OCIS - Introduction to FREE advice service.
Events to introduce FREE advice service
Have your say on CAP health check
Defra consults on CAP health check
Beware GM cul de sac
ORC says no to GM in poultry and other feeds
All eyes on bees
The UK’s beekeepers are pressing Defra to carry out an urgent research programme into the diseases that are threatening the very survival of honey bees in Britain and in other parts of the world.
Survey on Bluetongue jabs
Two key livestock scientists – Dr Chris Oura (Institute for Animal Health) and Dr James Wood (University of Cambridge) have embarked on a new study to investigate the effectiveness and application of Bluetongue vaccination in Britain.
Vaccination fatigue on Bluetongue?
Is Bluetongue vaccination effort running out of steam?
A scorched earth policy
As the world hurtles towards an ever warmer future, delegates to the conference busied themselves with debate on the business opportunities that climate change presents. Let’s make some money, they said, before it’s too late.
Real Bread Campaign:
A national campaign for Real Bread in the UK has been launched by the environment alliance Sustain, of which the Organic Research Centre (ORC) is a member
Open Gate for small growers:
SA looks at light touch regime for growers.
Europe's pesticide cocktail in food:
PAN report on shocking levels of pesticide residue in EU food.
New superbug worries
New calls for limits on livestock antibiotic use.
Slow down on biofuels
The introduction of biofuels into the UK transport and industry sectors should be slowed down, says a new report from the Government’s Renewable Fuels Agency (RFA).
Fight back on GM trade in Brazil
Brazilian farmers and traders launch non-GM crop body
The long arm of GM contamination
Fears of serious, long distance contamination of organic farms by GM crops appear top be borne out by an incident in central France
Sterile cul de sac of GM crops
A big, new push is under way from bioscience companies to promote their GM crops on the back of global worries about food shortage and high prices. To arms, to arms, a new approach is needed from the organic sector to fight this move.
Wise words from Hilary Benn:
The world needs a new “fair food” agreement and more reliance on sustainable farming systems to meet the twin challenges of starvation and climate change. That was the central message from Defra Secretary of State Hilary Benn in a speech to the Fabian Society in London.
Something fishy
The Center for Food Safety in the United States has sent letters to the top state law enforcement officials of 49 states, urging them to take action against the misleading practice of labeling seafood imports as “organic.”
Fresh pandemic worries for H5N1
Alarm about a possible human H5N1 flu pandemic has resurfaced on news wires and across the media after fresh evidence that avian flu, circulating in poultry in the Far East, can be transmitted from person to person.
ORC Conference proceedings
Full proceedings from The Organic Research Centre’s December 2007 producer conference, hosted in collaboration with Organic Inform, are now available online.
EU OK for cloning
European Food Safety Agency says cloning OK for food safety and the environment
Organic boost from Brussels
New campaign from European Commission says organic is good for everyone.
Organic principle and practice - stopping the erosion
ORC research team reports from IFOAM/ISOFAR in Modena, Italy.
Oil-proof food production
Organic agriculture and other forms of ecological agriculture have received a boost in a new report from the House of Commons All Party Parliamentary Group on Peak Oil.