PLANET IN PERIL

Huffington Post Citing a potential threat to public health, the Food and Drug Administration moved Wednesday toward phasing out the use of some antibiotics in animals processed for meat. Details here. PigsKichiroSato/AstdPrs.jpg

Winnipeg Free Press Prairie farm groups frustrated by delays in shipping grain this fall want the federal government to do more to penalize rail companies that don't deliver crops in a timely way. Details here. Surplus grain stored on  a  Manitoba  field. PLT stock photo.

The Guardian It's 100 years since Fritz Haber found a way to synthesise ammonia – helping to feed billions but also to kill millions, and contributing to the pollution of the planet… Details here.

FAO calls for “innovative thinking” to measure and cut global food loss and waste along the food chain. Details here.

This year’s World Food Prize will be awarded to top executives at Monsanto and Syngenta for creating GE crops.  GE crops are about feeding the profits of biotech giants, not the world’s hungry. 

Fast-tracked Legislation to Allow Sterile Seeds Would Harm Farmers, Food Security. Full story here.

United Nations Conference on Trade & Development The world needs "a rapid and significant shift from conventional, monoculture-based and high external-input-dependent industrial production towards mosaics of sustainable, regenerative production systems."  Full story here.

UN Conference on Trade & Development Wake up before it is too late: Make agriculture truly sustainable now for food security in a changing climate. Full story here. Read Guardian story here.

Food and Agriculture Organization - United Nations Discarded cucumbers. PLT photo Rome - The waste of a staggering 1.3 billion tonnes of food per year is not only causing major economic losses but also wreaking significant harm on the natural resources that humanity relies upon to feed itself, says a new FAO report. Full story here.

ALJAZEERA AMERICA A recent spate of contamination outbreaks highlights safety challenges of transnational food distribution. Details here. Organic veggies, grown and eaten safely in Manitoba, Canada. PLT photo.

National Farmers Union Two farmers have formally asked the Ontario government to carry out an environmental assessment of genetically modified (GM) alfalfa before the seed is sold in the province. Today, they launched an application under Ontario’s Environmental Bill of Rights, the first ever request relating to the issue of GM crops.

National Geographic The pesticides blamed for killing at least 25 children in India are widely used around the world, including North America, and health experts have raised safety concerns about this class of chemicals in the past. Full story here. Related:  Are Canada's Pesticide Regulators on the Take?

Heidi Moore - The Guardian Just when you think Congress can't get any dumber, it crafts a $1tn farm bill that harms the poor and promotes unhealthy food. Full story here. PLT: Thank goodness there are still some people in mass media who tell it like it is!

Mother Jones Pesticide sprayer on a farm in Manitoba, Canada. PLT photo. Industrial farming has played a part in sucking this critical element out of our soil. Details here.

thestar.com The horse “passport” Canada relies on to keep toxic meat off dinner tables around the world is open to fraud and error, a Star investigation has found, confirming the findings of an international audit. Full story here. PLT photo.

Canadian Biological Action Network Urgent Action Alert - Deadline Thursday May 23, 2013 Click here to send your letter instantly The National Farmers Union asks you to submit your letter to stop the significant regulatory changes to Seed Variety Registration in Canada. These changes will: Details here.

UN News Service: According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), every year 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted or lost. This volume of waste is more than the total net production of Sub-Saharan Africa. At the same time, 1 in every 7 people in the world go to bed hungry and more than 20,000 children under the age of 5 die daily from hunger.  See more at:   PLT photo.

Elizabeth  May All around the world, governments are mobilizing resources to both reduce greenhouse gas emissions while adapting to the climate crisis. Everywhere around the world that is except Canada. Details here.

National Geographic Ducks in a nutrient-rich river. PLT photo If we don’t watch out, agriculture could destroy our planet. Here’s how to grow all the food we need with fewer chemicals. Details here. Related articles: Field of Nightmares -  Ottawa continues to embrace the widespread use of Roundup on Canadian farms by letting corporate seduction trump scientific evidence. Ditches of Destruction  -  Manitoba’s “war on weeds” comes complete with powerful herbicides, questionable spraying practices and collateral damage.

The Guardian Global warming is exacerbating political instability as tensions brought on by food insecurity rise. With research suggesting the issue can only get worse we examine the risks around the world. Details here. Manitoba corn following a freak frost; Aug.'07 PLT photo PLT: As a Canadian, I'm getting quite tired of coverage such as this, concentrating on the US as centre of the universe, then radiating outward in any direction except Canada! The only reference I can find in this entire article to my country is this: "Canada will be a winner, as crops move north." Say what?   I've lived most of my 70+ years on the Canadian prairies & the only crop "moving north" that I'm aware of is a rare disease of canola, purportedly carried north on the wind and thriving due to drought. (Kuz we had drought here, too, last summer!)  As I look out my window this mid-April day, I see mounds of snow with more forecast. And I hear on the