- Industry hit by recession as sales fall 13% in a year
- Ambitious campaign aims for growth of 50%, or £1bn
Organic firms harness the power of superfoods to boost flagging fortunes | Business | The Guardian.
Category Archives: Other News
Organic firms harness the power of superfoods
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Minister Sargent Announces Outcome of Review of Organic Farming Scheme
DoA website Press release: Minister Sargent Announces Outcome of Review of Organic Farming Scheme.
Trevor Sargent TD, Minister for Food and Horticulture at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food today announced the outcome of the review of the Organic Farming Scheme, under which support is paid to farmers in the sector.
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Basket Case: What's Happening to Ireland's Food? by Philip Boucher-Hayes and Suzanne Campbell
Looks like an interesting book – here’s a review:
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Is organic worth it? – The Irish Times
Despite the recession and a belief that they’re more expensive, sales of organic food are up 16 per cent on last year – and that’s on top of price-cutting and increased competition, writes CONOR POPE
via Is organic worth it? – The Irish Times – Mon, Sep 14, 2009.
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Trevor Sargent talks about 'Grow It Yourself'
A network of GIY groups around the country will be a significant way of empowering communities. Even if it does cause me to neglect my own garden, this is a part of the important work which needs to be done to make us a self reliant and resiliant country where healthy diets will reduce obesity related sickness which is wasting 4 billion euro a year and causing otherwise avoidable stress and grief for many.
Also posted in Sustainability Comments closed
Bantry CSA Oat harvest and threshing
You can watch videos and see photos of the Bantry CSA Oat harvest and threshing on their website…
Also posted in Sustainability Comments closed
Potato and Tomato breeding / seed saving workshop
There’s a fantastic workshop coming up at Brown Envelope seeds in West Cork on 17th and 18th October. It’s with Tom Wagner of Tater Mater in the US.
Tom has been breeding potatoes and tomatoes for over 50 years. He has created hundreds of varieties including potatoes resistant to blight,
He will be talking about what an independent breeder of tomatoes and potatoes does and possible release of new lines of potatoes and tomatoes.
All the details and how to book are on the Brown Envelope Seeds blog…
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Vegetable seed sales go through the roof
Thanks to Madeline for this link:
EU: European consumers grow own vegetables enmass
The credit crisis is making the European consumer ingenious. More and more people are growing their own vegetables. Shown in research done by eBay, where the distribution pattern of vegetable seeds from January- March 2009 was compared with the previous year.
In Austria the sales of seeds rose by 17%, in Italy 30% and the French bought 32% more vegetable seeds. In Great Britain sales increased by 37%. The biggest risers have not yet been mentioned. In Ireland, Poland and Spain the sale of vegetable seeds rose respectively 125, 103 and 71%.
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Can We Feed Ourselves? « Food Culture West Cork
An excellent article from Ivan McCutcheon:
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Ballydehob Local Food Day
Last weekend we went along to Ballydehob local food day.
Ballydehob Local Food Day Poster
There were some great talks – including one on the Bantry Community Supported Agriculture Project, an inspiring talk from Peter Ward, information on bees and a workshop on how to garden without hurting your back.
Making apple juice
There were also displays of local apples (picture of apple juicer to the right) and lots of delicious food stalls.
Madeline of Brown Envelope seeds has a good write-up and wonders if An tIonad Glas might get involved in some research to test the effectivemeness of Alaska Giant compost tea. Watch this space and we’ll see what we can do with our student projects next year!