June Scottish Government published their first National Food & Drink Policy based on five workstreams: Sustainable economic growth, Healthy food choices, Food Security, getting public procurement right..and celebrating Scotland as a land of food & drink. Hic Swedish Guidelines promote climate friendly food choices and "recommend citizens to reduce their meat and rice consumption as a way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions". The first of their kind, the guidelines are now being sent out for reactions and inspiration from other EU countries. English version pdf Sustainable Development Commission says UK must rethink its Food Policy. Jonathon Porritt SDC Chair at Camden Lecture launched 'a sharp attack on the government's Sustainable Farming and Food Strategy. It was, he said,"no longer fit for purpose".' British Retail Consortium Retailers Record in Obesity Fight Report where "retailers are demonstrating the effectiveness of working with customers to help them make the lifestyle changes needed in the fight against obesity." May Post Carbon Institute Food and Farming Transition: Toward a Post Carbon Food System says "The American food system rests on an unstable foundation of massive fossil fuel inputs. It must be reinvented in the face of declining fuel stocks. The new food system will use less energy, and the energy it uses will come from renewable sources. We can begin the transition to the new system immediately through a process of planned, graduated, rapid change. The unplanned alternative-reconstruction from scratch after collapse-would be chaotic and tragic." Ferdinand Dimadura Film Chicken a la Carte first shown at the Berlin Short Film is about "the hunger and poverty brought about by Globalization" and is most popular viewing at "Green Unplugged" Film Festival. Watch it here... Dept of Health Sustainable Food: a guide for Hospitals "describes why the sustainability of food is important; provides guidance on what hospitals can do to improve the sustainability of the food they provide to patients, staff and visitors; and advises on how hospitals can assure the sustainability of their food service provision." International Food Policy Research Institute Land Grabbing by Foreign Investors in Developing Countries says that "One of the lingering effects of the food price crisis of 2007–08 on the world food system is the proliferating acquisition of farmland in developing countries by other countries seeking to ensure their food supplies." UK companies have bought/leased/secured nearly 200,00 hectares in Africa. Check out the map of who is buying what, why, and where. April
DEFRA & Deloitte Public Sector Food Procurement Initiative An Evaluation "shows that the PSFPI has had a positive impact on the progress of public procurement towards a more sustainable model with the limted funding and resources dedicated to it over the last five years" Evidence of this success is presented in the report, which also identifies areas where performance could be improved. RELU (Rural Economy and Land Use) Implications of a Nutriton driven Food Policy for Countryside pdf investigates "the effectiveness of policies designed to promote healthy eating, the potential for modified agricultural husbandry methods to produce healthier food products, and the implications for the countryside". Internatioal Food Policy Council Agriculture & Climate Change is "to support the goal of putting agriculture on the agenda of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiations in Copenhagen in December 2009....If fundamental climate change mitigation and adaptation goals are to be met, international climate negotiations must include agriculture"
New Economics Foundation (NEF) Green Stimulus or Similus? concluded: "the UK economy faces a triple crunch: a recession triggered by a major credit crisis, the looming reality of runaway climate change and critical resource depletion. As a result we face serious challenges to our livelihoods and increasing threats to our fuel and food security." (We need a closer study of the links between food sustainability, security and 'green new deal'). March Dept. for Innovation, Universities & Skills Potential to increase the productivity of wheat & oilseed rape in the UK concludes: "It will be important to consider how a push for productivity will change not only the extent of public investments but their character - clearly there will an extent to which the focus of plant sceince will need to be on both the laboratory and the field. and there may be structural repercussions of such a re-emphasis. For example, an enthusiam for eduction in the sciences of primary production may need to be rekindled, since skills shortages in agriculture are now clearly evident". Smith Institute Feeding Britain (pdf) says :"At the global level, population growth, economic growth in key emerging countries, changing dietary patterns, finite land availability, climate change, challenges to the availability of key resources, the energy challenge, and a slowdown in the rate of growth of food productivity all point towards the need for new thinking. We tend to think of these issues in an international context, but in a globalised world they will inevitably affect the UK." Institute for Agriculture & Trade Polcy in Integrated Solutions to the Water, Agriculture and Climate Crises says: "this year, three major international meetings seek to identify solutions to the water, food and climate crises: the World Water Forum (March), the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (May) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (December). The time is ripe to identify the interconnections between the three crises and develop complementary policy options and action steps." And UK Chief Scientist John Beddington also warns: "A "perfect storm" of food shortages, scarce water and insufficient energy resources threaten to unleash public unrest, cross-border conflicts and mass migration as people flee from the worst-affected regions" at SDUK 09 Conference.
John Innes Institute Making Sense of GM says: "Discussion about GM seems to have become a proxy for other much-needed discussions about food shortages, economic power of multinational corporations, food safety, farming systems and trade agreements, which go far beyond this technology and its applications." Food Ethics Council Fish - All washed up reveals "that while the problems we face are critical, they are reversible. Initiatives by governments, NGOs, the retail sector and fishing communities are all making a difference around the world." February IUF (International Union of Food & Farmworkers) Report Goodbye Paraquat surveyed 40 major food producers and found "that in the palm oil, banana, and tea sectors, Paraquat-free production is not only desirable but also economically viable and thus possible."
IVth World Congress on Conservation Agriculture hears top FAO expert say Farming must change to feed the world. The world's farmers must quickly switch to more sustainable and productive farming systems to grow the food needed by a swelling world population and respond to climate change, said Shivaji Pandey, Director of FAO's Plant Production and Protection Division. January IPPR(Institute for Public Policy Research) Just Desserts: Securing global food futures says: "currently missing from grand global plans is a considered debate about the type of agriculture and the systems being invested in, with regard to ecological sensitivity and sustainable production." Chatham House Report The Feeding of the Nine Billion: Global Food Security for the 21st Century says recent falls in food prices are no more than a temporary reprieve and are set to resume their upward trend once the world emerges from the current economic downturn and urges policymakers to start planning now for a future 'food crunch'. European Group on Ethics of the European Commission, in the Ethics of modern developments in agriculture technologies pdf considers the goals of (1) food security, (2) food safety and (3) sustainability as first priorities and guiding principles to which any technology in agriculture must adhere. The Group recommends an integrated approach in agriculture, based on a system where its constituent units are balanced, not just at a technical level but also at an ethical level. Environmental Health Practitioner Waste not want not explores: "Where we get our food from, what we eat and how it gets from farm to plate is exercising policy makers and the debate is set to impact on health, food safety, the economy, climate change and sustainability." Wiley Books Sustainability in the Food Industry says "We must acknowledge that our expansion in human population and increase in food production do come at a cost, often one that we are unable to calculate." Out in March. University of Groningen Food and Land Use assesses the relationship between food consumption patterns and the use of agricultural land North West Regional Development Agency Re-engaging with the land (pdf) says that "awareness of land use pressures needs to be raised in order to develop more robust systems for promoting sustainable land use." London Science Museum Exhibition Future Foods: Discussion about GM. Podcast Our other News feeds..
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