Europe

Tp Organics: call for organic innovations

Europe Europe

Innovation is crucial for the development of the organic sector. By launching a Call for Innovations, TP Organics invites farmers, researchers and companies from the organic and other sectors to propose innovative solutions.

Coup in Turkey: impact on the organic industry

Europe Europe

Turkey is an important supplier of organic products. Many west European organic companies maintain close business relations with Turkey. The attempted coup and its consequences could therefore have far-reaching implications for the organic sector. Manufacturers and the trade should ensure that they are well prepared.

Video of the organic project Narköy.

Report on the European Organic Rice Market 2016 out

Europe Europe

The Europe Organic Rice Industry 2016 Market Research Report is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Organic Rice industry.

Heavens Water from Amsterdam

Europe Europe

A group of Dutch entrepreneurs has used their country’s wet weather as a business opportunity by creating a rainwater bitter.

Monsanto Tribunal: Vadana Shiva´s Call to Action

Europe Europe

The Monsanto Tribunal is an international civil society initiative to hold Monsanto accountable for human rights violations, for crimes against humanity, and for ecocide. Dr. Vandana Shiva calls to action and explains the background.

European Commission registers 'People4Soil'

Europe Europe

The European Commission has today taken the decision to register 'People4Soil' European Citizens' Initiative which aims to "recognise soil as a shared heritage that needs EU level protection and develop a dedicated legally binding framework covering the main soil threats."

UK: Chocolate, a leading fair trade product

Europe Europe

Chocolate is seen as one of the fair trade movement’s biggest success stories. In recent years, three of the world’s biggest chocolate producers have made at least one of their iconic brands with fairtrade chocolate.

Sustainable Foods Summit Europe and Latin America: Major Outcomes

Europe Europe

Some of the pressing sustainability challenges facing the food industry were debated at the recent editions of the Sustainable Foods Summit hosted in São Paulo (29-30 June) and Amsterdam (9-10 June).

Agriculture should play its part in emission reduction

Europe Europe

The organic food and farming movement welcomes the Commission’s proposal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in key economic sectors such as agriculture by 30% by 2030.

Logocos causing a commotion again – planning to sell denied

Europe Europe

Bio-Markt.Info reported last December that  Logocos AG belongs to a Swiss holding company whose owners wish to remain anonymous. The German Lebensmittelzeitung now writes that the current proprietors – among them a Kazakh oligarch  – want to sell Logocos AG. Marc Christian Wedekind, chairman of the supervisory board at Logocos, denied this categoriacally when bio-markt.info spoke to him.

People4Soil expected to launch this September

Europe Europe

"It's time to save the soils of Europe" says the citizens' initiative People4Soil that is expected to be launched this September. More than 300 organisations ask EU a common legal framework to counteract land take, soil degradation and contamination.

EU: CAP not delivering the public goods promised

Europe Europe

The reformed CAP for 2014-2020 lacks clear tools to guide and direct investments towards sustainable agriculture, the majority of tools available are limited to supporting individual farm practices and they do not promote a comprehensive transition towards sustainable agriculture.

EU: member states support restrictions of use for Glyphosate

Europe Europe

The European Union Member States have voted in favor of limiting the use of the world’s most used herbicide, glyphosate, the European Commission announced on Monday.

Brexit – What's next?

Europe Europe

The British voted by a  small majority to exit the European Union. That has consequences for the wider economy and for the EU. The wholefood industry has so far shown itself to be not particularly worried. Can that be right? After the British decision to leave the EU companies in other industries set up crisis management teams or at least working groups to assess the impact, but in the  wholefood sector most firms are operating the principle of 'business as usual'. In fact, there are many questions to be addressed, and they affect the organic sector too.

Natrue: Dr Mark Smith appointed as new Director General

Europe Europe

The Board of Management of the International Natural and Organic Cosmetics Association Natrue has decided to appoint Dr Mark Smith to the new Director General of Natrue from 1st July 2016 onwards.

Organic regulation negotiations, is the end near?

Europe Europe

Last Friday the Slovak Republic took over the Presidency of the Council of the EU from the Netherlands, and is now the sixth Presidency in a row to work on the organic dossier.

Spanish government does not respond to the risk of massive transgenic contamination

Europe Europe

The appearance of teosinte is having serious consequences for agriculture. The situation could worsen if it crosses with genetically modified maize.

Demeter International adopts leitmotif for future operations

Europe Europe

The Demeter International Members' Assembly was held from 13 to 18 June in Finland. In view of the challenges occurring in our time we need a paradigm shift in agriculture. The Demeter actors from all regions of the world saw in the biodynamic method a holistic model for societal change. Representatives of Demeter and biodynamic associations in 23 countries on five continents gathered to discuss and adopt strategies for taking forward agriculture and the food economy. There was also agreement that new gene technologies like CRISPR-Cas, Cisgenetics and TALEN have to be regulated, since they are technical interventions in cell and genome.

2.6 million dead bees make stinging point about pesticides

Europe Europe

A truck loaded with 2.6 million dead bees made its final stop earlier this month on the 22nd of June at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in downtown Washington, said First Post.

Glyphosate Update: Final EU Commission decision

Europe Europe

The Commission adopted the extension of the current approval of glyphosate for a limited period until the European Chemical Agency (ECHA) has concluded its review and gave recommendations on the use of glyphosate.

Share price falls: KTG Agrar facing insolvency

Europe Europe

The listed agro-company KTG Agrar SE, one of the biggest growers of organic products, finds itself in a dramatic financial crisis. It was not able to pay the interest on a loan on time and many investors are already afraid the company is going bankrupt. As a consequemce, the share and bond prices of KTG Agrar have plunged. However, CEO Siegfried Hofreiter  assumes that they can get the situation under control.

Controversial Topics at the Natural & Organic Cosmetics Conference 2016

Europe Europe

The Natural & Organic Cosmetics Conference will again focus on various current topics that affect the entire cosmetics industry.

Brexit: IFOAM EU emphasises organic European union

Europe Europe

Brexit is reality since last week. Organic-Market.info asked IFOAM EU for a statement.

Glyphosate is to receive 18 months extension

Europe Europe

As the European Commissioner, Vytenis Andriukaitis announced on Tuesday at a meeting of EU agriculture ministers in Luxembourg the Commission will extend the European approval for the controversial weedkiller glyphosate to 18 months.

Natrue Membership Assembly 2016

Europe Europe

The international association for natural and organic cosmetics Natrue welcomes 14 new members and presented the first Natrue Annual Report at the General Assembly in Berlin.