Organic Produce No Healthier

CANADA - According to a recent study conducted by British researchers, the nutritional quality of organically farmed fruits and vegetables is similar to the quality of those produced using traditional farming methods.
According to a survey conducted by the Canadian Cancer Society, 70% of Canadians are concerned about the presence of pesticide residue found on fruits and vegetables.
While this concern is understandable (we all want to live in a pesticide and pollution-free world), you must still keep in mind that the vast majority of these foods contain only miniscule quantities of these chemicals.
In fact, 97% of imported and 99% of Canadian agriculture products don't contain pesticide levels in excess of the safety limits imposed on food by Health Canada.
But despite this information, the demand for organic foods has continued to rise in recent years. However, organic food products are generally more expensive. But does the added cost really translate into food that is better for you?
Many studies have tried to prove that organically grown foods contain larger quantities of nutrients than food produced using traditional methods.
The results, however, have all been very different. Some have shown a higher content of antioxidants in the organic product, while some found no difference whatsoever.
To try and clear things up, researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in England thoroughly examined all of the studies conducted to determine the differences between conventionally and organically grown food in the last 50 years.
After identifying 55 studies that contained the required scientific properties, the researchers compared each type of food's content of nutrients (including vitamins, minerals and phenolic compounds).
This analysis showed unequivocally that the differences between the two types of food production are much smaller than predicted.
For example, the content of nutrients such as vitamin C, phenolic compounds and minerals such as magnesium, calcium, potassium, zinc and copper don't change, regardless of how the food was produced.
Minor differences were discovered when it came to phosphorous (higher in organic foods) and nitrogen (higher in conventionally grown food), but these differences are too small to have an impact on one's health. In other words, organically grown or not, fruits and vegetables have the same nutritional qualities.
These results confirm what we have said several times: vegetables play a major role in the prevention of chronic illnesses and, when it comes to their impact on your health, it doesn't matter whether these veggies were grown organically or not. The important thing is to eat them as often as possible!
But even if organic fruits and vegetables don't offer you superior health benefits, there are nonetheless several good reasons to pick these products if you are able to afford them.
For one, the absence of pesticides and other chemicals allows organic farmers to avoid exposing themselves to high concentrations of the chemicals.
People may also prefer to go organic because the produce looks better, tastes better or comes from small, local sources.
And of course, for people who can't stand the thought of exposing themselves to any chemicals whatsoever, the idea of controlling what goes into their bodies by favouring organic foods will likely be an attractive concept.
from The Toronto Sun

Vietnam To Get New Composting Plant

A $53 million garbage-to-compost plant developed by a Minnesota company with Vietnamese roots will open in several weeks about 35 miles northwest of the former Saigon.
"This has been a very long and hard undertaking,'' said Viet Ngo, chief executive of Minneapolis-based Lemna. He is a South Vietnamese immigrant and University of Minnesota-trained engineer. "An international effort in my native country ... and it will be great for Lemna, Minnesota and Vietnam."
The Lemna project, built on tunnel-infested ground that 40 years ago witnessed horrific fighting between American and Vietnamese troops, spanned nine years. It evolved from an international development study that found that what is now Ho Chi Minh City must divert garbage from open sewers and two huge, fly-invested landfills to a facility that could turn the problem into rich organic fertilizer.
"This was a long pregnancy," said Poldi Gerard, Ngo's spouse of 29 years, business partner and general manager of the 4-acre project. She has spent most of the last several years in Vietnam. "This project is about economics and environmentalism. It also will be the flagship for others we will do. We keep garbage out of the landfills, do something useful with it and, eventually, make a profit."
The project broke ground in early 2008. Dozens of construction workers fabricated pilings on-site that were pounded into the ground by huge pile drivers, the first footings in a complex that will employ 600 workers by 2011. They will process 1,200 tons of garbage daily into compost for sale to farmers. The business is expected to cut Vietnam's imported-fertilizer bill by tens of millions of dollars annually.
Nothing moves fast in Vietnam, save the darting motor scooters and bicycles on the streets of the former Saigon. The financial credit crisis of 2008-09 halted construction and one financial partner backed out. In the end, Lemna's equity contribution totals nearly $11 million, matched last fall by a $5.6 million investment by VINA Capital, an American concern that operates Vietnamese investment funds, and about $36 million from lenders.
Saigon, as it is still commonly known, is the commercial hub of the fastest-growing country in Asia behind neighboring China to the north.
The Lemna plant, operated by Lemna's Vietstar subsidiary, lies in the Cu Chi District, a fairly tranquil area of farms and forests. But during the war, Cu Chi was synonymous with close-quarter combat. Miles of tunnels provided shelter and safe routes for local Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops entering South Vietnam from Cambodia, about 15 miles to the west.
Since 1995 and the normalization of relations with the United States, Vietnam has opened itself to business with the West and moved 65 percent of its 83 million people from poverty to working-class status through manufacturing, agriculture and information technology, particularly around Saigon and Hanoi.
Although belatedly, the country is now determined to pace its economic growth with progressive environmental management, Pham Van Hai, a scientist who heads the Center for Environmental Science and Sustainable Development, told me in an interview last year.
The Lemna-Vietstar plant is evidence of that.
General Electric just announced plans to build a wind-turbine manufacturing plant, oil-exploration firms are prowling coastal waters off Vietnam, and the country is moving to overhaul its aging power-generation and distribution systems.
The Vietstar project is the first to turn organic garbage into fertilizer, said Do Thu Ngan, the CEO of Saigon-based Sacombank Leasing.
Vietstar will be paid $6 to $12 per ton for fertilizer under an agreement with the city of Saigon.
Paper, cardboard, wood, metal, glass and just about everything but organic garbage is recycled by scrap merchants and industry in Vietnam. That leaves small blue bags of organic waste left outside households that are picked up a couple of times a week by garbage trucks.
"Vietnam now imports fertilizer and plastic, DoThu Ngan said. "The garbage becomes fertilizer and the plastic from the bags will be recycled into pellets that will be sold to the plastics industry. Both products replace imports, and this addresses an environmental issue in Vietnam."
Poor waste-management practices and inadequately lined landfills over the years have resulted in serious pollution. That and past slash-and-burn agriculture, deforestation and soil degradation have caused the government to plot a new course through public education, stricter environmental laws, penalties and incentives for environmental remediation and sustainable environmental projects.
"Composting is the perfect solution for tropical countries with monsoon seasons," Gerard said.
Lemna, headquartered in the elegant old mansion on Park Avenue that once was home of the Brooks family that made its fortune in timber, was founded by Viet Ngo in 1983 as a wastewater treatment facility designer. The company has expanded into energy and other projects from the Midwest to Vietnam and Nigeria. It has built 300-plus pond-based municipal and industrial treatment facilities that rely largely on biological, low-cost systems for treating wastewater pollutants.
Bob Bannerman, an official with the U.S. Commercial Service in Vietnam until he moved to Rome in 2008, helped Lemna approach the Saigon government after a U.S. Trade and Development Agency study in 2001 said Saigon was threatened by sewage-related pollution.
"Virtually all household waste was simply dumped into sewers that fed eventually into the many canals, streams and rivers that are a part of the Mekong River basin," he said. "The city government was interested in attracting foreign investment that would provide technical solutions to this problem, but they needed to be convinced that Lemna could deliver what it promised."
Delivery is scheduled for September.
from The Star Tribune

Farmers Warm To CSA

MILLIS, MASSACHUSETTS - As he finished packing corn, tomatoes and blueberries into shopping bags at a Massachusetts farm, software engineer Alex Lian said his new shopping habits had changed his attitude to food.
"As a city person, I've never had this much connection to the seasons and eating things as they're picked," the 32-year-old said as he looked out over fields at Tangerini's Spring Street Farm where his produce had been grown.
Tangerini's is one of a growing number of mostly small-scale U.S. farm operations that have turned to community-supported agriculture as a new business model.
The 74-acre (30-hectare) farm sells shares of its crop of vegetable and fruit crop in winter and early spring. Its 230 customers pick up their share of the produce every week at the farm, starting in June and running through the growing season.
Laura Tangerini has been farming for more than 20 years. But in the two years since she's adopted community-supported agriculture, her family's outlook on the farming business has changed dramatically
"What I'm seeing with the CSA is a future for my farm past me," Tangerini said in an interview at her farm about 20 miles southwest of Boston. She no longer has to borrow money to buy seeds and pay other early-season expenses, and her college-aged sons are starting to show an interest in farming.
SHOOTS OF GROWTH
The CSA model traces its roots to experiments in cooperative farming in Germany and Japan in the 1960s. It arrived in the United States in 1985 when activists in western Massachusetts founded Indian Line Farm, which remains in operation today.
Recently, the number of U.S. farms using the CSA model has spiked, according to people who study it. People have become more interested in locally-grown produce after reading books like "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollen and "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver.
"There is a big new growth shoot that has taken place," said Elizabeth Henderson of Peacework Organic Farm in New York state, author of "Sharing the Harvest."
"They finally get it -- why buying from a local, family-scale farm is important," she said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture released figures this year showing that 12,549 U.S. farms had sold products through CSAs in 2007. It had not previously tried to count CSAs in its census of agriculture, which is conducted every five years.
"There are more CSAs in the country than there were five years ago ... Our database is growing by leaps and bounds," said Erin Barnett, director of LocalHarvest.org, a Web site that tracks them. The site has added 690 farms to its roster of 2,905 this year.
'JUST GORGEOUS'
Several CSA members interviewed said they were attracted by the quality of the produce. Typically CSA farms pick fruits and vegetables the same day they distribute them, either at the farm, some central distribution point in a nearby city or through home delivery.
"It's so much fresher than what we get in the grocery store," said Sara Ervin, 28, an interior designer who lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. "It looks just gorgeous."
Farmers who run CSAs, which represent less than 1 percent of the nation's 2.1 million farms, said the model allows them to take a different approach.
While "big agriculture" farms focus on producing just a few crops in immense qualities or raise one kind of livestock, CSAs need to grow a wide variety to satisfy their customers.
"It allows us to be extremely diverse. I can grow lots of different things, and if one thing doesn't work out ... there are so many other things that are available," said Elizabeth Keen of Indian Line Farm in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
Having a backup plan -- multiple varieties of greens, for instance -- is critical since members share the farmer's risk. If a particular crops fails, members typically have to go without or find another source.
"Anyone who has ever tried to grow vegetables, or any type of plants, knows that sometimes you lose them," said Susan Speers, 59, a member of Tangerini's CSA.
In practice, the process takes stress that normally falls on the shoulders of the farmer and spreads it out.
"It's a wonderful way for farmers to maybe not get caught up in that lending and financing thing, because if they have a bad season, that can put them under," said Christine Mayer, program manager of the Fulton Center for Sustainable Living at Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, which tracks U.S. CSAs and also runs its own 6-acre (2.4 hectare) farm.
"It takes a lot of the risk and a lot of the fear out of the farming," said Ben Doherty, who co-founded Open Hands Farm outside Northfield, Minnesota in 2006. "If we have mediocre or bad tomatoes for the year, we don't make $5,000 or $10,000 less. Everybody gets a few less tomatoes."
from Reuters

Huge Potential For Vermicompost In South Africa

SOUTH AFRICA - Organic recycling company Turfnet sees huge potential for vermicompost in South Africa, an organic compost that is believed to be the cleanest form of organics in the world.
The company’s organic recycling centre, in the north of Johannesburg, specialises in both vermicompost and green-matter compost.
Turfnet MD Dan Barwick says that the company’s compost is a soil amendment and not a fertiliser. The company uses a base of all organic materials made from garden refuse.
“You can take bad quality soil and only make it into a good quality soil by adding compost. This cannot be done using a synthetic fertiliser,” says Barwick.
Landscapers dump their garden refuse on the company’s site at no cost. The refuse, which consists of leaves, flowers, grass and branches, is sorted into piles of green matter and wood.
The green-matter piles are hosed down with nutrient-rich water to aid in the decomposition of the material, which is left for 45 days before a ratio of carbon to nitrogen of 20:1 is achieved. Once the material pile reaches its peak stage of decomposition, it is aerated by an industrial turner. This stage is essential as harmful ammonia is released from the compost and microbial activity is increased.
When the refuse is incinerated or dumped on landfill sites, gas emissions such as methane and nitric oxide are released into the atmosphere. Organic compost production reduces greenhouse-gas emissions through the recycling of garden refuse.
“The recycling of green matter back into soil is a huge part of preventing global warming,” says Barwick.
Meanwhile, he says that the true value of the compost lies in its bacteria content.
“The compost simply acts as a home for the bacteria and is of no value without it,” he adds.
The nutrients within the compost are broken down into a simpler form by the bacte- ria, which allow an easier uptake by plants.
The aerobic bacteria used in the cycle are bred on site in a static compost system consisting of several successive layers of grass and manure. The bacteria bred in the system are put back into the compost.
Barwick says that any well-produced and well-maintained compost pile or vermicompost box should be odourless. If the compost does have an odour, it should be of an earthy smell. He says that if decomposition becomes anaerobic from excess feedstock added to the bin in wet conditions, it will begin to smell like ammonia.
Vermicompost
The company also specialises in vermicompost, which consists mostly of worm casts, compost and decayed organic matter.
The worm cast or vermicast is the end product of the breakdown of organic matter by compost worms. Vermicompost is an excellent, nutrient- rich organic soil conditioner that contains water-soluble nutrients and bacteria, says Barwick.
The company uses two methods to farm vermicompost. The first involves the use of a windrow, which is a shallow bin containing bedding material and compost for the worms to live in. Vegetables, which are grown on site, are fed to the worms.
The second method, involves the American box model, which acts as a raised bed or flow-through system. The worms are fed across the top of the bed. An inch of castings is harvested from below by pulling a breaker bar across a large mesh screen that forms the base of the bed.
Barwick says that because the worms are surface dwellers, they are constantly moving towards the new food source. The flow-through system eliminates the need to separate worms from castings before packaging.
One ton of vermicompost is sold for R2 000; however, one handful of vericompost can be spread over a large area because of the high nutrient content.
Barwick says that not many companies have taken up vermicomposting technology and that there is huge potential for this technology as demand is picking up because of the environmental benefits.
The company employs 12 workers who ensure that all the material dumped on site goes to use. Tree cuttings are used to create bird nesting logs and feeders, while the perimeter wall of the recycling centre has been created out of large stones collected from the garden refuse and around the site. Rainwater is collected and fed through a settlement tank, which is then used to supply the green matter piles with water.
The company is supplying its products to nurseries, landscapers, farmers and golfcourses. In addition, Barwick says the company is involved in a joint venture with landscaping com- pany Top Turf in setting up an organic compost facility at leisure resort Sun City.
from Engineering News

Mushroom Farm Developers Say Gozo Residents Are Used To “Rural Odours”

MALTA - A proposed mushroom factory earmarked for an outside development site near the five-star Kempinski San Lawrenz resort has attracted concern from MEPA’s natural heritage panel.
The panel said that the factory could produce offensive odours in the vicinity of Gozo’s crafts village and the holiday resort, despite the mitigation measures being proposed by the developers.
But the developers of the farm have claimed in an environmental planning statement that residents of San Lawrenz are used to “rural odours” since manure is used to fertilise the surrounding fields.
The panel stressed that “the risks of emission of offensive odours remain, especially while the fresh manure is being transported to the farm.”
The panel added that the odours could negatively affect the Ta’ Dbiegi crafts village and other residential units in the area. “The total elimination of these risks is well-nigh impossible,” the panel stated.
The farm developers have presented an Environment Planning Statement in which experts have replied to concerns voiced by the Gharb local council. “One can imagine the unbearable smell the chicken manure would have on the area including the Crafts Village, the residential area as well as the Kempinski 5-star resort which are a stone throw away,” the council said.
But the developers’ experts contend that the risk of odours will be minimal, because the transport of chicken manure will take place in closed trucks and will be stored in an enclosed and aerated rooms. They also argue that the aeration will minimise the anaerobic fermentation, which causes odours.
While the EPS says the scheme will not impact the landscape, the natural heritage panel expressed its concern on the loss of high quality agricultural land.
from Malta Today

Probing Who Hatched Chicken Manure Scheme

CANADA - Chicken manure spread on city property in Surrey, B.C., is causing a stink at city hall following allegations that city crews left the manure to prevent the homeless from loitering.
Chicken manure was left on the grass, along sidewalks and in an empty city-owned lot beside the Front Room, a busy resource centre for the homeless on 135a Street in North Surrey.
"You got all this staff here at the Front Room trying to save lives. They can't even sit out here and talk to the clients, try to guide them to the right place when all that smell is around," said Front Room counsellor Tim Tabor.
"It's just inhuman. How would they like it in their yard?" said Tabor, who added witnesses saw Surrey city workers for spreading the manure.
Acting Surrey mayor Barinder Rasode did not deny it was municipal employees who did the deed but she said the order was not given by city council or the mayor.
An investigation is underway into whether bylaw officers and RCMP initiated the plan, Rasode said.
"A part of our understanding [is] that it may have been the city's law enforcement agency, which are the bylaw officers, in conjunction with maybe a local officer at the [RCMP] office," Rasode told CBC News.
Rasode said that following the complaints, the manure was removed over the weekend.
from CBC News