• Croatia's farmers seek market niches with organic, homegrown produce
• Genetically modified crops not the answer, says Britain's Prince Charles
• India's oilseed growing areas to get good rains

• Maharishi's mechanics of transforming the world: Raja John Konhaus - Part II
• Maharishi's mechanics of transforming the world: Raja John Konhaus - Part I
• Maharishi's contribution in the field of agriculture - Part IV: Raja John Fagan

• Yemen: Alarm bells over water
• Bolivia's coca production rising, US says
• India: Tobacco farmers light up acreage despite government frown

---

Positive Trends
10 Short Summaries of Top Stories

Croatia's farmers seek market niches with organic, homegrown produce
20 August 2008 - Croatian farmers hope their produce will fare well on EU markets after Croatia joins the Union, probably around 2011. 'Our vegetables are perhaps a bit more pricey but they are home-grown, freshly picked, untreated with chemicals. Buyers always prefer our own products,' said Nada Suskovic, a 48-year-old vendor at Zagreb's main farmers' market. In Croatia, farmers are striving for a segment of niche markets as large swathes of land remain uncultivated and the government resists foreign land purchases. (more)

Genetically modified crops not the answer, says Britain's Prince Charles
12 August 2008 - Britain's Prince Charles, owner of an organic farm, says that increased use of genetically modified crops to help solve world food shortages could lead to environmental disaster. The heir to the British throne was quoted as saying in an interview published Wednesday that he believes new experiments with modified crops could worsen problems with food supplies. Prince Charles, whose farm has supplied products to stores since 1992, is a longtime critic of genetic modification of food. (more)

India's oilseed growing areas to get good rains
9 August 2008 - India's weather office has forecast heavy rains in Maharashtra and Gujarat, the country's leading oilseed growing states, which had poor rains in recent weeks. Farm Minister Sharad Pawar said last month that monsoon rains have revived after a lull, improving prospects of good rice and oilseed crops. (more)

UN agency launches scheme to protect bees, birds, and other pollinators
9 August 2008 - The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) announced today that it will implement a new initiative to better protect bees, bats, birds, and others that are essential to global crop production and biodiversity. Pollinators play a vital role in food production because they transfer pollen between seed plants, affecting more than a third of the world's agricultural crops. (more)

India allows export of 25,000 tonnes of corn to help humanitarian relief in Africa
6 August 2008 - India has allowed export of 25,000 tonnes of corn to Kenya, Somalia, and Burundi under the United Nation's humanitarian relief operations in those countries, a trade ministry release said late on Tuesday. (more)

Mexico City promoting urban vegetable gardens
31 July 2008 - Under the rule of the ancient Aztecs, Mexico City was a maze of canals and floating gardens that grew corn and beans. Hundreds of years later, the government of this metropolis of 20 million people is promoting urban vegetable gardens to help the poor help themselves. Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard has sent groups of gardening experts out to build community gardens. Under the urban gardens programme, neighbourhoods find suitable spaces and the city government provides seeds, tools, and technical assistance from agronomists who teach them how to nurture the plants and make organic fertilizer. (more)

India: April-June spices exports rise 22.6 per cent
27 July 2008 - Robust demand for spices including cumin helped India export 22.6 per cent more spices in the first quarter of fiscal 2008/09 in volume terms, the Spices Board said on Friday. Total spices exports during April-June was at 148,550 tonnes, compared with 121,180 tonnes a year-ago, it said in a statement. Cumin seed, or jeera, exports grew almost four times in April-June due to strong demand on fears of lower production in other major producing countries like Syria and Turkey. (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)

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)

---

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

Maharishi's mechanics of transforming the world: Raja John Konhaus - Part II
15 August 2008 - Raja John Konhaus, Raja of Japan for the Global Country of World Peace, continues his presentation begun in Part I by explaining further how Maharishi's Vedic knowledge of the mechanics of transformation has transformed agriculture and every discipline into a supreme science of life. (more)

Maharishi's mechanics of transforming the world: Raja John Konhaus - Part I
14 August 2008 - Speaking at the global celebration of Guru Purnima by the Global Country of World Peace in MERU, Holland, which took place during the last two weeks in July, Raja John Konhaus, Raja of Japan, explained Maharishi's teaching about the mechanics of transformation and how this knowledge has transformed agriculture and every discipline into a supreme science of life. (more)

Maharishi's contribution in the field of agriculture - Part IV: Raja John Fagan
29 July 2008 - Concluding his presentation during the Guru Purnima celebrations, Raja John Fagan reported on the different, very important organizations that Maharishi Mahesh Yogi established to ensure food purity and safety. (more)

Maharishi's contribution in the field of agriculture - Part III: Raja John Fagan
28 July 2008 - Raja Fagan presents Maharishi's practical approaches to solving the current global threat to food purity and safety. (more)

Maharishi's contribution in the field of agriculture - Part II - Raja John Fagan
27 July 2008 - In light of the theme of this year's global Guru Purnima Celebration--celebrating Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's contributions to the world--Raja John Fagan, who is responsible for all issues of food safety and purity for global invincibility, continued to speak about Maharishi's contribution to agriculture: Vedic Food for Vedic consciousness. (more)

Maharishi Vedic Agriculture provides solutions for Saint Lucia's economy
25 July 2008 - Plans are underway to revitalize Saint Lucia's once-flourishing banana industry by developing a Maharishi Vedic Agriculture programme in that country. (more)

Maharishi's contribution in the field of agriculture - Part I - Raja John Fagan
25 July 2008 - In light of the theme for this year's global Celebration of Guru Purnima--celebrating Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's contributions to the world--Raja John Fagan, who is responsible for all issues of food safety and purity for global invincibility, spoke about the understandings Maharishi has given to everyone about the purity of food and the purity of consciousness. (more)

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)

---

Flops
10 Short Summaries of Top Stories

Yemen: Alarm bells over water
15 August 2008 - Water availability in Yemen has been worsening by the year and the government has no clear strategy on how to deal with the problem, experts said. They say water shortages, which affect about 80 per cent of the country's 21 million people, are exacerbated by the high fertility rate, rapid urbanization, the cultivation of `qat' (A mild narcotic), a lack of public awareness, and the arbitrary digging of wells. Mr Khalil al-Maqtari, an official at the Ministry of Agriculture, said that total amount of water used annually in Yemen is 3.5 billion cubic metres (cu.m.), while the renewed fresh water is only 2.5 billion cu.m. per year, leaving a gap of 1 billion cu.m. a year. He added that 4.6 billion cu.m. would be required in 2025, as by that time Yemen's population will have doubled. (more)

Bolivia's coca production rising, US says
12 August 2008 - A top US anti-drug official says coca production in Bolivia is still rising despite government efforts to eradicate coca fields. Coca is the main ingredient in cocaine. The State Department's top drug enforcement officer, Assistant Secretary David Johnson said that 'coca production continues to rise by significant quantities'. In 2006, Bolivian President Evo Morales implemented a program to eradicate 12,355 acres (5,000 hectares) of coca a year. However, this eradication has been accompanied by new cultivation elsewhere. (more)

India: Tobacco farmers light up acreage despite government frown
9 August 2008 - Farmers in India have increased acreage under tobacco in tandem with a sharp spike in global tobacco prices, a move that flies in the face of official attempts to discourage cultivation of the leaf. Market economics has made tobacco the preferred cash crop and unless the government is able to give farmers an equally lucrative option, it will be difficult to wean them away, said M.M. Shenoi, principal scientist at the Central Tobacco Research Institute's research station at Hunsur. Out of total output of FCV India usually exports around 55 per cent, while the rest is consumed at home, and 2008/09 exports could jump nearly a fifth to touch a record $600 million. India is the second biggest producer of tobacco after China and the fourth-biggest exporter of unmanufactured tobacco. (more)

Biofuels major driver of food price rise: World Bank
29 July 2008 - Large increases in biofuels production in the United States and Europe are the main reason behind the steep rise in global food prices, a top World Bank economist said in research published on Monday. World Bank economist, Don Mitchell, concluded that biofuels and related low grain inventories, speculative activity, and food export bans pushed prices up by 70 per cent to 75 per cent. The remaining 25 per cent to 30 per cent was due to a weaker US dollar, higher energy costs, and related rises in fertilizer and transport costs, he wrote. (more)

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)