.

Urban and peri-urban agriculture and short food chains: lessons from the south

6 March, 2013 | No comments

By Marielle Dubbeling
Director, RUAF Foundation

The SUPURBFOOD project (www.supurbfood.eu) is looking to identify experiences from the global South and North with recycling of nutrients, waste and water in urban and peri-urban agriculture, short chain delivery of food in urban and peri-urban areas, and multifunctional agriculture in urban and peri-urban areas in order to enrich South-North exchange and collaboration. We are specifically interested in innovative experiences – with a special focus on the type of business models that were applied, the role of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and their sustainability.

The RUAF Foundation (www.ruaf.org), one of the partners of the SUPURBFOOD project, is now inviting researchers, local authorities, urban planners, SMEs, producers, NGOs, staff from international organisations and other stakeholders to contribute on an electronic Forum discussion to this inventory and analysis by sharing relevant cases, interesting best practices (and failures) and new insights. This Forum discussion will focus on three main thematic areas: Continue reading “Urban and peri-urban agriculture and short food chains: lessons from the south” »

A fat tax?

22 February, 2013 | No comments

Professor Terence Stephenson

Professor Terence Stephenson

There is a rising tide of support for higher taxation on food that’s bad for us. The latest target for a “fat tax” is sugary drinks and the most recent intervention by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AMRC) argues for an experimental 20% tax on sugary soft drinks for at least a year. Higher taxation, say the doctors in a report on obesity, will help reduce consumption and obesity, especially among children. The revenue raised – estimated at £1bn each year – could help fund weight management programmes.

But obesity is a subject of great complexity – a fact recognised by the AMRC, whose chairman, Professor Terence Stephenson, Nuffield Professor of Child Health at the UCL Institute of Child Health in London, observed that his organisation’s report does not claim to offer a full solution to obesity, but is primarily a call to action against a problem which affects a quarter of all adults in England and is already estimated to cost the NHS over £5bn a year. Continue reading “A fat tax?” »

Fixing our food problem

3 January, 2013 | No comments

Mark Bittman

Mark Bittman by Sally Stein

Mark Bittman

NY TIMES. New York, 1 January 2013. Nothing affects public health in the United States more than food. Gun violence kills tens of thousands of Americans a year. Heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes kill more than a million people a year — nearly half of all deaths — and diet is a root cause of many of those diseases.

And the root of that dangerous diet is our system of hyper-industrial agriculture, the kind that uses 10 times as much energy as it produces.

We must figure out a way to un-invent this food system. It’s been a major contributor to climate change, spawned the obesity crisis, poisoned countless volumes of land and water, wasted energy, tortured billions of animals… I could go on. The point is that “sustainability” is not only possible but essential: only by saving the earth can we save ourselves, and vice versa.

How do we do that? Continue reading “Fixing our food problem” »

Britain in ‘nutritional recession’ says Guardian

19 November, 2012 | No comments

THE GUARDIAN. London, 19 November 2012.  Austerity Britain is experiencing a nutritional recession, with rising food prices and shrinking incomes driving up consumption of fatty foods, reducing the amount of fruit and vegetables we buy, and condeming people on the lowest incomes to an increasingly unhealthy diet.

Detailed data compiled for the Guardian, which analysed the grocery buying habits of thousands of UK citizens, shows that consumption of fat, sugar and saturates has soared since 2010, particularly among the poorest households, despite the overall volume of food bought remaining almost static. Food experts and campaigners called for government action to address concerns the UK faces a sustained nutritional crisis triggered by food poverty, which is in turn storing up public health problems that threaten to widen inequalities between rich and poor households. Continue reading “Britain in ‘nutritional recession’ says Guardian” »

Bleak Christmas ahead, according to UK foodbank charity

5 November, 2012 | No comments

Figures released by the UK foodbank charity, the Trussell Trust, have revealed that a over 100,000 people have received emergency food from UK foodbanks in the first six months of the financial year to October, putting the Trust’s network of 270 foodbanks on track to provide emergency food supplies to more than 200,000 people in 2012-13. The numbers of people helped by the Trust doubled to 128,697 between 2010-11 and 2011-12 and are likely to double again. Three new foodbanks are opening every week to help meet the growing demand for emergency food in the UK.

The Trust, which runs the only national network of foodbanks in the UK, released its statistics to coincide with World Food Day in October. It fears that rises in food and fuel bills this winter could force more Britons into a crisis where they cannot afford to eat. The rising cost of food and fuel combined with static incomes, high unemployment and changes to benefits have seen increasing numbers turn to foodbanks over the last eighteen months, and the trend shows no signs of slowing down. Continue reading “Bleak Christmas ahead, according to UK foodbank charity” »

Industry seeks to weaken EU cap on crop-based fuels

16 October, 2012 | No comments

By Charlie Dunmore

REUTERS. Brussels, 14 October 2012. The European Commission is under strong pressure from industry groups and some of its own departments to weaken a planned cap on the use of biofuels made from food crops such as rapeseed and wheat.

Last month, the two EU Commissioners responsible for biofuel policy said they planned to limit the share of crop-based fuels in the transport sector to 5 percent up to 2020, which would effectively halve the bloc’s existing target.

That signalled a stunning U-turn in EU biofuel policy less than four years after the current target was agreed, and was hailed by campaign groups who question the climate benefits of biofuels and blame them for pushing up food prices.

But just days before the EU executive is set to formally propose the cap in draft legislation, some Commission departments are leading a last-minute push to water down the plans at the urging of biofuel producers and farmers. Continue reading “Industry seeks to weaken EU cap on crop-based fuels” »

Food or fuel?

13 August, 2012 | No comments

Ethanol Corn Crisis

Ethanol Corn Crisis

The food crisis continues its slow burn.

US Government has recently announced that cornfields covering an area larger than Belgium and Luxembourg have been abandoned due to the worst drought for half a century in the world’s largest agricultural exporter.

Shortages and price rises will have a knock-on effect on the cost of downstream corn, wheat and soya products, including chicken, meat and many processed foods.

Meanwhile, Washington continues to reject the idea of diverting corn from ethanol production (about 40% of US output goes to biofuel), causing widespread criticism of the Obama administration’s apparent priorities in the run-up to the presidential election. The UN is seeking to promote a global debate about biofuel policies and is pushing for government-mandated biofuel production targets to be dropped, while the US Department of Agriculture predicts record prices for a year to come and apparently shrugs its shoulders.

Food or fuel? It ought to be a no-brainer, but the G20 bloc of major economies (which includes the US, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Russia, Japan, China, India, Turkey, Indonesia and the EU, but not Spain, the Netherlands, Thailand or any Scandinavian nations – see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G-20_major_economies) is focusing on a plan to co-ordinate national responses to the global food price crisis, which has seen the cost of corn, soya and wheat rise by as much as 50 percent since June. Continue reading “Food or fuel?” »

DEFRA consultation on new sustainable development indicators

27 July, 2012 | No comments

Defra – the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs – has announced that it is developing a new set of sustainable development indicators “to make our progress towards a more sustainable future more transparent and easier for people to track.”

The Department is holding an informal consultation on the new measures for 12 weeks from 24th July 2012.

A Defra National Statistics release announcing the consultation can be found here http://sd.defra.gov.uk/new-sd-indicators/

A news story on the consultation can be found here http://www.defra.gov.uk/news/2012/07/24/sustainable-development-indicators/

Bad weather threatens food price stability

19 July, 2012 | No comments

Under the impact of extreme weather conditions in many parts of the world where our food is grown, prices seem likely to reach new peaks surpassing those seen during the 2007-2008 crisis which was marked by the worst food riots in many countries in decades. According to recent news from the US, which is the midst of the worst drought since 1956, corn and soyabean prices reached record highs in early July, at more than $8 and $17 a bushel respectively.

On July 19, the Financial Times reported that “Grains traders have been on high alert as US government data have pointed to sharply lower harvests,” and quoted US agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack as saying: “If I had a rain prayer or a rain dance I could do, I would do it.” While the US scorches, here in the UK weeks of torrential rain have played havoc with many crops, although global wheat and rice prices remain comparatively low. Continue reading “Bad weather threatens food price stability” »

Barclays wins ‘shame award’ for food price speculation

27 January, 2012 | No comments

Barclays Bank has today won a Public Eye ‘shame award’, for speculating on food prices. Barclays’ activity is fuelling hunger and poverty worldwide, says the World Development Movement, which nominated the bank.

The award was presented today in Davos, Switzerland, to coincide with the World Economic Forum.

Barclays is estimated to make up to £340 million a year from speculating in food ‘futures’ markets, making it the biggest UK player in the markets. Massive influxes of speculative money in food markets have been driving sharp price spikes, sending the cost of food soaring beyond the reach of the world’s poorest people. Continue reading “Barclays wins ‘shame award’ for food price speculation” »

« Older entries