We have the pleasure to inform our customers that we have integrated in our system the program NOP and NOP-Canada.

Strating the next renewal of your certification contract, you will be allowed to access both the US and the Canadian markets without complying with an additional certification program.

This modality of just one program allows us to offer a simpler operatory, a solution to expand your Business horizons, reducing the cost of the access to both markets. We have made this important effort considering the present economic scenario.

We therefore are thus expanding our committment to offer new solutions, better alternatives and added value for our customers.

Dear ARGENCERT customers:

As it was informed last week, we are underscoring the agreement of ARGENCERT with IBD that will allow our customers to access the Brazilian market with this recognized certifier’s seal.

The mechanics of this program will be the following:

The program’s handling will be centralizad by ARGENCERT regarding the documents and information required.
Requisites:
The new Brazilian Organic Law, that will begin January 2011, will have to be complied with, requiring certification by an accredited certifier, this being the objective of the agreement signed by ARGENCERT with IBD.

A contract with ARGENCERT will have to be signed, who will be in charge of the required inspections at the local level.

In a short time we will send the specific information about the standards and details on labelling and other urgent matters.

Regarding prices, please contact Lic. Mario Passo by e-mail  mpasso@argencert.com.ar o by phone +54 11 4363 0033

ARGENCERT contiues thus expanding its best service to all its clients.

More information about IBD clic here

FIRST MEETING OF THE IFOAM STANDARDS AND STANDARDS REQUIREMENT COMMITTEES. On December 22, and spite of the freezing conditions of the European continent and its airports, almost all the members of the IFOAM Standards Committee and the IFOAM Standards Requirements Committee were able to meet in Bonn, Germany, in the first meeting of a new era for the Federation that aspires to convene all the organic certification bodies and structures, public or private, in a new encompassing Family of Standards. In spite of normative differences they will intend to draw the divisory line between what is organic and what’s not, perfecting IFOAM’s role of uniting and leading the world organic movement.

USA, 05/11/10,: RELIGIONS ROLE TO ENCOURAGE SUSTAINABLE FARMING (http://www.organicmonitor.com/na.htm#3, Dec. 2010)

An international programme seeks to marshal the hearts, minds and buying power of the world’s religious faiths to change farming and food systems seen by many as bad for the planet and people’s health.

Source: The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky)

USDA OFFERS CONSERVATION FUNDING TO ORGANIC PRODUCERS (http://www.freshplaza.com/news_detail.asp?id=73803 )
Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan announced USDA will provide funding to help organic producers and those transitioning to organic production implement resource conservation practices on their agricultural operations.

PHILIPPINES: GM EGGPLANTS UPROOTED ON ORDER FROM DAVAO CITY GOVERNMENT (http://www.freshplaza.com/news_detail.asp?id=73611 )
The University of the Philippines (UP)-Mindanao complied with an order from the city government issued last week requiring the uprooting of genetically modified eggplants under field testing inside the campus at this city’s Mintal district, about 20 kilometers from downtown.

NORTH AMERICAN ORGANIC MARKET BECOMES WORLD’S LARGEST: REPORT. (http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Financial-Industry/North-American-organic-market-becomes-world-s-largest-Report/?c=nOHSIncDhQ26GD%252FHIJkcqQ%253D%253D&utm_source=Newsletter_Subject&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter%252BSubject )

The North American organic food and beverage market has overtaken Europe to become the biggest organic market in the world, according to a new report from Organic Monitor.

HOLANDA:  ¿EL CONSUMIDOR PREFIERE ALIMENTOS ECOLÓGICOS? SI (VidaSana [norespondas@vidasana.org]; Dic. 24, 2010)

En los supermercados holandeses se ha observado un incremento del consumo de alimentos ecológicos durante los nueve primeros meses del año 2010 de un 20 por ciento respecto al consumo durante ese mismo período en el año 2009. Se trata del mayor cremiento del mercado ecológico holandés registrado en la última década.

http://vidasana.org/noticias-vidasana/el-consumidor-prefiere-alimentos-ecologicos-si.html

SOIL ASSOCIATION: MORE EVIDENCE REQUIRED ON CLONING (Organic-Market.Info Online Magazine [mail@organic-market.info]; Dec. 2, 2010)

Source: Soil Association

Despite the Food Standards Agency claiming that meat and milk from cloned animals is „hypothetically safe’“ they admit that: “the current evidence on the composition of meat and milk is relatively limited, and further evidence is required on how the rearing of animals in different environments may affect the meat and milk.“ In addition, there is “no data on the composition of meat or milk obtained from the descendants of cloned cattle“.

Full article: http://www.organic-market.info/web/News_in_brief/Food_Quality/cloning/176/187/0/9048.html

CHINA PRODUCES MORE THAN 100 MILLON TONES OF ORGANIC FOOD (Ecoticias [newsletter@ecoticias.com]; Dic. 6, 2010)

Presently China has a total of 6.418 green or oganic food producing enterprises with a 7% growth compared to 2009, according to the statistics of China’s Center for the Development of Ecologic Foods . (To read more – in Spanish – click the title)

US TO REMAIN MOST ATTRACTIVE ORGANIC FRUITS MARKET BY 2014 (FreshPlaza.com [mail@freshplaza.com]; Dec. 7, 2010)
Organic fruit and vegetables acceptance has been impressively increasing for the last few years in the US, according to research firm RNCOS. The country is expected to remain most attractive organic fruits and vegetables market by 2014.

Full article: http://www.freshplaza.com/news_detail.asp?id=72876

Source: infogrok.com

NEW BIOSUISSE ORGANIC PRODUCTS LABELLING GUIDE. (Organic-Market.Info Online Magazine [mail@organic-market.info]; Dec. 9. 2010)

Bio Suisse published a technical work that presents a comprehensive view of the labelling basis and the directives of the different labelling organizations valid in Switzerland for the labelling of organic food products. Unload the guide (in French) ici.

Source: Organic-Market.Info Online Magazine, 08.12.2010

DESTRUCTION OF GM SUGAR BEET CROPS DELAYED (By Caroline Scott-Thomas, FoodNavigator-USA [newsletter@foodnavigator-usa.com]14-Dec-2010)

An appeals court has delayed the destruction of genetically modified (GM) sugar beet crops until December 23 to give the court time to decide whether they should be uprooted, as ordered by a recent ruling.

Full article: http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Legislation/Destruction-of-GM-sugar-beet-crops-delayed/?c=nOHSIncDhQ0IbcJV2Mpsqg%3D%3D&utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter%2BDaily

CANCÚN MAKES HISTORY IN SAVING THE CLIMATE (Sent by: ECOticias.com / Red / Agencias, 12/12/2010)

Consensus was probable, not impossible. After long hours of negotiations all countries, except Bolivia, <proveed Cancun’s Agreements. They are not juridically vinculating, but they stay anchjored in the UN system that will see that all committments are complied with. On its way to Durban (South Africa) home of the COP 17, some matters have still to be completed, but the ambition of keeping temperature increases below 20ºC made history.

The show in Cancún was performed by Bolivia with an inconsistent and incoherent blockade. But this notwithstanding, the proposal was successful with the support of social organizations.

Thus, the Cancun’s Agreements were approved at 3.35 a.m. (local time). – For the first time the expressed objectives of reduction in the CO2 emmissions for USA, China, Brazil and India in the context to the United Nations were spelled out.

The Cancún Agreements, a balanced product, are now supposed to be the starting point for a “long trip”. Starting tomorrow the governments will start moving to comply with what was agreed. “Today was the first step in the road to Durban”, said Aida Vila, Greenpeace’s responsable person for the organization’s Climate Change campaign.

Full article (in Spanish): http://www.ecoticias.com/co2/38646/Cancun-hace-historia-para-salvar-el-clima
Source: SINC – plataformasinc.es

(N. of the E.: Reading this balanced article that summarizes in an itelligent and objective way what happened at the closing of the today historical COP 16 in Cancún is fully recommended)

([IFOAM] IFOAM Insider | Vol. 7 No. 9 – December 2010)

IFOAM participated in the event with a strong delegation, headed by IFOAM Vice President Andre Leu and IFOAM Latin America representative Patricia Flores, with expert volunteer support from affiliates in the region.
IFOAM coordinated with Dr. Hans Herren, World Food Prize Laureate, to push for the inclusion of the IAASTD (International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development) report within the UNFCCC process (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change). Dr. Herren, co-chair of the IAASTD report, headlined IFOAM’s official CoP16 side event and participated in the high profile Agriculture and Rural Development Day held by the world’s key donor organizations. IFOAM had an exhibition booth for one week inside the venue to support its ‘Not Just Carbon’ climate campaign, which calls for climate policies to put the needs of the world’s poor, including smallholders, ahead of the interests of developed countries and agribusiness corporations.

IFOAM WAS ABLE TO BRING THE BENEFITS OF ORGANIC AGRICULTURE TO AN IMPORTANT AUDIENCE. (internal_structures-bounces@list.ifoam.org; en nombre de; IFOAM Advocacy [organic@ifoam.org]; Dec. 13, 2010)

The Financial Times published a 96 page Food Security Briefing, which was distributed to over 400,000 readers (access the pdf at www.feedingthefuture.eu/FS/foodsecurity.pdf). IFOAM contributed a one page article Powered by Nature (see attachment or page 58) and challenged the misconception that Organic Agriculture cannot feed the world. We brought attention to the fact that focusing on production alone is an ill-advised strategy given that present agriculture fails to feed 15% of the worlds population. Instead, our article called for affordable production systems for the poor, based on the smart use of biodiversity and the solutions offered by nature – an approach that IFOAM calls eco-intensification. The Financial Times briefing is dominated by conventional and green revolution based proposals. But unlike similar recent publications, we managed that Organic Agriculture is frequently discussed.

The very positive promotion however of Organic Agriculture by Executive Director of the UN Environment Program, Achim Steiner, shows that at least in some quarters the sustainability and food security benefits of Organic Agriculture are well acknowledged.

(from an article by Carol Campbell, SciDev.Net [info@scidev.net], Dec. 20, 2010)

An international project to collect seeds from the wild relatives of 23 of the world’s major food crops including maize, rice, wheat and potato, has received its first funding.

Last week (10 December) Norway, home to the world’s largest seed bank, in Svalbard in the Arctic, pledged US$50 million towards the collection, which is expected to take ten years to complete.

Many wild plants are becoming extinct because of climate change and habitat destruction — the UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimates three quarters of crop biodiversity has disappeared in the last century alone.

The project will aim to conserve crops’ genetic history in the hope of introducing beneficial wild traits into plant breeding programmes to help crops better withstand the impacts of climate change.

Publication date: 13 December 2010 |

Full article: http://www.scidev.net/en/news/global-wild-seed-hunt-begins.html

(from an article sent by: ECOticias.com / Red / Agencias, 16/12/2010)

The product, called Vectogreen, is totally ecologic and useful to avoid the evolution of the Aedes egypti grubs, the transmissor mosquito of the dengue virus, both in homes – just a few drops per liter are enough – or at the professional big scale level.
The product developmen that demanded three years “from scratch” until its recent approval by the National Administration of Medicins, Foods and Medical Technology (ANMAT) involved the companies Formulagro SRL and Induagro SRL, from the cities of San Lorenzo and Cañada de Gómez in Argentina.

What the scientists achieved was the creation iof an ecologic tool base don the spores of the Bacillus thuringensis bacterium, israeliensis variety, specific against dengue and other diseases such as Bellow fever, viral encephalytis, malaria, leishmaniasis and oncocercosis (a paticular type of blindness).
It is not toxic for humans, petsor any other insecto. No es tóxico para el hombre, ni para mascotas, ni para ningún otro insecto.

http://pepegrillo.com/

Full article (in Spanish): http://www.ecoticias.com/sostenibilidad/38890/Un-producto-ecologico-que-mata-a-la-larva-del-dengue

(from an article in Forestalweb [boletinforestalweb@gmail.com]; Dec. 11, 2010)

Publication date: 09.12.10.
The demonstrators try to call the attention of the local authorities on the intents of expulsion from their land and the risk situation of the native forest of quebracho colorado , mainly due to the advance  of the GM soybean crops, which have multiplied in the region 26 times in the last decades.

Operatives with armed ex-policemen and hired hit men backed by judges that ignore the acquired rights by generations, have multiplied in the last years in the arid region of the Argentinian North, as a result of the “green gold fever”, the protesters denounced.
Cut down of quebracho colorado is often done in clandestine operations because the provincial law regulates it only under special authorizations. This south American country lost 70% of its forests in the last century, reducing from 100 million hectares to just 33.19 millions at present.

Small scale livestock farmers call the radio when they detect an expulsion operative, and this allows that in a very short time the hundred neighboring familes mobilize to prevent the advance of bulldozers.

Full article: http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&ie=UTF8&langpair=es|en&u=http://www.forestalweb.com/Medio-ambiente-y-desarrollo-sostenible/campesinos-defienden-el-bosque-nativo-ante-el-avance-de-la-soja-en-argentina/&rurl=www.google.com&usg=ALkJrhhzesbJ0ET7nJpK7iiVYoZIm4-zbw Fuente: EFE