Beekeeping in the city? Surprisingly, bees in Paris, and other big cities, produce two to three times more honey than their country brethren. Higher average temperatures in the city lead to an earlier flowering, which entices the worker bees to emerge earlier. City bees also produce honey with better flavour because they have access to [...]
Archive for the ‘agriculture’ Category
Bees thrive in Paris – more biodiversity, fewer pesticides
Posted in agriculture, biodiversity, food on September 5, 2009 | 4 Comments »
Organic is more than a label
Posted in agriculture, biodiversity, food on August 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Living in Paris most of the year, the only guarantee I have that a product has not been treated with pesticides is the AB (Agriculture Biologique) label, which itself is due to be watered down in 2010. But here in the rural southwest, many producers have chosen not to apply for the AB label and [...]
Tuna, eco-tent living and 13 moons – summertime links
Posted in agriculture, biodiversity, food on July 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
France backs international ban on bluefin tuna, from Sam Fromartz at Chews Wise. Sarkozy’s decision was announced at the Grenelle de La Mer last week. Bluefin tuna fishing in France is esssentially concentrated around the Ile d’Yeu, off the Brittany coast. WWF welcomed the decision and the U.K. followed suit with a similar commitment.
Nice eco-tourism [...]
High stakes for food security at Tunis meeting
Posted in agriculture, biodiversity, climate change, food on June 4, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I just returned from Tunis where the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources is holding its 3rd Governing Body session. Getting funding for the Treaty and stimulating the free and unimpeded (by seed companies) flow worldwide of crop genetic resources among plant breeders and scientists is an uphill battle, which all those present at [...]
New EU law on organic agriculture is a step backwards for France
Posted in agriculture, health, policy on May 4, 2009 | 2 Comments »
France will lose its familiar green Agriculture Biologique (AB) label next year. New rules came into effect on Jan 1, 2009 aimed at harmonizing standards among the 27 European Union nations on organic agriculture. While the text seeks to simplify and impose common standards, the net effect for countries like France is to considerably lower [...]
If it isn’t organic, skip the whole grain
Posted in agriculture, food, health on April 6, 2009 | 1 Comment »
When I was growing up, my mother had to bake her own bread because whole grain bread was not available. So I grew up with the sturdy conviction that any bread which was brown and grainy was more healthful than white bread. As I moved to organic food in recent years, I discovered that while [...]
Highest-risk fruit and vegetables for pesticide contamination
Posted in agriculture, food, health on March 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
March 20-30 marked the 4th annual edition of “Semaine Sans Pesticides“ – a kind of national awareness week to remind people of the seriousness of the issue in France. Just as the market stalls fill up with tempting displays of strawberries and aspargus, it’s worth remembering that France is the world’s third biggest user [...]
French food safety agency rules that GM corn is safe
Posted in Grenelle, agriculture, biodiversity, food, policy on February 12, 2009 | 3 Comments »
The French food safety agency, AFSSA, has ruled that MON 810 corn – transgenic corn manfactured by Monsanto – does not constitute a health risk. The ruling, dated Jan 23 but kept secret until an exclusive in today’s Le Figaro, is a political time bomb for the government, already snowed under with strike action from [...]
European parliament passes pesticide ban
Posted in agriculture, food, health, water on January 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Members of the European Parliament passed an important law on pesticides last week which seeks to reduce their use over the next decade by promoting the use of non-chemical products and less harmful substitutes. The text, voted in by an overwhelming majority, stipulates a ban on 22 substances found in pesticides which have been linked [...]
Melamine found in soymeal fed to organic chickens in France
Posted in agriculture, food, health on December 4, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Soymeal imported from China by a cooperative that supplies organic poultry farmers in the Loire-Atlantique department of France was found to be contaminated with melamine, the chemical that has contaminated formula milk in China.
The Terrena farm cooperative found that tests on three batches of soymeal conducted in October showed that one of the batches had [...]
