It's not easy being green but people are up to it

This press release has all kinds of interesting data from a survey of organic/green shoppers querying their buying habits in view of the slumping economy. One in six consumers reported buying fewer natural and organic foods because of economic pressures. From the news release on PR Newswire:

Consumer interest in buying green environmentally friendly products and healthy organic food remains high despite the tough economy and rising food and energy prices. A recent market research survey released by Mambo Sprouts Marketing showed that consumers are placing a priority on buying green and 2 in 3 or more are using coupons, stocking up on sales and cooking meals at home to stretch their grocery dollars.

Even with the faltering economy and rising food and energy prices, about 9 in 10 (88%) consumers reported buying the same (52%) or more (36%) green environmentally friendly products vs. 6 months ago. About 7 in 10 consumers are still willing to spend up to 20% more for "green" sustainable products. Only 1 in 6 (17%) respondents reported buying fewer natural and organic foods, as individual comments suggested that short-term savings would have long-term costs to their family's health and the environment.

Results showed fuel prices are driving dual aspects of consumer behavior. Respondents are shopping closer to home and combining trips to reduce gas expense as well as buying more local and seasonal produce for lower prices and to reduce food miles and their carbon footprint.

Natural and organic consumers are using a variety of money saving strategies to offset higher food and energy prices, including: 1) increased reliance on coupons and sales; 2) preparing more meals at home; 3) wasting less of their purchases; 4) preparing more meatless, vegetarian meals; and 5) buying less bottled water -- using filtered and tap instead.

Money saving topics of interest to 2 in 3 consumers included: finding healthy coupons and offers online (77%), saving money on organics (74%) and healthy kid's meals and snacks (65% of families). According to Mambo Sprouts, consumer commitment to green and organic products reflects the increased media attention and awareness of the health and environmental benefits of buying organic, locally-produced, sustainable food.

The Mambo Sprouts survey focused on interest in shopping for green and organic products in tough economic times. The survey was issued in April 2008 and completed by over 1,000 natural and organic consumers. The survey was fielded by Mambo Sprouts Marketing, a leader in natural and organic product marketing and promotions (http://www.mambosprouts.com).

Website: http://www.mambosprouts.com//

Not preaching to the choir

Japan has been resistant to GMO technology, but world events could be softening opposition. At least this speech by U.S. Ambassador J. Thomas Schieffer to the 8th annual Life Sciences Summit in Tokyo on April 21 makes the case that Japan should embrace biotech agriculture. With talk of food security, he may be pushing the right buttons for the Japanese psyche.


A long excerpt:

Why then is there such public resistance to so many of the advances made by science in agriculture? Why are some people so afraid of things like genetically modified organisms, or GMOs as they are called? Why do some people fear products produced more by the latest science than products produced by the oldest superstitions? Is it because science is moving aster than our ability to explain it? Maybe. It seems to me that all of us whether we are in or out of government have a duty to defend science and common sense against irrationality and ignorance. Science has a much better chance of giving us what we need than myth and conspiracy theories. Biotechnology allows farmers to plant crops that will be less susceptible to disease, drought, and pests and more receptive to fertilizers and weed control. That will translate into higher yields, greater productivity, and safer products for consumers. What will be so bad about that? For the last decade, the use of biotech crops has been increasing at double digit rates. In 2007, over 114 million hectares of biotech crops were grown in 23 countries around the world. The United States is the biggest biotech producer, followed by Argentina and Brazil. To put it into perspective, the area planted in biotech crops last year was almost three times the size of the total land area of Japan. The number of farmers planting biotech crops has surged past 12 million. Some of these farmers are American, Australian, Canadian, and European, but more than 90% are small, resource-poor farmers from the developing world. The use of biotech crops is massive, growing, and transcends a country's level of economic development. Why are farmers around the world using this technology? Because it works. It delivers higher yielding crops that are easier on the environment and most of all are safe for human consumption. Farmers are also able to use these crops to increase the profitability of their farms, and improving the financial well-being of farmers is a policy most governments - including Japan - like to follow. It might surprise you to learn that Japan is already the world's largest importer of biotech crops, because millions of tons of biotech grain are imported for use as animal feed and for vegetable oil. But many Japanese consumers are reluctant to have biotech foods "on the end of their chopsticks." In 2004 and 2005, the U.S. Embassy participated in a study about Japanese views on agricultural biotechnology. The results were disappointing. We already knew that Japanese consumers are concerned about food safety, but we learned that they fear biotech foods for "unknown" long-term health effects. Many Japanese consumers said they did not feel that biotechnology offered them any benefits. Even more worrying was the fact that Japanese consumers in the study were unsure if the Japanese government itself was favorably disposed toward biotechnology. One factor that keeps biotech foods off Japanese shelves at the supermarket is the government requirement that they be labeled as "GMO." So far, no Japanese food manufacturer or retailer has been willing to test the market for GMO-labeled, consumer-ready food. We are hopeful that new products, like oils made from grains with health benefits, will change this. Biotech soybeans, for instance, enable more foods to be trans-fat free. Biotech soybeans are also rich in omega-3 oils which the human body cannot make. Studies show that a diet rich in omega-3 fats will reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. While these new products will have to be labeled as "GMO," we hope they will change consumer's existing views on biotechnology. Biotech crops also have the ability to combat malnutrition and disease. According to the World Health Organization, dietary deficiencies in vitamin A, iodine, iron, or zinc, can be major sources of disease and death. A lack of vitamin A alone causes up to 500,000 children a year to go blind. Consumption of biotech crops like "golden rice" could prevent that from happening. Right here in Japan a team of government, university, and company scientists has developed a rice that can act as a cholera vaccine. This kind of biotechnology could reduce suffering and save millions of lives. The U.S. Census Bureau predicts that the world's population will grow by 50% to 9 billion souls in 2042. This will represent a tripling of the earth's population in less than a century. Higher incomes and urbanization are leading to major changes in dietary consumption. The world food economy is increasingly driven by a shift toward livestock products. We are seeing huge increases in per-capita consumption of fish, meat, and milk products, especially in Asia. This is not bad; it is good. But we must plan for its ultimate impact. It is likely that an additional 1 billion metric tons of cereal grains will be needed annually by 2030, which is a 50% increase over production in 2000. World cereal demand will double by 2050 with developing countries in Asia accounting for half of the increase in global demand. How will all these billions be fed? Through technology. We must employ it to raise more food on less land, so that we will minimize our environmental footprint. Without an increase in farm productivity, an additional 1.6 billion hectares of arable land would have to come under the plow by 2050. If that happened, it would have catastrophic consequences for the environment and make a reduction in greenhouse gases almost unachievable. Feeding people without destroying the environment will be a challenge. Mankind needs all the tools that are available, and none are better than biotechnology. Japan already imports more than 60% of its caloric intake. Food security is and should be of great concern, but Japan is just one part of a much bigger Asian market. The longer Japanese consumers are uneasy about biotechnology, the longer they will face the possibility of being shut out of world markets, and that is the essence of what good food security is all about.

More bee deaths

Bees keeping dying, defying hopes that a rash of bee death/colony collapse headlines we experienced in the recent past are merely sensationalistic accounts that somehow got it wrong. This time the story is from Italy, and here is the link to the USDA FAS report:

Italian beekeepers and environmentalists are once again sounding the alarm regarding the unprecedented deaths of more than 40,000 bees over the last few months. In 2007, the population dropped by 50 percent. Industry representatives maintain that the decline in the bee population is primarily due to the use of pesticides. According to UNAAPI, Italian National Union of Beekeepers, the latest disaster to hit the nation's honeybee population has coincided with the planting of maize. While drought and disease could also be factors, the key suspect remains insecticide and the use of artificial forms of nicotine called neonicotinoids. Neonicotinoids is used for seed treatment. It is estimated that in 2007, approximately 200,000 beehives disappeared in Italy causing a massive drop in honey output, with agricultural damages over 250 million Euro. The Italian regions most affected by bee deaths are Piedmont and Lombardy, however, there have been bee deaths also in Veneto, Emilia Romagna, Tuscany and the center-north regions. During the 1990’s France severely limited the use of neonicotinoids following a large loss of bees. However, Italy has yet to ban/limit the use of neonicotinoids. The Italian Ministry of Agriculture is presently reviewing the possibility of issuing a moratorium on neonicotinoids, including a constant monitoring of the situation.
Meanwhile, UNAAPI has also urged the Italian Government to petition the EU for a European assessment on the impact of chemical substances on bees. According to UNAAPI, Italy accounts for 33% of the total amount of insecticide used each year in the EU, but has less than 10% of EU farm land. The impact of recent bee deaths on agriculture in Italy could be very serious. According to Italy's leading agricultural union, Coldiretti, a third of all farming
produce depends on insect pollination, of which 80% is carried out by bees. Coldiretti has noted that, “Should bees disappear it would not only destroy Italy's 25 million Euro honey industry but also affect most fruit crops, including apples, pears, almonds, peaches, kiwi, chestnuts, tomatoes, zucchini, soy, cherries, melons and citrus fruit.” The Italian bee industry is worth 1.6 billion Euro annually, with each hive generating about 1,240 Euro. Coldiretti has even gone so far as to ask the Italian government to revoke accords to test nine crops created with genetically modified organisms (GMOs), claiming that use of GMOs could be contributing to the demise of the native bee population.

Mapping the grapevine genome

This USDA FAS report describes the successful mapping of the grapevine genome by Italian and French scientists. It is the first fruit and the second crop, after rice, to have its genome mapped. More from the USDA report:

Italian Agriculture Minister Paolo De Castro praised Italian and French researchers for successfully mapping the grapevine genome. De Castro is quoted as saying: "This is a great achievement in the field of plant biology. The first analysis of a grapevine's genome can now be applied to developing ones that are resistant to disease, reducing the need to use chemical pesticides." Italy and France signed an agreement in Paris in August 2005 to conduct the six million Euro, joint research program into a vine's genome. The goals of the project were: to boost the quality of wines and to protect grapevines from pests, making them better for consumers' health. The results of the joint Italo-French project were published in the August 26, 2007 edition of the magazine Nature. The project involved researchers from various Italian universities working under a national consortium and the Institute for Applied Genomics (IGA). The French researchers came from the National Genoscope Center and the Institute National per Recherche Agronomique (National Institute for Agronomic Research). According to project chief Enrico Pe', from the University of Milan, the scheme did not involve genetically modified organisms, which remain highly controversial in Europe. Other goals of the Italo-French project were to increase the grapevine’s tolerance of salty and dry conditions, so that grapes can be grown on a wider geographical scale; to produce stronger vines, reducing pruning requirements and loss due to extreme weather conditions; and to delve into the mechanisms of plant reproduction so that vines can be produced in all kinds of conditions. This latest breakthrough could create a foundation for improving quality traits of currently cultivated grapevines and establish new varieties that are more capable of adapting to the soil and weather conditions of specific wine-growing regions. The European wine industry is currently undergoing a full-scale reform of the common wine market in an attempt to revamp what has become an ailing sector. (Please see FAS Italy GAIN report IT6005 for the Wine Report). World wine retail sales are expected to increase over the next decade, with most of the growth expected for wine selling at more than $5 per bottle. Therefore, improving the quality of wine is seen as essential by European wine makers in order to maintain their competitiveness. The grapevine is the first fruit plant (cultivated for both fruit and beverage) and the second crop plant, after rice, to have its’ genome sequenced. Increased knowledge of the biological mechanisms of the grapevine will allow targeted approaches to reduce the number and impact of parasites, which could enable a sustainable, environmentally sound, farming policy. Results of the study can be viewed on line at the following websites:
http://www.vitisgenome.it
http://wwwappliedgenomics.org
http://www.genoscope.cns.fr/vitis

Update - Kate Cyrul of Sen. Harkin's staff

From Kate Cyrul today, word that Agriculture Secretary Schafer and Deputy Secretary Conner both joined members for a closed door meeting. Here is what Kate said for attribution:

“The Chairman of the conference in conjunction with principal farm bill negotiators in the Senate and House postponed today’s conference meeting to allow time to continue negotiating. They asked USDA officials to join their discussions and are pleased that USDA demonstrated a willingness to come up to the Hill and negotiate with farm bill leaders. We are working to find common ground with the White House so that we can make this farm bill a reality.”

Press conference - President Bush

It sure seems like President Bush either wants no part of a new farm bill or is eager to veto it. From the press conference of President Bush this morning:




Americans are concerned about rising food prices. Unfortunately, Congress is considering a massive, bloated farm bill that would do little to solve the problem. The bill Congress is now considering would fail to eliminate subsidy payments to multi-millionaire farmers. America's farm economy is thriving, the value of farmland is skyrocketing, and this is the right time to reform our nation's farm policies by reducing unnecessary subsidies. It's not the time to ask American families who are already paying more in the check-out line to pay more in subsidies for wealthy farmers. Congress can reform our farm programs, and should, by passing a fiscally responsible bill that treats our farmers fairly, and does not impose new burdens on American taxpayers.


Later....

Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like to ask you about an area --

THE PRESIDENT: You're welcome.

Q -- where food prices and energy come together; that's biofuels.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

Q The World Bank says about 85 percent of the increase in corn price since 2002 is due to biofuel -- increased demand for biofuels. And your Secretary of State said that -- indicated yesterday that she thought that might be part of the problem. Do you agree with that? And what can the United States do -- what more can the United States do to help make food more affordable around the world?

THE PRESIDENT: Actually, I have a little different take: I thought it was 85 percent of the world's food prices are caused by weather, increased demand and energy prices -- just the cost of growing product -- and that 15 percent has been caused by ethanol, the arrival of ethanol.

By the way, the high price of gasoline is going to spur more investment in ethanol as an alternative to gasoline. And the truth of the matter is it's in our national interests that our farmers grow energy, as opposed to us purchasing energy from parts of the world that are unstable or may not like us.

In terms of the international situation, we are deeply concerned about food prices here at home and we're deeply concerned about people who don't have food abroad. In other words, scarcity is of concern to us. Last year we were very generous in our food donations, and this year we'll be generous as well. As a matter of fact, we just released about $200 million out of the Emerson Trust as part of a ongoing effort to address scarcity.

One thing I think that would be -- I know would be very creative policy is if we -- is if we would buy food from local farmers as a way to help deal with scarcity, but also as a way to put in place an infrastructure so that nations can be self-sustaining and self-supporting. It's a proposal I put forth that Congress hasn't responded to yet, and I sincerely hope they do.

No paid sick days in foodservice - bad news

Here is a blog post flagged by Doug Powell of the Food Safety Network about how company policy can work against food safety policy.From the post:

Last week, some 432 people became ill after eating at a Chipotle restaurant in Kent, Ohio because of a norovirus believed to have been brought to work by a sick employee who did not have paid sick days. To highlight the importance of paid sick days to the public health and encourage Ohio legislators to support the paid sick days legislation pending in the Ohio General Assembly, advocates will deliver "Burrito-Grams" (Chipotle burritos bearing messages) to the members of the Commerce and Labor Committee, urging them to support the Ohio Healthy Families Act, HB536.

Attorney's are cashing in against food service outlets that do not have paid sick days for their employees:

This Germ Central article leads with a Carrabba's restaurant incident in Michigan...

"Key in prevention...is rethinking sick-leave policies."

"Attorneys who specialize in food-borne illness complaints, however, contend that established sick-leave policies could offer restaurants some protection in the event of a lawsuit."

"Dave Babcock, an attorney with Marler Clark, a Seattle-based law firm that represented plaintiffs in the 1993 E. coli outbreak at Jack in the Box, pointed to a 1996 norovirus outbreak at the Reno Hilton in Nevada. In that case, a jury awarded six victims punitive damages of $25 million, in part because the casino did not have a sick-leave policy."

marlerclark.com a law firm discusses how an ill food service worker contaminated lettuce for sub sandwiches served by Blimpies at a school luncheon.

6 People with Hepatitis A Ate at Chipotle in La Mesa, California

In most hepatitis A cases, food served to the sickened patrons was contaminated with the feces of a food handler who had hepatitis A. In the case of a restaurant like Chipotle, the most likely scenario was that a sickened food handler contaminated food while cooking or serving the food.

Conference postponed!

SUBJECT TO THE CALL OF THE CHAIR, HARKIN ANNOUNCES FARM BILL CONFERENCE MEETING POSTPONED

WASHINGTON D.C. – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate-House Conference Committee on the farm bill, today postponed a meeting for all Senate and House farm bill conferees. Further details will be announced soon.

Truckers protest

Chile lemon report - USDA FAS

Chile expects another strong export year for lemons to the U.S, says this USDA FAS report.


Another good season is expected for lemon producers in Chile. Industry sources have indicated that as a result of a significant fall in the production in California and Arizona the market in the United States has become very attractive for Chilean lemon exports. Production in the States is expected to be lower close to 30 percent when compared to the previous year which will have a positive effect on international prices. As a result of the high demand and international prices, the United States increased their lemon exports to Japan, Canada, Australia and South Korea creating a deficit in the domestic supply which Chilean producers expect to fill partially together with Mexico and South Africa. The United States is Chiles main lemon export market in volume with 59 percent of total exports, followed by Japan which is on the other hand Chiles main export market in value. Lemons are harvested year-round in Chile, with the bulk of output from June through December. The main varieties are Sutil, Eureka and Genova. No official production or consumption data are maintained for lemons. Based on industry reports, we estimate that lemon production in Chile will keep expand slightly over the next years based on new plantings that are taken place. In addition, some older orchards have been replaced with higher-density plantings. But as lemons are sensitive to frost some production variations are observed year after year. The industry expects a slight fall in production for CY2008 as a result of frost in some important production areas during the winter (June through August) of 2007.
TK: Production and exports are projected about the same as last year, when the total production was near 47,000 metric tons and exports to the U.S. were more than 27,000 metric tons.

Veggie Bus tour spreading the gospel of sustainability

The gospel of sustainability is taking to the road - not in a chartreuse VW bus, but pretty close...Check out this press release about the "Veggie Bus" tour:

In an eco-configured 1984 Van Hool Tour Coach fueled by recycled vegetable oil, an eclectic and inspired crew is traveling around the United States to educate consumers about conscious living. These "green missionaries" represent the Conscious Goods Alliance (CGA), a group of committed businesses who believe in promoting conscious lifestyles, products and brands, as well as consumers' ability to vote with their dollars.

Started by Stephen Brooks and Zak Zaidman, founders of Kopali Organics, the CGA is now in its third year, touring with 15 conscious companies. "The CGA bus tour generates an incredible amount of buzz around its sponsors and their products, as well as introducing people to alternative energy, sustainable materials and conscious commerce," said Stefan Schachter, co-founder of EcoTeas, one of the tour sponsors.

TK: Look for the bus at your local Whole Foods and Wild Oats. here is more schedule info at http://consciousgoodsalliance.com/