Thursday 30 September 2010

FAO and Climate Change Blog




Read the latest post from the FAO and Climate Change Blog on Millennium Development Goals and climate change.


GMO Corporations - corporate lobbying - corporations within actual corridors of power.



Grabbed this from Twitter

EFSA President a director of ILSI. ILSI's backed by world's largest food, tobacco & #GMO firms, incl. #Monsanto. She's gotta go!!!

EFSA President a director of ILSI. World Health Organization harshly criticized ILSI for its lobbying & restricted its WHO access. #gmo

EFSA is "the EU risk assessment body for food and feed safety. It provides independent scientific advice to risk managers".

ILSI is a "nonprofit, worldwide organization whose mission is to improve public health and well-being by engaging academic, government and industry scientists in a neutral forum to advance scientific understanding in the areas related to nutrition, food safety, risk assessment, and the environment. ILSI receives its funding from its industry members [my emphasis], governments, and foundations."

This is how the world works - GMO corporations - corporate lobbying - corporations within actual corridors of power.



Heifer International in India (Heifer’s mission is to work with communities to end hunger and poverty and care for the earth)



I'm a big fan of the work of
Heifer International and I follow them on Twitter at @Heifer

"Heifer’s mission is to work with communities to end hunger and poverty and care for the earth.

By giving families a hand-up, not just a hand-out, we empower them to turn lives of hunger and poverty into self-reliance and hope.

With gifts of livestock and training, we help families improve their nutrition and generate income in sustainable ways. We refer to the animals as “living loans” because in exchange for their livestock and training, families agree to give one of its animal’s offspring to another family in need. It’s called Passing on the Gift – a cornerstone of our mission that creates an ever-expanding network of hope and peace."

Recently they've being doing some excellent work in India.

In April 2010, Heifer International staff and a team from non-profit service organization, BLT Helps, traveled to Rajasthan, India to witness Heifer’s work in action.

Documented by renowned photographer Brigitte Lacombe, the photographs and videos in this collection provide a glimpse into the lives of the people who are working diligently to change the course of the future for their communities.

If you are a webmaster or a blogger (with more time than me!) there are some great assets from this trip, including Lacombe's photos, videos featuring women from Rajasthan, interviews, articles, banners and more.

All of this can be found at: http://www.heiferoutreach.com and any blogger or webmaster is free to use these assets

If you are able to post any of the aforementioned content, you’ll be helping to turn the spotlight on the importance of self-sustaining agriculture, in both India and around the globe, to lift communities out of poverty.

If it's not too much trouble, please send Mike Wierzenski a link to where the content is placed on your site. You can reach him at mwierzenski AT bltomato.com

For more information, you can visit the following links:

Gilroy Farms, NSW, Australia (5000 acres; dryland broadacre cropping)

Ben Boughton helps run his family's dryland broadacre farm in northern New South Wales, Australia.

My wife being Australian (in fact she's off to extend our European summer by taking our two boys for three weeks to see family and friends in Australia late October) it's always a pleasure to feature Aussie farmers.

Especially from NSW, because she's a Wagga girl - a big farming town in NSW. (Called Wagga Wagga, it's so good they named it twice, but beyond the joke it means 'place of many crows' in the local aboroginal language.)

But back to Ben. He's been updating a page for each crop with photos as it grows.

Here's the link to Ben's Gilory Farms about 50 km of Moree in Northern NSW.

They have 5,000 acres of dryland cropping, including Faba beans, barley, wheat and chickpeas.

It's a simple blog, but gives one a good impression of dryland farming and the vagaries of the Australian weather.

Wednesday 29 September 2010

Seed Living - home grown worldwide

If GMO isn't your thing, you're going to love this.

I don't normally post about specifically commercially blogs, but I'm making an exception because this is a pay what you can website.

Anna-Monique West's family’s new website is called
SeedLiving and it's billed as

"Your source for buying, selling and swapping seeds and live plants".

We're talking open pollinated seeds and live plants.

It is entirely a pay what you can website.

Users may also post news & tips for free as well as events.

The site is international although they are based in Calgary.

Their goal is to provide an online community for those dedicated to biodiversity to learn from each other and possibly gain another source of revenue.



Fr. Peter's Environmental Notes

I have such a back log of correspondence concerning Farm Blogs from Around the World, I am embarrassed at how rude I've been to the many people who have written to me, bringing my attention to wonderful new farming blogs.

In my defense I have been writing a rather large novel over the last nine months, which is now with my literary agent and should be about to go out to publishers. (For more information please visit www.ianwalthew.com)

OK, following on from my last post I've been pleased to be introduced to a terrifically well-written, well researched blog called Fr. Peter's Environmental Notes



Based in the U.K it's

"a resource for moral & environmental thoughts from a Christian viewpoint"

Father Pete's hope is that this blog "!will be of use to anyone who is concerned about the present situation of Climate Chaos and wants to do whatever they can in order to help to ease the problem."

You don't have to be a Christian to enjoy this blog - it's well written, well-researched and thoroughly deserving of a visit.

"ALL OF CREATION GOD GIVES HUMANKIND TO USE. IF THIS PRIVILEGE IS MISUSED, GOD'S JUSTICE PERMITS CREATION TO PUNISH HUMANITY". Hildegarde von Bingen (1098-1179)

Father Pete also has another blog of simple money saving D.I.Y ideas that cover projects from cooking to gardening, and which he adds to a regular basis.

Fr. Peter's DIY Environmental Ideas


"TO INVENT, YOU NEED A GOOD IMAGINATION AND A PILE OF JUNK," so said Thomas Edison. I am sure that God did not intend us to sit at a desk for eight hours a day, to eat refined food and ready meals and never stretch our creative potential. God is a creator, we are made in His image, therefore we are also creators. The important thing when using our creative ability, in garden, kitchen or workshop is not to expect success every time but only once in a blue moon!