New research reveals that 60 per cent of British homeowners are making conscious efforts to encourage wildlife in their gardens and outdoor spaces with more than half actively avoiding the use of pesticides. Some 57 per cent are concerned about the reported decline in the bee population.
Scientists from the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH), working with colleagues from other UK research institutes and the RSPB, have said climate change and agriculture are driving a startling loss of biodiversity from the British countryside.
Following the recent deferral of the EU vote to relicense glyphosate, Garden Organic is urging members and supporters to get behind the campaign for a ‘No’ vote when the EU committee next meets.
A committee of EU experts and ministers met this week to decide whether to renew the licence for glyphosate. With opposition from environmental groups, and some member states such as France, Netherlands, Sweden and Germany, the vote was deferred. The committee are under pressure as the current licence expires in June.
For a second year running, Garden Organic’s Master Composter programme has made the top ten of Resource Magazine’s Hot 100!
A new study from Newcastle University has shown that both organic milk and meat contain around 50% more beneficial omega-3 fatty acids than conventionally produced products.
Aldi Süd, the German branch of the supermarket chain, is the first big retailer in Europe to ban eight bee-harming pesticides from domestic fruits and vegetables produced for their markets.
Garden Organic’s horticultural intervention programme at HMP Rye Hill has been praised in a HMI Inspectorate of Prisons Report. The HMI report pays tribute to the Recovery Garden as an important asset in assisting prisoners recovering from drug mis-use.
The 3 Close Tenants group in Loughborough, supported by Master Gardener Helen Burgess, has been awarded a distinction in the RHS Britain in Bloom ‘It’s Your Neighbourhood‘ competition.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has announced that glyphosate (a chemical weedkiller) is unlikely to cause cancer. This is despite findings earlier this year, from the World Health Organisation’s International Agency for Research into Cancer (IARC) that glyphosate is ‘probably carcinogenic’.