Digest #123 - Two great tours - starts Monday 13th Feb

Submitted by Renaee on Fri, 02/10/2012 - 20:11
  1. Stop GM Wheat - Canadian Farmers Tour 13th - 20th Feb: Sydney, Horsham and WA
  2. GM and health? French scientist Professor Seralini tour 28th Feb - 4th March, Canberra, Adelaide, Perth and Margaret River.
  3. Progress versus the Planet? MADGE response to the Quarterly Essay
  4. Local Harvest – find out the local food near you!

1) Two great tours happening! Please help spread the word

Australia is likely to be the first country to grow GM wheat. Canadian farmers Peter Eggers and Matt Gehl of the Canadian Farmers Union will share their experience of GM crops and explain why Canadian farmers have rejected GM wheat.

Peter Eggers is one of 84 plaintiffs currently challenging the validity of Monsanto’s seed patents in a US court. Matt Gehl, is a young, fourth generation wheat farmer, concerned that farmers voices are being marginalised due to increasing corporate control over agricultural research and policy.

They will be speaking at free public events around Australia. You are warmly invited to join them:

Sydney: Monday 13th Feb 6-7.45pm "Patenting of Genes: Should corporations have the right to patent your genes and our crops?"Event and Q&A hosted by SBS TV Celebrity Costa of "Costa's Gardening Odyssey"  More details and RSVP:

Horsham (Vic): Thursday 16th Feb 7.30pm "GM Crops: The Canadian Experience" Speakers: Matt Gehl and Peter Eggers, Wesley Performing Arts Centre.

Merredin (WA), Sunday 19 February 2.30pm – 4pm "GM Crops: The Canadian Experience" Merredin Regional Community and leisure Centre, 2.30pm – 4pm RSVP : Anne Marie Copeland 08 9047 1077.

Perth, Monday 20 February 6.30-8pm "GM Crops: The Canadian Experience" Public forum with Matt Gehl, Peter Eggers and Julie Newman (Network of Concerned Farmers) Lottery House, City West Lotteries House, 2 Delhi St, West Perth (next to City West train station).

This tour is co-ordinated by the Network of Concerned Farmers, MADGE, GM Crop Watch, Food Watch, Organic Federation of Australia, the GM-Free Australia Alliance, Gene Ethics and Greenpeace.

2) Professor Gilles Eric Séralini Tours

Professor Gilles Eric Séralini works at the CRIIGEN  (Committee for Research and Independent Information on Genetic Engineering). Séralini analysed Monsanto’s data on three of their GM corn. He showed that although the feeding trials were only 90 days long the livers and kidneys of the animals eating the GM corn were affected. Video link here.

Seralini’s tour is called "Everything you need to know about GM foods".  If you get the opportunity to attend, grab it!

Canberra - Tuesday 28 February 4-5pm Australian National University Emeritus Faculty, Molony room 

Adelaide – Wednesday 29 February 6:46pm-8:15 Prof Gilles Eric Séralini and Dr Judy Carman (Institute of Health and Environmental Research, SA) : University of South Australia, HH3-09 Lecture Theatre (Hans Heysen Bldg),

Perth, Friday 2 March from 4pm Prof Gilles-Eric Séralini: Everything you need to know about GM foods, Lecture at Murdoch University

Margaret River, Saturday 3 March 5.30 – 7.30pm Professor Gilles-Eric Séralini, French chef, Jérôme Douzelet, and local restauranter Ian Parmeter for a Q&A session on genetically modified (GM) foods. CULLEN WINES, Willyabru, Margaret River.

Perth, Sunday 4 March 7-8.30pm,  1 Leake St (cnr Leake St & Stirling Hwy), Peppermint Grove WA 6011 – 5 minutes walk from Cottesloe train station

3) Progress vs the Planet – MADGE’s response

In Quarterly Essay No 44 Andrew Charlton wrote that GM crops would feed the world and that anyone opposed to them was blocking progress. This is a "techno-optimist" view that technology can solve all problems.

Investigation shows that people are not hungry because of a lack of GM seed. The US grows the most GM crops and yet one in six of it's population, 50 million people, were too poor to put food on the table at some point in 2008. Poverty causes hunger.

A global food system where seed is patented and owned and which is dominated by a handful of large companies leaves farmers and eaters vulnerable. 

Numerous report show the best way to feed the world is agroecological agriculture which is "highly productive, highly sustainable, and contribute(s) to the progressive realisation of the human right to food.

Here is MADGE's detailed response to the Quarterly Essay.

MADGE has a stall at the Rural Producers Day Sunday 12th Feb at the Lake House, Daylesford, Victoria, 10am-4pm.

4) Local Harvest – up and running

Local Harvest crowd sourced enough money last year to get up and running. Find out swap meets, community gardens and farmers markets in your area. It will also help you grow your own. Also take the challenge to reduce the "degrees of separation" from your food. A great way to get started, or continue happily on, the local food journey. Local Harvest.

You don't just help yourself when you do this but everyone in your area. A recent report on Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) in England showed "CSA schemes are providing multiple benefits to thousands of members, their communities, local economies and the environment. CSA offers an innovative approach to reconnecting people with their food, and helps to build strong partnerships between communities and farmers."

Happy Eating
Love
MADGE