OF&G :: The Blog

There’s some interesting reading around at the moment. These three are a mix of the positive and, in the case of the Telegraph article, the scarily negative:

• The Telegraph reports that an Australian conference has been told that the world’s “most precious resource”, soil, could be devastatingly depleted in just 60 years, at current rates of abuse…
• It seems environmental groups have had a positive impact on the GM debate in Bulgaria, gaining government support for protection measures for organic and sensitive areas as the country revisits its laws on the subject. This from organic-market.info…
• And from the same source as the Bulgaria story, we turn our attention to Wales, where companies are being invited to tender for the opportunity to write a report on consumer attitudes to organics, an area of research that can definitely benefit from improved insight.

Apologies for being a bit quiet on here this week. Too much to do, too little time.

The good news is, if you’re looking for something to read, you don’t have to put up with any random waffle from here because we can recommend some real content! Enjoy:

• Interesting report from John Vidal in The Guardian on the arguments against the ‘GM revolution’ so many short-sighted politicians seem hell bent on. This has been around since January 7, but if you haven’t seen it, well worth a read.
• Also from The Guardian, news that Green & Black’s is to go 100% Fairtrade.
• It looks like French homegrown organic cereal crops are on the decrease. This is not good news and we’re not doing brilliantly in this area ourselves… (courtesy of GreenPlanet.net)

After the jumper madness (<shameless plug alert>which you could still win, by the way), back to the business of keeping tabs on the world of organic.

Without further ado, here are some of the stories that have grabbed our attention today:

• Are apple trees responding defensively to pesticides? Natural Products reports on research suggesting organic food may have lower allergen levels…
• Bleak news from Sheepdrove, but we’re not sure it can be extrapolated across the organic sector. This piece from the FT is worth reading, if a little unfocused.
• Stats suggest organic food sales in Germany have stagnated, but weren’t actually as hard hit, percentage-wise, as non-organic. Some comparison possibly to what happened here, when retailers anticipated a drop, cut back on organic lines, then had to re-stock as consumer demand remained. Over to internationalsupermarketnews.com.

There are a couple of genuinely interesting articles that have caught our eyes in the last few days, which we’ll share below. Plus, one with some encouraging market data:

• Author and PR pro, Antonia Chitty, highlights on her Family Friendly Working blog some research done by OF&G licensees, Essential Trading. It has done a cost comparison on its products compared to similar ones bought from a supermarket. Apart from equitable pricing, Essential points out the depth of benefit to be found in its Fairtrade and organic ranges. Eye-opening stuff.
• The Global Post takes a close look at India’s “Organic Tea King”, Swaraj Kumar “Rajah” Banerjee, on how he led the way on the conversion of the Darjeeling tea plantations, the benefits this has brought to his land and workers and what he plans to do next.
• We know there are lies, damn lies and statistics, but all data is useful intelligence in one way or another. That’s why it’s worth casting your eye over this piece that indicates a continuing “boom” for organic produce around the world.
• In a slightly intriguing (perhaps due to its vagueness!) report, The Jakarta Post, tells us that groups on Bali have declared their home an “organic island”. Apparently they are backed by officials, though the gist of the story seems to be that it’s more an aspiration than new legislation. Still, it’s a very positive move that could lead to great benefits if it truly is made reality.

Here are some of today’s more interesting and useful news and opinion pieces we’ve been looking at:

• Saudia Arabia is in the process of setting up an organic farming structure and, judging by this piece, they’re going about it in all the right ways.
• The Evening Standard’s Jonathan Prynn notes Liz Hurley’s emphatic comments about the FSA report on organic food (of earlier this year) as she launched her own organic snack range.
• Farmers Weekly highlights the message from Natural England that environmental farming schemes must continue to be supported as the current arrangements approach the end of their life.

Time again to share some of the interesting/amusing/ridiculous things we’ve been reading today.

• First off, and of most significance, is the Farmers Weekly exclusive on yet another Rural Payments Agency cock-up, namely the loss of 100,000 farmers’ bank details.
• Very pleased to see some follow-up on the news from Jones Organic that we blogged last week about its expansion.
• Positive coverage here from Farming UK on the countrywide promotional initiative for organic food and farming. Possibly raised in our estimation by the inclusion of comments from our CEO…
• An article from the Daily Express about the ‘slump’ in organic food sales, based on evidently dubious figures from a third party looking for publicity (oops, did I say that out loud?).
• Back to Farming UK for some well-aimed rebuttal of the above Express story.

Still, we should probably cut the Daily Express some slack. It must be a nice change for them not to be focusing on house prices, immigrants or Princess Diana……..