Eco Hvar

A learning curve

Objavljeno u Vaša pisma

A post on the Eco Hvar Facebook page led to an unexpected response. Eco Hvar learned a lot!

Novi list- 2013, 2017! Novi list- 2013, 2017!

On April 25th 2017, I came across an article on a Croatian news website, Novi list, stating that the European Commission was about to issue a directive proposing drastic seed control measures, which would mean that only standardized 'approved' seeds could be sown, not only for commercial agriculture, but even in private gardens. Shocked, I posted the link on the Eco Hvar Facebook page.

The post evoked some interesting reactions.

One comment declared that it was 'fake news', and that such 'semi-information, which is very dangerous and tendentious, is being spread around Croatia by extreme right-wing circles who opposed Croatia's entry into the EU.'

As it turned out, the news was not fake, but old. It did actually happen. I hadn't noticed that the article was published in May 2013. The EC did indeed present the seed control proposal at that time. It was withdrawn in 2015. You can read the EC proposal here, and a description of the proposal in English here. An account of organised opposition to the proposal is accessible here.

The news was old, but still served a purpose, as the issue lies at the heart of the differences between so-called conventional agriculture (using chemical pesticides and fertilizers) and organic practices.

WHAT I LEARNED

1. Legislation for the control of seeds is proposed for a variety of different reasons. Some, such as protection of indigenous flora and fauna, are worthwhile, others, especially protecting the commercial interests of the big agrochemical companies, are not.

2  Seed control is an issue which is being debated worldwide. For instance, it is a major cause for concern among environmentalists in the United States, New Zealand, Romania, India and Brazil. It is an issue also strongly linked to the development of GMO crops for which related seeds have been patented. Food production is a major economic activity, which is controlled by relatively few (huge) international companies.

3. Denmark has shown that EU seed protection laws can be interpreted by member nations to the satisfaction of environmental groups: 'Denmark has just become the European Union role model for biodiversity friendly seed marketing laws, putting pressure on every other country in the EU currently embracing the push to corporatize our seed heritage to follow suit.'  (Seed Freedom, March 2017)

4. This particular EC proposal did not progress, although it took two years for it to be abandoned. The subject may come up again. Seed control means control of the food supply. The major agrochemical companies would be likely to support any initiative to extend that control at national government level, if they felt it would increase their influence.

5. Environmentalists have to be on permanent guard against any proposed legislation which threatens the free practice of organic agriculture. The individual's right to choose organic plant and crop cultivation, and the consumer's right to buy organic products must never be undermined.

© Vivian Grisogono MA(Oxon) 2017

 

 

 

 

Više u ovoj kategoriji: « Dragonflies, info request Mosquitoes and more »
na vrh članka
Nalazite se ovdje: Home vaša pisma A learning curve

Eco Environment News feeds

  • Farage’s Clacton-on-Sea constituency worst ‘tree desert’ in England, research shows

    Woodland Trust also finds significant north-south divide in tree cover, leaving many people at risk of poor health

    Nigel Farage’s constituency of Clacton-on-Sea is a “tree desert”, leaving people more exposed to air pollution, poorer health, lower life expectancy and the impact of rising temperatures, according to a new report.

    The Essex town is rated the worst-performing for equal access to trees in England, with the highest proportion of urban residents – 98.2% – living in neighbourhoods with critically low access to trees.

    Continue reading...

  • UN members prepare for pivotal vote on landmark ICJ climate justice ruling

    If resolution is passed, governments will recognisetheir legal responsibility to cut greenhouse gas emissions

    The UN’s willingness to tackle the climate crisis in a fair and legal way will be tested next week during a critical vote of the UN general assembly in New York.

    Every member state is being asked to back a series of landmark findings on climate justice from the international court of justice (ICJ) as part of a new political resolution. If passed, it will mean governments recognise they have a legal responsibility to cut their greenhouse gas emissions, including tackling fossil fuels.

    Continue reading...

  • Choughs reappear at Tintagel Castle in Cornwall after decades of absence

    King Arthur is said to have transformed into a chough when he died, its red feet and beak representing his bloody end

    Decades after disappearing from the jagged cliffs around Tintagel Castle on the coast of north Cornwall, a bird with legendary connections to the area has returned.

    The custodian of Tintagel, English Heritage, and local ornithologists have declared that choughs – charismatic corvids with red beaks and feet – are back.

    Continue reading...

  • Typical English roast dinner potentially ‘drenched’ in 102 pesticides, says report

    Greenpeace finds cocktail of pesticides including seven banned in EU may have been used on seven categories of vegetables and soft fruit

    It is a beautiful early summer Sunday afternoon and you have stopped for a pub lunch. A waiter sets down a roast served with carrots, peas, parsnips, potatoes and onion gravy, and then for pudding, strawberries and cream. It feels like the perfect rustic meal to accompany a day in the country.

    However, a report by Greenpeace, published on Thursday, has found that the ingredients of the traditional Sunday roast have potentially been treated with a cocktail of more than 100 pesticides. Data from the Fera pesticide usage survey for 2024, showed 102 – including seven banned in the EU – were used on seven vegetable and soft fruit categories.

    Continue reading...

  • Roots of resilience: the experts working to bolster apples against the climate crisis

    Scientists are focusing on improving apples’ resilience after stressors like wild temperature swings and drought

    Terence Robinson still remembers the Valentine’s Day Massacre – of 2015, not 1929.

    For the Cornell University horticulture professor, the term doesn’t conjure up Tommy guns and Al Capone’s Chicago. Instead of a gangster, the culprit in Robinson’s massacre was the weather. And its victims were the apple orchards of the north-eastern United States.

    Continue reading...

  • Why the weather was on no one’s side in general strike of 1926

    A warm spell mitigated some of the effects of the strike but colder weather would have taken their own toll

    May 1926 is remembered in Britain for the general strike, when the TUC called out millions of workers in support of miners who had been locked out while fighting a pay cut.

    The strike, which lasted from 3 May to 12 May, took place during a spell of relatively mild weather with little rain. Transport was disrupted but fine conditions allowed many people to walk or cycle to work. There was a shortage of coal but this was mitigated because there was less need for heating. The TUC, fearing legal action and doubting the strike could be sustained, called it off after nine days.

    Continue reading...

  • Country diary: This weary traveller has escaped the hunter’s gun | Sarah Lambert

    Maxey Cut, Cambridgeshire: There’s so much precious wildlife around this old flood-relief channel, including sea trout and eels. But I’ve come to hear the purr of the turtle dove

    The morning air is moist and utterly still. Above the flood bank, dappled grey cirrocumulus parts to a clear blue. Birds sound from every side: the cuckoo’s insistent call over a chorus of warblers – the sedge warbler’s machine-gun rattle, the willow warbler’s falling cadence, and, piercing them all, the explosive eruptions of a Cetti’s warbler buried deep in cover.

    But it is the turtle dove that I have come to hear: that low, tender purring, almost lost in the greater chorus. When it comes, my heart lifts. I find a lone bird on a telegraph wire, one of its favoured perches. Through the binoculars, I make out a pink-grey breast, a neat black-and-white collar, and rust‑red feathers on the back, each one finely marked with black.

    Continue reading...

  • ‘Floats above the landscape’: the architect whose designs touch the earth lightly

    Glenn Murcutt pioneered architecture that was sensitive to its environment, and accomodating to changing temperatures and wildlife

    The house teaches you things, Lynne Eastaway says. Today, a choir of cicadas fill the scrub with a rhythm that rises and falls. On other days, there may be visits from birds, goannas, echidnas, wombats, wallabies and kangaroos.

    “The bush ends, and the house begins,” she says. “You’re not the centre; you’re just part of it. That’s the thing you learn.

    Continue reading...

  • How a kindergarten teacher became the accidental guardian of 200 king penguins

    When the birds started nesting on her land at Useless Bay, Chile, Cecilia Durán Gafo decided she would protect them from people and predators

    Five pairs of rubbery feet carry velvet-sheathed black-and-white bodies towards the rope line separating the king penguins from the dozen or so visitors, who look on in awe. As these emissaries shuffle over, a hundred of their cohorts parade on a nearby bank, splashing around in the water and regurgitating food into their chicks’ open beaks.

    The king penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus)makes its home almost exclusively on islands in the Southern Ocean. But it has been coming to this wind-battered bay in southern Chile’s Tierra del Fuego region for hundreds of years, probably because its shallow shores offer protection from marine predators and humans.

    Continue reading...

  • Go big or go home: how The Lost Giants revived the ancient art of goliath-making

    Ever fancied creating your own enormous effigy? One Cornish art collective has reinvigorated the practice – and now they want to draw on the public’s skills, too

    This New Year’s Eve, environmentalist and author Lisa Schneidau did something she had never done before. She welcomed in 2026 with giants. “At a certain time of the evening, they started appearing from all over the town. Then everyone flooded out of their houses and congregated into a massive procession of giants and lights and drums and music. It was absolutely extraordinary.”

    Schneidau’s fairytale experience happened in Lostwithiel, the Cornish home town of the art collective The Lost Giants (TLG), a group of craftspeople and artists reviving the British tradition of making giants and beasties and goliaths. The giants she celebrated with were made of wooden frames and cloth, papier-mache and card, but were full of life.

    To apply for a giant, go to The Lost Giants website

    Continue reading...

Novosti: Cybermed.hr

Novosti: Biologija.com

Izvor nije pronađen
Copyright © 2026 Eco Hvar. Sva prava zadržana. Developed by Orion Informatika.