues that these actions were
compatible with Berkeley's normal tenure-review process.

Chapela and other faculty members were this week planning to hold a
meeting on academic freedom at the Berkeley campus. His tenure battle is
likely to take centre stage. "I just can't walk away," Chapela says. "I
have to fight."

24.09.2003

HRH The Prince of Wales hosted a dinner at Clarence House to
celebrate the progress of organic food over the last 10 years.

The Prince hosted the event at his official London residence,
Clarence House, for VIP guests, farmers and supporters of the organic
food industry to mark the progress of organic food over the last 10
years.

The Prince of Wales and his guests were treated to an organic feast
cooked by Chef Jamie Oliver and students from his restaurant,
Fifteen.

Jamie Oliver cooked a completely organic meal which included produce
>from His Royal Highness's organic Home Farm, near Highgrove in
Gloucestershire, and other small British organic suppliers.

"Amazing Highgrove Lamb" was cooked two ways for the main course:
shoulder slowly braised, and loin, pan-roasted rare, served with
organic garden vegetables collected by Jamie Oliver and his trainees
>from the Duchy farm. The organic meat was served with
Dauphinoise-style potatoes and Jamie's "Essex" sauce.

The Prince is a great supporter of British agriculture and organic
farming and all the profits from his own organic produce range, Duchy
Originals, go to charity.

The Prince has also donated £15,000 from his UK Charitable Foundation
to Jamie Oliver's charity, Cheeky Chops - enough to train one
student for a year.

Jamie Oliver has met The Prince on a number of occasions and recently
sat next to him at a Highgrove dinner held by His Royal Highness to
promote the sale of British mutton.


The Menu

Canapés
Pan-seared diver-caught Scottish scallops wrapped in Duchy farm bacon
and skewered with rosemary.

Old English-style carpaccio of rare breed Aberdeen Angus beef (hung
for 30 days) with Highgrove organic beetroots and horseradish crème
fraiche.

Tartare of Highgrove lamb fillet with reggiano classico Parmesan,
lemon thyme tips and Fontodi extra virgin olive oil.

A spoon of fantastic English wild mushrooms sautéed with first of the
season black truffles.

Bread made with Duchy flour and Duchy biscuits.

Starter
Oozy Risotto of autumn squash with Duchy smoked bacon and crisp
sage.

Main course
"Amazing Highgrove Lamb" cooked two ways; shoulder slowly braised
and loin pan-roasted rare, served with organic garden vegetables from
the Duchy farm, Dauphinoise-style potatoes and Jamie's "Essex"
sauce.

Dessert
Duchy Cambridge Cream with damson compote and smashed Duchy
shortbread.

Duchy & English cheeses.

Coffee and Duchy chocolates.

===============================

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/09/25/noliv25.xml&
sSheet=/news/2003/09/25/ixhome.html

Oliver's organic feast fit for a Prince
By Andrew Hibberd
(Filed: 25/09/2003)


The television chef Jamie Oliver cooked an organic feast hosted by Prince
Charles at Clarence House last night in celebration of the growth in organic
farming.

The chef was assisted by students from his London restaurant Fifteen and
served guests including Camilla Parker Bowles, Prince Charles's companion,
the singer Sting and his wife Trudie Styler, the comedian and writer Stephen
Fry, the designer Jasper Conran and the chef Anton Mosimann. Oliver, who is
taking a year off from television to devote more time to his family and the
restaurant, used produce grown at Highgrove, the Prince's estate in
Gloucestershire.

A Clarence House spokesman said: "Jamie Oliver is a keen supporter of
organic food. He devised the menu. They wanted it to be totally organic."

The Prince is a passionate supporter of organic farming and his own range,
Duchy Originals, is among Britain's leading organic food brands. He has
donated £15,000 from his UK Charitable Foundation to Oliver's charity,
Cheeky Chops, which takes unemployed young people and retrains them.

http://www.jamieoliver.net/