Waitrose helps Guernsey’s primary school children grow and sell food

May 12th, 2013 by Waitrose

Waitrose Admiral Park supermarket (click image to expand – ©RLLord)

Waitrose ‘Grow and Sell’ initiative aims to encourage seven to eleven year old children across the UK and Channel Islands to grow their own produce and sell it to Waitrose customers.

The initiative, in association with the Waitrose farm on the Leckford Estate, aims to inspire over 100,000 children to grow their own produce during the summer months.

The children will learn more about where food comes from, the impact of seasons and develop entrepreneurial skills by selling their food directly to shoppers.

Waitrose Admiral Park and Waitrose Rohais will work with four local primary schools each, including Amherst, La Houguette, Le Rondin, St Andrew’s, St Mary and St Michael, Forest, Vauvert and Vale School. Continue reading

Jersey in Transition permaculture workshop on 20 and 21 April 2013

April 5th, 2013 by Nigel Jones

(please click image to download flyer as a PDF file to your computer)

Jersey in Transition have organised a Permaculture Weekend Workshop on 20 and 21 April 2013.

The educational workshop spills over to Monday 22 April 2013 with tours of some of Jersey’s gardens and farms. The workshop takes place at Frances Le Sueur Centre, Five Mile Road, La Mielle de Morville, St Ouen, Jersey. Continue reading

Floral Guernsey’s Spring Festival Week begins on 20 April 2013

March 31st, 2013 by Floral Guernsey

Floral Guernsey’s Spring Festival Week returns on Saturday 20 April 2013 with a diverse programme of events running throughout the island until Monday 29 April.

The initiative, aimed at all gardeners and budding botanists, features a number of guided walks, open gardens and talks from experts including award-winning landscape designer Cleve West, who will deliver an RHS Growing for Success talk, ‘From Spuds to Chelsea’, at Les Cotils, St Peter Port, Guernsey on Wednesday 24 April 2013.

(Cleve West, former long jumper, passionate vegetable grower, and one of Britain’s leading garden designers after winning the top award at RHS show two years in a row, will give a presentation at Les Cotils on 24 April (click image to expand – image courtesy of Floral Guernsey)

Continue reading

C.I. Co-operative Society Fairtrade product sales continue to grow

March 3rd, 2013 by The Channel Islands Co-operative Society Limited

Fairtrade bananas (click image to expand – image courtesy of the Channel Islands Co-operative Society Ltd.)

The Channel Islands Co-operative Society‘s sales of Fairtrade products have reached £2.5 million as existing products continue to sell well and more products and manufacturers achieve Fairtrade status.

Mark Cox, the Society’s chief operating officer, said that this demonstrates the continuing appeal of Fairtrade products to consumers, despite the economic downturn and squeeze on household spending.

“These tough economic times are making shoppers think carefully about how and where they spend their money and value is important.”

“Some people think Fairtrade means more expensive but in a lot of cases that isn’t true and they are actually very competitively priced. Our customers can also see the benefits of buying Fairtrade and the ethical difference it can make in ensuring a fair price is paid to suppliers around the world,” he said. Continue reading

WWF-UK and Food Ethics Council report on valuing the meat we eat

February 14th, 2013 by WWF

(click on report cover image to go to WWF report downloading page)

The WWF-UK and the Food Ethics Council have published a report that examines whether reducing meat consumption, and instead placing greater value on the meat we consume, could potentially be beneficial for people’s health, the environment, and for producers and consumers.

High meat consumption is associated with a number of factors related to important challenges facing the global food system, including climate change, obesity, water scarcity, land use change, global poverty and inequality.

Yet a simple ‘eat less meat’ message is controversial and overly simplistic.

Producers and primary processors raise legitimate concerns about impacts of reduced meat production on their businesses, and politicians remain wary of industry and public reactions to the message. Continue reading

Cheap food isn’t to throw away

February 9th, 2013 by Richard Lord

Seeing destitute people at Victoria Station in London rushing by outdoor tables of eateries and snatching disposable plates of leftover food abandoned by paying customers is a reminder of how many people are perpetually hungry. Many of us take food for granted.

About one third of the weight of Guernsey’s household waste is made up of food waste. Some of this weight is vegetable peelings but much of the weight is food that has spoiled.

Guernsey’s household food waste is currently left out on the street for collection largely in black bags where it is vulnerable to gull and cat attack. These animals rip open the bags in search of food and leave a mess on the pavement, which is time consuming to clean up.

A gull rummaging through household waste on Pedvin Street, St Peter Port on 7 May 2012 (click image to expand - ©RLLord)

This problem is heightened during the longer daylight hours of spring and summer when gulls raise their young.

The cost to dispose of household food waste at the Mont Cuet landfill in 2013 is over £152 per tonne, which adds up to a total Continue reading

Guernsey smallholders AGM at St Margaret’s Lodge 19 February 2013

February 3rd, 2013 by Guernsey Smallholders

The Guernsey Smallholders Association AGM will begin at 7.30 pm on Tuesday 19 February 2013 at St Margaret’s Lodge Hotel.

All current committee members are up for election.

Sarah Brouard feeds her flock of chickens on her smallholding (click image to expand ©RLLord)

Vegetarian diet can reduce people’s risk of heart disease by up to a third

January 30th, 2013 by University of Oxford

Fresh organic vegetables from Guernsey Organic Growers at the Sausmarez Manor farmers' market on 4 October 2008 (click image to expand - ©RLLord)

The risk of hospitalisation or death from heart disease is 32% lower in vegetarians than people who eat meat and fish, according to a study from the University of Oxford.

Heart disease is the single largest cause of death in developed countries, and is responsible for 65,000 deaths each year in the UK alone.

The findings, in the paper ‘Risk of hospitalization or death from ischemic heart disease among British vegetarians and nonvegetarians: results from the EPIC-Oxford cohort study‘, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, suggest that a vegetarian diet could significantly reduce people’s risk of heart disease.

“Most of the difference in risk is probably caused by effects on cholesterol and blood pressure, and shows the important role of diet in the prevention of heart disease,” explained Dr Francesca Crowe, lead author of the study at the Cancer Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford.

This is the largest study ever conducted in the UK comparing Continue reading

Guernsey primary schools register by 6 February 2013 for competition to grow longest carrot

January 22nd, 2013 by Bedell Group

Front row, left to right - Jude Barton, Stephanie Best, Ellie Hicks, and Kayleigh Moullin, and behind them, Rory McLaren holding carrots, and Joshua Bisson (click image to expand - image courtesy of Bedell)

Bedell Little Green Fingers Schools’ Project has launched a competition to see which Guernsey primary school can grow the longest carrot.

According to the World Carrot Museum, the Guinness World Record for the longest carrot belongs to Joe Atherton who grew one of 5.841 metres (or 19 feet 1.96 inches), which he entered in the UK National Giant Vegetable Championship, held in conjunction with the National Gardening Show, in Somerset on 2 September 2007.

A prize of £100 and a year’s supply of seeds will be awarded to the Guernsey primary school that grows the longest carrot. There will also be two runners up prizes. Continue reading

European Food Safety Authority identifies risks to bees from three neonicotinoid insecticides

January 16th, 2013 by European Food Safety Authority

honey bees at the entrance to a hive (click image to expand - ©RLLord)

European Food Safety Authority scientists have identified a number of risks posed to bees by three neonicotinoid insecticides: clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam.

The Authority was asked by the European Commission to assess the risks associated with the use of clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam as seed treatment or as granules, with particular regard to:

• their acute and chronic effects on bee colony survival and development;
• their effects on bee larvae and bee behaviour;
• and the risks posed by sub-lethal doses of the three substances. Continue reading