• Canada: Toronto hotel boasts own honey from rooftop
• Kenya pushes traditional crops for food security
• US: Urban farming takes root in Detroit

• Understanding how total Natural Law is expressed in the Soil Food Web yields practical benefits for agriculture, health - Part I
• Nepal rising to become a world leader in Maharishi Vedic Organic Agriculture and Vedic Education
• Maharishi Vedic Organic Agriculture in greenhouses in Maharishi Vedic City and Fairfield, Iowa, USA - Part II

• US: Agricultural greenhouse bred bees spread disease to wild bees
• High prices nudge Europe nearer to genetically modified food
• Biofuels blamed for food price crisis - report

---

Positive Trends
10 Short Summaries of Top Stories

Canada: Toronto hotel boasts own honey from rooftop
22 July 2008 - The arrival of three queen bees and their 40,000 workers has created a new buzz at one of Toronto's oldest hotels, and its chefs have first rights on the up to 700 pounds of honey produced there. The luxury Fairmont Royal York hotel installed three bee hives on its 13th floor rooftop terrace this spring to supplement an in-house garden that already provides its restaurants with fresh herbs, vegetables, and flowers. (more)

Kenya pushes traditional crops for food security
22 July 2008 - Kenya's government began giving farmers seeds for traditional food crops on Monday, hoping to shore up stocks in the face of rising prices and other concerns. 'These crops are known to perform well in dry areas where food insecurity is a common feature due to inadequate rainfall,' Agriculture Minister William Ruto said as the distribution of cassava, sweet potato, and sorghum seeds got under way. (more)

US: Urban farming takes root in Detroit
20 July 2008 - Turning unused urban land into free vegetable gardens for the community is the mission of a Detroit, Michigan charity called Urban Farming. The healthy, low-cost idea is spreading along with a renewed community spirit. (more)

Cuba allows private farmers to have more land
19 July 2008 - Communist officials decreed Friday that private farmers and cooperatives can use up to 100 acres (40 hectares) of idle government land, as President Raul Castro works to revive Cuba's floundering agricultural sector. Landless Cubans can be given a bit more than 33 acres (13 hectares) while those who already have fully producing plots can add enough state lands to bring their total holdings to 100 acres (40 hectares). (more)

Mali: Food situation looks positive despite insecurity, rainy season starts well
11 July 2008 - The food security situation looks positive this year in Mali, despite high global food prices. The rainy season in the Malian Sahel appears to have started well. This is welcome news for farmers in and around Gao which lies deep in the Sahelian belt. Mostly they rely on rain-fed agriculture. (more)

US: Environmental Protection Agency strengthens controls on five common pesticides
11 July 2008 - The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) strengthened regulations Thursday on five common pesticides and for the first time required farmers to set up sizable buffer zones around fields treated with the chemicals. Anti-pesticide and community activists celebrated the new requirements, saying they would help protect rural residents from being sickened by the chemicals' gaseous byproducts. Environmental and community groups called the decision a good first step. (more)

US: Importance of honeybees to be emphasis at West Virginia conference
7 July 2008 - The buzz around Marshall University this week will be about the importance of honeybees. About 300 beekeepers were expected to join 12 vendors and dozens more presenters at the Heartland Apiculture Society's annual conference starting Thursday in Huntington. Speakers will educate conference attendees about bees and emphasize their importance. (more)

US: Farmers' markets thrive
4 July 2008 - Higher prices have not deterred shoppers from buying their produce from farmers' markets. Fed by the new environmental trend to buy locally, the sites are a throwback to a more traditional style of commerce and have have risen in popularity every year since 1994 when the US Agriculture Department first began collecting data on the operations. This year alone more than 4,500 farmers' markets will be operating across the United States, an increase of 21 per cent from just four years ago, with revenue topping $1 billion. (more)

Lesotho sees growth from diamonds, water
3 July 2008 - Lesotho sees its economic growth rising in coming years due to diamond mining and a new water project, its trade minister said on Thursday. The trade minister sees growth rising from 4 to 6-7 per cent. While Lesotho's highlands water project exports water to South Africa's commercial heartland around Johannesburg, the trade minister said the lowlands project would concentrate on supplying Lesotho itself, using irrigation to boost agriculture. (more)

Australia: Buoyed by rain, wheat farmers chase big crops
25 June 2008 - Farmers are sowing newly rain-blessed soil with one of Australia's biggest wheat crops. This year might be the first time in years that the world produces more wheat than it consumes, say farmers. Eastern Australia has been hit hardest by the country's worst drought in 100 years but good rain has fallen recently to allow long-delayed planting to get underway. (more)

---

Success of Maharishi's Programmes
10 Short Summaries of Top Stories

Understanding how total Natural Law is expressed in the Soil Food Web yields practical benefits for agriculture, health - Part I
30 June 2008 - In a brilliant presentation recently on the Maharishi Global Family Chat, Dr Peter Swan, Minister of Communications of the Global Country of World Peace, showed how from the perspective of earth sciences, every aspect of structure and function at all levels of the 'Soil-Food Web' is an expression of total Natural Law found in the Veda and Vedic Literature. Dr Swan also highlighted important implications of this discovery for agriculture and health. (more)

Nepal rising to become a world leader in Maharishi Vedic Organic Agriculture and Vedic Education
18 June 2008 - Maharishi Global Family Chat recently featured Raja Kingsley Brooks, Administrator for the Global Country of World Peace for Nepal, along with Nepal's National Director, Mr Deepak Baskota, reporting on plans to create invincibility in the country through Maharishi Vedic Organic Agriculture and Consciousness-Based Education. (more)

Maharishi Vedic Organic Agriculture in greenhouses in Maharishi Vedic City and Fairfield, Iowa, USA - Part II
8 May 2008 - Speaking recently on Maharishi Global Family Chat, Raja Robert Wynne, Mayor of Maharishi Vedic City, Iowa, USA, and Raja of New Zealand and other countries for the Global Country of World Peace, answered questions about Maharishi Vedic Organic Agriculture--the greenhouses and field crops--in Maharishi Vedic City and Fairfield, Iowa, USA. (more)

Maharishi Vedic Organic Agriculture thriving in greenhouses in Maharishi Vedic City and Fairfield, Iowa, USA - Part I
7 May 2008 - Speaking recently on Maharishi Global Family Chat, Raja Robert Wynne, Mayor of Maharishi Vedic City, Iowa, USA, and Raja of New Zealand and other countries for the Global Country of World Peace, answered questions about Maharishi Vedic Organic agriculture--the greenhouses and field crops--in Maharishi Vedic City and Fairfield, Iowa. (more)

Serbian Organic Foundation launches new programmes
21 April 2008 - The Serbian Organic Foundation, established to promote Maharishi Vedic Agriculture, has become the premier producer and distributor of organic foods for Serbia, and is gaining momentum with the launch of a programme to offer practical guidelines for all aspects of organic food production. (more)

Global Country of World Peace cultivates acres of organic roses in Bulgaria
17 April 2008 - Speaking recently on Maharishi Global Family Chat, Raja Peter Warburton, Raja of Bulgaria for the Global Country of World Peace, spoke about a special agricultural project for organic roses close to the Brahma-Sthan of Bulgaria in the Valley of the Roses. (more)

New Maharishi Sthapatya Veda communities planned for England
16 March 2008 - England's Yogic Flyers plan to build new Maharishi Sthapatya Veda homes and communities in several locations in the country. (more)

Maharishi University of Management graduate publishes non-GMO directory
9 March 2008 - A graduate of the MA in Professional Writing at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, USA recently published The 2008 Non-GMO Sourcebook, the world's only 'farm to fork' directory of non-genetically modified products. The Sourcebook features more than 700 suppliers of non-GMO products and services. (more)

Success of Maharishi's programmes in Australia
3 January 2008 - Dr Rogers Badgett, Raja (Administrator) of Australia for the Global Country of World Peace and former Raja of Hawaii, USA reported on progress in his new Domain. (more)

Maharishi Vedic Organic Agriculture products inspire 'rapt attention' at India Organic Trade Fair in New Delhi
3 December 2007 - On the Global Family Chat, broadcast on the Maharishi Channel, Dr Peter Swan (Minister of Communication of the Global Country of World Peace) read a report and showed slides from Maharishi Vedic Organic Agriculture in India about the success of their booth in New Delhi, which was visited by over 300 individuals and groups. (more)

---

Flops
10 Short Summaries of Top Stories

US: Agricultural greenhouse bred bees spread disease to wild bees
23 July 2008 - Disease spread to wild bees from commercially bred bees used for pollination in agriculture greenhouses may be playing a role in the mysterious decline in North American bee populations, researchers said on Tuesday. Bees pollinate numerous crops, and scientists have been expressing alarm over their falling numbers in recent years in North America. Experts warn the bee disappearance eventually could harm agriculture and the food supply. The 'spillover' of disease from commercial colonies may be a factor in the decline of bee populations in North America. (more)

High prices nudge Europe nearer to genetically modified food
8 July 2008 - Like many in Europe, Switzerland's Coop supermarkets do not specify whether goods are genetically modified -- none are. But a wave of food inflation may help wash away resistance to 'Frankenstein foods'. Geert Ritsema, a genetic engineering campaigner at Greenpeace International, said proponents of biotech crop technology are using high prices to scare consumers that their food will become too expensive. The European market represents a substantial opportunity for GM companies: the European seeds market is worth $7.9 billion from a global total of $32.7 billion, according to data from consultancy Cropnosis. The global GM seeds market was worth $6.9 billion in 2007 and is set to grow further. But critics charge that the technology does not bring its promised benefits. 'GM chemical companies constantly claim they have the answer to world hunger while selling products which have never led to overall increases in production, and which have sometimes decreased yields or even led to crop failure,' said Peter Melchett, Soil Association policy director. (more)

Biofuels blamed for food price crisis - report
4 July 2008 - Biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75 per cent, far more than previously estimated, according to a confidential World Bank report published in a British newspaper on Friday. World Bank President Robert Zoellick has said biofuels are a 'significant contributor' to the increase in food prices. Recently, he wrote in the Financial Times that the use of corn for ethanol by the United States had consumed more than 75 per cent of global corn production over the past three years, and called on the United States and Europe to ease subsidies and tariffs on biofuels derived from corn and oilseeds. (more)

Some 1.5 billion people may starve due to land erosion - FAO
2 July 2008 - Rising land degradation reduces crop yields and may threaten food security of about a quarter of the world' population, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said. Long-term land degradation has been increasing around the world and affects more than 20 per cent of all cultivated areas, 30 per cent of forests, and 10 per cent of grasslands, FAO said. According to the study, land degradation is being driven mainly by poor land management. (more)

Honey bee crisis could lead to higher food prices
26 June 2008 - Food prices could rise even more unless the mysterious decline in honey bees is solved, farmers and businessmen told lawmakers. 'No bees, no crops,' North Carolina grower Robert D. Edwards told a House Agriculture subcommittee. Edwards said he had to cut his cucumber acreage in half because of the lack of bees available to rent. About three-quarters of flowering plants rely on birds, bees, and other pollinators to help them reproduce. In 2006, beekeepers began reporting losing 30 per cent to 90 per cent of their hives. Beekeepers have lost 36 per cent of their managed colonies this year. It was 31 per cent for 2007. Food prices have gone up 83 per cent in three years, according to the World Bank. (more)

Biofuels pushing 30 million into poverty: Oxfam
25 June 2008 - Biofuels are responsible for 30 per cent of the increase in global food prices, pushing 30 million people worldwide into poverty, aid agency Oxfam said in a report on Wednesday. Oxfam called on rich countries to dismantle subsidies for biofuels and reduce import tariffs. Oxfam estimates that by 2020, CO2 emissions from land-use change in the palm oil sector may have reached over 3.1 billion tonnes, largely as a result of the EU target, and it would take over 46 years of biofuel use at 2020 levels to repay this 'carbon debt'. (more)

Brazil approves Syngenta's genetically modified Bt11 corn
21 June 2008 - Brazil's national biosafety committee gave green light for the sale of Syngenta's genetically modified Bt11 corn, the company said on Friday. Environmental and consumer groups resisted the legalization of GMO crops in Brazil for years. The government passed a new biosafety law in 2005 that cleared the way for the legalization of GMO use after a black market in GMO soy in Brazil's south flourished for years. (more)

France: Constitutional court upholds law on genetically modified crops
19 June 2008 - France's Constitutional Council approved the main points of a law on genetically modified crops after opposition Socialists had demanded a review. The Socialists and environmentalists said the bill blurred the line between natural and genetically modified organisms (GMO) but the constitutional council ruled that it conformed with the constitution. The Socialists and environmental campaigners had sought a complete overhaul of the law, which they say is too favourable to the interests of biotech companies such as US giant Monsanto. (more)

UK: Government seeks GMO debate
19 June 2008 - Genetically modified crops could offer benefits but safety remains paramount, the Farm Ministry said, responding to media reports that the global food crisis may prompt it to relax restrictions. A report in the Independent said Government Ministers were preparing to open the way for GMO crops to be grown to help tackle rocketing food prices and shortages in the world's poorest countries. A Ministry statement said it had always been government policy that GMO crops could offer a range of benefits over the longer-term. (more)

Australian GMO wheat research seen defying drought
18 June 2008 - Australian researchers developing a drought-tolerant wheat field trials hope to have the world's first transgenic wheat in farmers' hands in five to 10 years, a biosciences leader said. No commercial transgenic wheat currently exists in world markets due to strong opposition by consumer and environmental groups in many countries. That obstacle could be shrinking, however, as food shortages and accompanying skyrocketing prices for grain have applied a recent shock to the world food system. (more)