Agriculture in the national news - June 3

Advisers walk out in fury over £500,000 GM food PR exercise

An official public consultation into genetically modified food has been thrown into chaos following protests that it has been rigged.

The exercise by the Food Standards Agency could now be axed following the resignation of two leading advisers working on it.

The two academics said they were not prepared to support a proposal that would spend £500,000 of public money on a spin exercise to promote so-called ‘Frankenstein Food’.

Daily Mail
http://tinyurl.com/38fcddo


Resilient rural communities will weather harshest storm

Rowrah and Boot are about 12 miles and a world apart. Derrick Bird came from the ribbon of small anonymous industrial towns that form the hard edge of west Cumbria.

But his body was found in woods in Wainwright country, a rural sweep of fells, bracken and whitewashed pubs.

The Times
http://tinyurl.com/2376zkw


Farmer in new row over advertising signs

THE owner of a visitor centre and restaurant in north Northumberland has been ordered to remove a sign mounted on a horse drawn cart which had been promoting the business.

It is the latest twist in a long-running saga which has both frustrated and infuriated Barn at Beal owner Rod Smith in equal measure.

Berwick Advertiser
http://tinyurl.com/28kqzb3


UN urges global move to meat and dairy-free diet

A global shift towards a vegan diet is vital to save the world from hunger, fuel poverty and the worst impacts of climate change, a UN report said today.

As the global population surges towards a predicted 9.1 billion people by 2050, western tastes for diets rich in meat and dairy products are unsustainable, says the report from United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) international panel of sustainable resource management.

The Guardian
http://tinyurl.com/35bpald


Bid for greater role in Brussels talks

The Scottish Government is to ask Britain’s new coalition administration for an enhanced role in agricultural negotiations in Europe.

It wants to attend meetings it has previously been denied access to and fight for the changes it wants to farm policy.

Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead yesterday revealed the move at Scotsheep, where he also said the inquiry led by Brian Pack into the future of Scotland’s agricultural support regimes had been granted an extension to deliver its findings.

Press and Journal
http://tinyurl.com/25s2azn


Grass inferno near Corsham may have been arson

A farmer told how he watched firefighters tackle a massive blaze that could have been started deliberately – costing him £17,000.

The fire started in a field of elephant grass at Manor Farm, near Corsham, on Tuesday evening, forcing the closure of Park Lane and Allen Road.

This is Wiltshire
http://tinyurl.com/26tz8st

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