Eat and Drink
Fairtrade Goods Go From Strength To Strength Despite Economic Downturn
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Written by Elizabeth Evers   
Recent figures from the FLO (Fairtrade Labeling Organizations International) reveal that worldwide sales of Fairtrade products have shot up by a massive 22% during the last economically-challenging year.
 
Organic labeling explained
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Written by Elizabeth Evers   

Organic certification serves to regulate, as well as to facilitate, the sale of organic products. Having an organic label assures product quality and prevents misrepresentation to consumers – it also helps to promote organic produce as it becomes more and more mainstream.


 
Living Proof of Value in Bee Products
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Written by Robert Lewis   
ImageBee products pioneer shows the real life value of bee pollen products in turning 99 this week.

Claude Stratford is the aspirational founder of iconic New Zealand natural products company Comvita. Having started with his first beehive in 1921 at age 11, he is still passionate to this day about maintaining his health - he continues to take bee pollen and manuka honey - and is known to help supply his neighbour retirees at his Te Puke home.

Having suffered ill-health as a child, and being in and out of hospital, his health dramitically improved when he discovered the benefits of taking products from the hive. This led to a lifelong quest to create the best natural remedies from bee-related products.

From being a sickly child, he didn't retire until the grand age of 95. Even at 99, Claude still demonstrates a thirst for learning and can often be found with his head buried in a pile of books reading up on the latest findings in natural health. In the past, he's also been known to call upon Comvita staff to get his hands on raw ingredients for experimenting with.

He opened the first Comvita shop just before Christmas in 1976, selling manuka honey, propolis, bee pollen, royal jelly, and Claude's own special recipe Herbal Elixir (which is still a best seller in winter today).

It is due to this long history and commitment to product quality and purity that is part of the DNA of Comvita, that The New Zealand Honey Shop is proud to help you also use these bee products. A heritage that goes back to 1921, and real life value in the products as shown by 99 year old Claude.

You can see the results of Claude's passion in the Comvita range here:

Comvita manuka honey
 
Chicken Out: End Supermarket Poultry Price Wars
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Rating: 3.0/5 (31 votes cast)

Written by Ecotivity   

 Image

Roast chicken is an iconic dish in British culture.  It probably ranks close to the top of most people's list of favourite foods.  It may be affordable for the masses, but it is also fit for a king. 

 

But how many of you know about the life your fresh supermarket chickens lead before they reach your table?  That their short, intensively farmed indoor existence is managed like a factory production line, to ensure the big retailers can sell them to you for as little as ?2 a bird?  Is that all the life an animal, born and raised to feed us, is worth?

 

I would like to see the industry 'de-intensify' by lowering stocking densities and including environmental enrichment programmes in all its chicken sheds.  Existing models for this reform include the RSPCA Freedom Foods system.  I believe that this, or similar audited systems very close to it, should be the new minimum welfare standard for indoor-reared broiler chickens. Supermarkets and fast food outlets should adopt these higher welfare systems as their new baseline standard, and should in turn insist that all their suppliers adopt them.

 

I would like the supermarkets to end their poultry price wars, as they put pressure on farmers to maximise the intensity of their operations.  I also urge them to pay a fair price to farmers, for higher welfare birds, and to support them with clear labelling so that consumers can understand what they are paying for.

 

Above all, I would like to see more birds reared outdoors, on assured free range and organic systems.  I believe this is the natural and appropriate way for a chicken to live. 

 

I also need you to register your support on this website .  We need thousands of signatures to convince supermarkets, farmers, government regulators and anyone else involved in this unacceptable business that they must change.

 


 


Tags:  campaign supermarkets farming animal welfare

 
GM Seeds, Say No
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Rating: 2.7/5 (31 votes cast)

Written by Ecotivity   

Image1.4 billion farmers in the world depend on farmed saved seeds to feed themselves and their families. If terminator gets the go-ahead, it would spell the end of this practice of saving and replanting seeds - and so take control of meeting their own food needs out of farmers' hands.

 

Terminator spells trouble for peasant farmers throughout the world because they will no longer be able to save seeds to re-use from one harvest to the next. Many poor farmers cannot afford to buy seeds each year. Instead, they save, swap and share seeds that have been developed over generations. If terminator seeds are spread into the environment farmers will be forced to buy new seeds every time, making them poorer - and the big seed companies richer. Far from helping to tackle poverty, it will increase economic injustice and add to the burdens of those already living in hardship.

 

In May 2008 European governments will meet at the Convention on Biodiversity in Bonn to discuss Terminator Seeds. We want them to uphold and strengthen the ban they made in 2000. Poor farmers in the developing world need your help to make this happen. Here are some ways you can help persuade the British Government to do the right thing:

 

Progressio , an international development charity working for justice and the eradication of poverty, would like you to write to your MP, asking them to lobby the UK government to support and strengthen the ban.

 

They have produced a seed packet  and seed saver website to raise awareness about the threat that Terminator technology poses to poor farmers in the developing world and to the environment. The seed packet contains the letter to send to your MP.

 

Order seed packets by sending the seedsaver campaign team an email now or by calling 0207 354 0883.

 

Alternatively: Send them an email or letter, using the contents of the word document below or express your concerns in your own words. You can use the writetothem website to contact your MP by email

 



Tags:  campaign gm farming charity action

 
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