In Celebration of the Strawberry.

My birthday falls right at the beginning of strawberry season. I have very fond memories of the first punnets arriving, my Granny and Mum carefully preparing them and then stuffing myself silly with them for the whole day. Strawberries meant Summer to me and the fact that they coincided with my birthday made them even more special.

We also used to go strawberry picking quite regularly at one of the many pick your own farms close to our home. I always ate more than I picked but we would still return home laden with fruit.

Because of all the fond memories that strawberries bring, and because, to this day they are still one of my favorite foods, I am going to dedicate this blog for the month of June to the celebration of the strawberry.

So watch this space for recipes, product reviews and anything else interesting that I can find about my favorite berry.

More about the Organic Action Plan

I found a link to the full text of the 60 point Organic Action Plan for Ireland, thanks to Conor Little from Trevor Sargent's office.

It's an impressive plan and an easy read. The target however still seems high, it is hoping to achieve an over 500% increase in Utilisable Agricultural Area (UAA) devoted to organic farming in the space of just 4 years. The reason for such a short timeline is due in part to the developing market. The plan outlines the key markets for organic product, which aside from fulfilling our own needs, relies heavily on export markets and particularly the UK. The worry is that if we don't fulfill these markets quickly someone else will. 

Because of a current gap in the market, and in part due to the large amount of land that can be converted in a relatively short amount of time, Organic Beef has been singled out as one of the biggest growth markets here. Although this does fill a niche I would agree with Ollie's comment on my previous post that it is disappointing that a larger focus is not being placed on horticulture.

The good news is that even with the slow down in the economy in the UK, the Soil Association still expect a 10% growth in the organic market this year, meaning that there should be no shortage of demand for our product in the overseas market.

If we are to increase our production so dramatically we will also need to make sure we market it properly. The Organic Action Plan allows provision for a new marketing strategy. The current strategy will not suffice as it was only designed for 1% UAA. The marketing both at home and abroad is going to be crucial to attaining our target. The plan acknowledges that 'there still seems to be an image problem with organic farming among the framing sector' and suggests ways in which this can be overcome. 

If I haven't bored you to death on this subject yet and you would like to read more keep an eye on The Examiner,  Oliver Moore is going to be writing about it over the next few weeks. 

Read the plan in full

Bamboo Clothing - The Pro's and Con's

Fashion has taken a seriously green turn this year, with London Fashion Week kicking off the trend back in February and in April we in Ireland hosted our first ever Ethical Fashion Week. 

Bamboo clothing is being heralded as the newest eco-fabric and at a recent trade show I was excited to finally see and feel this new cloth. It is beautiful, I was struck by how shiny it was, it's appearance and feel is closer to that of satin than it's eco-competitor organic cotton. It was also really light, a cloth nappy seemed to loose all it's bulkiness when made from bamboo.  The lady at the stand told me that because of it's natural deodorising properties you could wear the socks for a week without washing them... although I'm not quite sure if I'm ready to test that yet!

The advantages of bamboo seem endless, it's naturally antibacterial and anti-fungal, it's durable, it grows quickly without the use of pesticides and it is completely sustainable. It would seem to be a miracle fabric, but as with all things there is a disadvantage. I had noticed that although bamboo is grown organically that none of the garments seemed to be labeled organic. Looking into this further I discovered that hazardous chemicals such as sodium hydroxide and carbon disulfide are used during the processing of the plant. These chemicals are extremely toxic and can cause severe health problems to the people working with them. For example carbon disulfide is known to:

 '...affect the normal functions of the brain, liver, and heart'  *

and sodium hydroxide when inhaled can cause:

 '...swelling or spasms of the upper airway leading to obstruction and loss of measurable pulse; inflammation of the lungs and accumulation of fluid in the lungs may also occur'*

Even with all these health effects bamboo is still more environmentally friendly than many other materials. For example non organic cotton uses approximately 150g of pesticide per pound of raw cotton - enough to produce just one T shirt.

The good news is that there is an eco-friendly and organic way of producing bamboo cloth which allows natural the natural enzymes in the plant to break down the pulp. Although it is eco-friendly it is very labour intensive and as a result costly. New technologies are also being developed to help make the mass processing methods greener.

 

* Source: The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

Further Reading:  

Environmental News Network

Los Angeles Times Blog

Organic Clothing

Trev's Organic Action Plan

Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while will be aware of my occasional rants about the availability of Irish organic produce. Although, as I have discussed before, it is not always more eco-friendly to buy local produce, especially when it is out of season, it does seem a little crazy to me that in a blossoming market we are still importing approximately 70% of our organic produce. It would be great to know that manufacturers of certified organic prepared foods would be able to source a sufficient quantity and quality of raw ingredients in this country to satisfy their production needs.

The answer of course is to convert more land to organic agriculture. It seems that the Green Party are staying true to their election promise to work towards a greater proportion of organic land with Trevor Sargent last week announcing his Organic Action Plan for Ireland.

The Green Party's website makes reference to '60 actions' included in the plan which strives to achieve 5% of  land area devoted to organic agriculture by 2010.

There are incentives to Farmers who choose to go organic including annual payments during both the conversion period and through REPS (Rural Environmental Protection Scheme) when fully certified.

5% does seem to be a huge target to reach but it is encouraging to see that the Greens are aiming their sights high. At the very least it has already sparked debate on the organic issue. It is sad however to note that the organic sector seems to be getting a hard time from the Irish press at the moment with very few column inches devoted Mr. Sargent's new plan. I was a little disconcerted to hear Mr. Sargent interviewed on The Last Word on Today FM last week. Presenter Matt Cooper decided to pick apart the whole organic movement and gave Mr. Sargent very little time to elaborate on the new plan. One of Matt Coopers comments was that the Organic sector had been given a lot of favorable press, it left me wondering if he had been reading the same newspapers as me!

I haven't read the entire Organic Action Plan for Ireland yet as I haven't been able to source it on line. I have emailed the Green Party asking for a copy and if and when they respond I hope to report on in in more detail.

Further Reading: Green Party Statement

Tell Europe No to GM foods

I got a plea from Greenpeace this morning:

Dear friends,

An important vote on GMOs is due to take place on 7 May in Brussels. The agro-chemical industry wants to get EU permission to grow pesticide-producing maize plants and a GM potato that contains an antibiotic resistant gene. We want EU Commissioners to say NO when they discuss the applications on 7 May. Our petitions, postcards, emails, blog comments and actions have helped bring the EU to this historic moment. Now, this is it!
Can you join us in writing directly to all the European Commissioners this week?

The agro-chemical industry is already bombarding the Commission with lobbyists and messages. Greenpeace activists and campaigners are on the ground in Brussels, too. But with your voice, and your network of friends, we can deliver a louder, more direct message to Europe's top politicians.

We have contact details for all 27 European Commissioners, talking points you can use in your message to them, and links to further reading. The vast majority of EU citizens are opposed to GMOs, and emails direct from people who care ? in Europe, around the world ? can really work.

Please click here to take action.

Thank you for taking action before 7 May and for campaigning this far with us already.

We will keep you informed!

Everyone at Greenpeace International

In Ireland we are in a pretty unique situation. If GM is grown in continental Europe there is little chance of our crops getting infected. But the more GM that is grown in Europe the more likely it is to be grown here eventually. So please help Greenpeace with their campaign and help keep Ireland GM free.

May 8th 2008

Just an update to let you all know that we won. Thank you to all of you who participated.