PLANET IN PERIL

Manitoba Co-Operator A combination of multiple computer models of weather’s impact on wheat warns of a six per cent dent in world wheat production for every degree Celsius in temperature increase. Story here. Wheatfield.  Larry Powell - PinP photo.

the guardian Combining wheat in Manitoba, Canada.  Larry Powell PinP photo. Production of wheat – one of the world’s most important staple crops – is set to fall by 6% for every 1C rise in temperature, say scientists. Story here.

UN News Centre Without global efforts to respond to a fungal disease affecting banana production, the $36 billion global industry, which provides a source of income or food to some 400 million people around the world, is under threat, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization ( FAO ). Story here.

Winnipeg Free Press WASHINGTON - Access to Canada's tightly controlled agriculture market is among the main remaining hurdles to a historic 12-country free-trade deal, the U.S. administration said Thursday. Story here.

UN News Centre  Larry Powell P in P photo. The world wastes enough food to feed an estimated two billion people, the United Nations said today.  Story here.

Our Food Future The benefits of agroecological methods are extremely broad, from the human health benefits of eating food grown in healthy and biologically diverse soils, to drastically reduced input costs for farmers... Story here. Related: The Solution Is the Soil: How Organic Farming Can Feed the World and Save the Planet  A farmers' market on the farm.  Larry Powell P in P photo.

Common Dreams On the day before the People’s Climate March —what’s being billed as the largest mass climate demonstration in history—the Organic Consumers Association  (OCA) hosted a day of workshops as part of the NYC Climate Convergence . The final workshop was entitled “Now that the U.S. supports Climate-Smart Agriculture, is reform of our climate-dumb food system possible?” Story here. P in P  photo. OCA’s message? Industrial agriculture is one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions—and its counterpart, organic regenerative farming and ranching, offers not only a way to reverse global warming, but a way to have better soil, better health, more justice for farmers, and a proven path for feeding the world. 

Ecologist Agricultural pests - viruses, bacteria, fungi, blights, mildews, rusts, beetles, nematodes, flies, mites, spiders and caterpillars - are spreading thanks to trade, travel and global warming, writes Tim Radford. The world faces a dire future of increased crop losses and growing insecurity. Story here.

Winnipeg Free Press Good weather for ducks. PLT photo. MELITA, Man. - Up to 400,000 hectares of farmland could go unseeded in Manitoba this year because soggy conditions and relentless rain are making it impossible for farmers to get on their fields. Details here.

IPS An estimated one billion small farmers scratching out a living growing diverse crops and raising animals in developing countries represent the key to maintaining food production in the face of hotter temperatures and drought, especially in the tropical regions, says Sarah Elton, author of the book, “Consumed: Food for a Finite Planet.” Full story here. Backyard chickens on a small,  organic farm in Manitoba. PLT photo.

Food & Agriculture Organization Weather and Black Sea tensions push prices to ten-month highs. Details here. Blight, spawned by torrential rain, destroyed  this & many other "backyard"  tomato crops in western Canada  a few years ago. PLT photo.

Huffington Post HALIFAX - A U.S. company hoping to produce genetically modified salmon eggs in Canada has also applied to the federal government to sell its fish for human consumption.  Full story here.

FoodTank.com Family Farmers conserve environmental resources, protect biodiversity, and increase incomes  while feeding nine billion people by 2050. Details here. A farmer's market in Regina,  Saskatchewan, Canada. PLT photo.

SF Gate California's great Central Valley aquifer and the rivers that feed it, already losing water in the changing climate, are now being drained because of the drought, leaving water levels at… Details here.

United Nations Implications on Food Security and Natural Systems. Details here.

by Larry Powell The CBC is to be commended for breaking the story about phoney organic products being sold in Canada, including the infamous bakery in BC. It has given this matter extensive coverage, and rightly so.

Winnipeg Free Press The federal government in the U.S. has proposed eliminating restrictions on the use of corn and soybean seeds genetically engineered to resist a common weed killer.  Full story here. Ground sprayer - PLT photo

Center for Food Safety The Center for Food Safety has denounced the Canadian government’s decision to approve commercial production of genetically modified (GM) salmon eggs on Prince Edward’s Island (PEI). Full story here.

OnEarth 'Poultry litter' is exactly what it sounds like: the filthy stuff scraped off the floor of a chicken coop. Feeding it to cattle (yes, that happens) risks the spread of mad cow disease—yet the FDA has done nothing to stop it. Full story here.

BBC News Wal-Mart has recalled a donkey meat product in China after tests showed that it contained DNA of other animals. Full story here.