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Haven’t registered for the 8th European Organic Congress yet? Remember to do so before registration closes on 7 September! Register now!

The Congress will focus on new Rural Development Programmes under the new CAP in 2015, the European Innovation Partnership for Agriculture and the Organic Regulation review.

Check out the final programme:

http://organic-congress-ifoameu.org

Don’t miss out on high-profile speakers:

Maurizio Martina, Italian Minister of Agriculture: opening plenary ‘Towards ecological and innovative solutions under the new CAP’

Martin Häusling, Member of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, European Parliament: thematic session ‘Organic regulation review’

Sjoerd Wartena, Terre de Liens, thematic session ‘Rural development: opportunities for organic farming and agricultural approaches – practical examples’

João Onofre, Head of the Organic Farming Unit, DG Agriculture and Rural Development: closing panel ‘Promoting practical implementation of innovative ecological solutions’

Remember to register here before 7 September to join us in Bari

Best regards,

The Congress Team

congress@ifoam-eu.org

Geflügel: Handel will weg vom Genfutter

Thursday, 28 August 2014 LZnet/dl.

(Lebensmittelzeitung http://www.lebensmittelzeitung.net/)

After months of confrontation, the German poultry industry and food retailers are talking about the reintroduction of GMO-free feed.

In great unanimity, the German retailers wish for the poultry meat industry and the egg producers to return entirely to feeding animals without genetic engineering. According to the ideas of the grocers, this is to be the case again from January 2015.

The German Poultry Association (ZDG) does not want to commit itself to this date. First, the result of a jointly agreed study is to be reviewed, says ZDG CEO Thomas Janning talking to Lebensmittel-Zeitung: "We will not be blackmailed."

(.....)

For this purpose, a working group "Soy in Animal Feed" was established under the auspices of the QS animal welfare initiative. This is where the retailer representatives defined the long-term goal to abandon genetic engineering in the feed rations of the entire animal husbandry, including the feeding of pigs and cattle. The production of poultry meat is given priority.

"Everyone has to come clean"

Task and time schedules were agreed on providing for representative analyses for contaminations in feed as well as the clarification of legal issues in regards to labeling. Janning considers this indispensable: "Everyone has to come clean. We must not slide into a new feed scandal. "

If the working group comes to the conclusion that GMO-free feeding is possible Janning holds an industry agreement to be the right way to proceed. Starting point could then be the new soy harvest 2015.

Videos from the Masipag anti-GMO conference in Manilla

We have uploaded in youtube the video interviews of selected participants during the Golden Rice conference. Please share to your network and friends. We will also post these to our website.

MASIPAG Advocacy - YouTube

Thank you very much!

MASIPAG

FIELD DAY AND SUMMER FESTIVAL

DANUBE SOYA

GROß ENZERSDORF

4. September 2014

from 9.30am

Versuchswirtschaft Großenzersdorf

Schlosshoferstraße 31

A-2301 Großenzersdorf

9.30 Welcome and Possibility to Walk through the Demo Fields

10.30 Visiting and Documentation Demoplattform,DI Dr. Helmut Wagentristl

(Continue reading on http://www.donausoja.org/events)

At $25 a bushel, organic soybeans could be a highly lucrative crop for organic farmers. But right now that market is out of reach for most due to the limited number of varieties suitable for organic production systems. A student researcher at the University of Manitoba is hoping to change that. She is evaluating conventional non-GMO varieties that are adapted to Manitoba’s shorter season, evaluating conventional non-GMO soybean varieties they could possibly grow in Manitoba’s shorter season. Michelle Carkner is overseeing plot trials at the Ian N. Morrison research farm at Carman and working with farmers on five separate farms in southern Manitoba this summer. It’s the first study ever conducted in Western Canada to test the agronomic performance and determine relative maturity rates of mid- and longer-season varieties grown elsewhere in Canada. In Ontario and Quebec, where soybeans have been grown much longer, farmers have many options among the later-maturing, non-GMO varieties developed for the growing conditions of those regions.

A year after the uprooting of Golden Rice, more than a hundred farmers, scientists, consumers and basic sectors joined hands to call for the immediate halt of the planned field tests and commercialization of Golden Rice in the country, saying that this will only pose more problems rather than solving the problem on hunger and malnutrition. The group also called for respect for farmers’ rights to land, seeds and technology and pushed for sustainable approaches to attaining food sufficiency and genuine rural development.

(.....)

To combat GM rice and Vitamin A deficiency, the group are going to eat organically grown foods that are rich in Vitamin A and other nutrients entitled “Pangudto Organiko, Libre sa GMO!” (Organic Lunch, Free from GMOs). This is to show that there are a multitude of safe and nutritious food available compared to Golden Rice and other GMOs.

The Liberal Government is getting on with the job of delivering our long-term plan for Tasmania, including working to achieve our vision of growing the value of our agricultural produce ten-fold by 2050. Next week's Budget is all about keeping our promises, fixing the budget mess and laying the foundations for the future. Today, the Liberal Government is fulfilling its commitment to extend the existing moratorium on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in Tasmania for five years. Importantly, this will provide certainty to our primary industries to further develop markets for our produce, protect our state's brand and support future growth in the food and agricultural sector. The Genetically Modified Organism Amendment Bill 2014 that I tabled in Parliament this morning takes into account the findings of the comprehensive 2013 review by my Department, which considered 160 public submissions and new market research. The review demonstrated that there is currently no imperative to change from having a moratorium. The Liberal Government believes that a five-year moratorium is a common sense approach that strikes an appropriate balance between the needs of today and the possibilities of tomorrow. Through AgriGrowth Tasmania, we will actively monitor developments in technology, markets and consumer sentiment throughout this period. A new Tasmanian Gene Technology Policy and associated Gene Technology Guidelines provide the necessary detail on how the moratorium will be implemented. The policy and the moratorium will be reviewed prior to its expiry in 2019.

Scientific advice should be transparent, objective and independent, and there should be more science and more diverse expertise available to the European Commission’s President, a coalition of 28 international and national NGOs wrote in a letter addressed to President-elect Jean-Claude Juncker. The new President will have to decide whether or not to retain the position of Chief Scientific Advisor (CSA) that was established by his predecessor, President José Manuel Barroso. In the majority of European countries, governments rely for advice on scientific committees composed of various experts, who prepare transparent and public reports. Among EU countries, only the UK currently maintains the position of a single CSA as a full-time government office. The NGOs argue that it is unreasonable to expect that one single person can guarantee objective and competent advice on a widespread range of issues to the European Commission’s President. They are concerned that the model chosen by President Barroso lacks transparency and objectivity, and makes it easier for lobbyists to influence scientific policy advice.

Global non-GMO Food Market 2014-2018

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Q: What is the situation on GMO products and organic food, as well as about the usage of pesticides and such toxic substances in Iceland? Are GMOs banned? Is organic food easy to find? And how much does it cost?

A: Iceland follows guidelines from the European Union when it comes to organic products as well as genetically modified organisms. GMOs are not banned in Iceland but they are required to be labeled as such. Similarly, laws strictly dictate which products can be labeled GMO-free and/or organic. Bovine growth hormones are completely banned.