Here are some articles on pesticides and related topics from the last two weeks:

• “Agriculture seen as ‘key’ to fighting climate change” (EurActiv)
• Mercabilbao in Spain starts a pioneer process of cleaning and desensitizing the boxes used to carry fruit and vegetables. “Mercabilbao pone en marcha un tren de lavado pionero en el Estado para envases reutilizables de frutas y hortalizas” (In spanish – Europapress)
• “Italian police seize counterfeit pesticides” (Fruinet)
• “Debate over quality of Italian fresh produce” (International Supermarket News)
• “Agriculture: A necessary complication in the climate negotiation” (Grist)

At the recent Forum for the Future of Agriculture (see previous posts below), we spoke to Matthias Meissner of theWWF in Berlin.

We asked him for his views on balancing food and environmental security. He sees it as imperative, but that it should be done by encouraging capacity for farming in the developing world, rather than insisting on increasing productivity, say via the use of technology. View the full interview below.

Another interview from the Forum for the Future of Agriculture (see previous posts below), this time with James S. Shikwati, an expert in African agriculture and Managing Director of Inter Region Economic Network (IREN), a think-tank based in Kenya that aims to develop strategies to bring prosperity to the African continent.

We asked Mr Shikwati about the prospects for African farming, the role of technology, and the aftermath of the food prices crisis last year, and he gave us some very insightful answers which generally point to a degree of optimism for the future. Highly recommended.

At the Forum for the Future of Agriculture, organised jointly by Syngenta and the European Landowners’ Organization(ELO) last week, we spoke to Alexander Sarris, Director in the Commodities and Trade Division at the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

He gave us some insights into the role of technology in agriculture, the productivity gap that exists in the developing world, and how imperative it is that this gap be diminished (a process which may, in his view, involve the reduction Europe’s role as a supplier of food).

UPDATE: Blogactiv were also present at the event and spoke to Mr Sarris (click below). View all of Blogactiv’s interviews from the event by clicking here

FFA 2009: Alexander Sarris

Last week the European Commission announced the completion of its review of pesticides that were on the market before 1993. The review looked at about 1000 substances used in conventional and organic agriculture. In their press statement, the Commission said that the pesticides “have undergone a detailed risk evaluation with respect to their effects on humans and on the environment”.

In the press statement the EU Health Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou said: “Today represents a milestone in our effort to ensure improved protection of human health and the environment. The review of existing pesticides has lead to the removal from the market of more than two thirds of these substances. I can now say with confidence that our food has become greener.”

Of those 1000 pesticides removed from the market, the vast majority of pesticides (67%) didn’t qualify because their dossiers were either not submitted, incomplete or withdrawn by industry. 7% of dossiers submitted failed the review. 26% of substances were approved.

To promote the end of this review programme, the Commission has produced a factsheet “ EU action on pesticides”

Yesterday the Commission launched a new pesticide database listing active substances. The database is available to the general public. To access it click here.

Download a copy of their factsheet.

As promised, here’s a summary of various reports and comments we’ve found online recently discussing the disappearance of honey bees in Europe and America.

• Hopes rise in puzzle of dying bees (Delaware Online)http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20090309/NEWS/903090314
• Don’t blame amateur keepers for declining bees (Guardian.co.uk)http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/mar/05/beekeepers-endangered-bees
• ‘No proof’ of bee killer theory (BBC)
  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7925397.stm
• Haagen-Dazs makes second gift for honeybee research and education (Penn State University)http://live.psu.edu/story/37918

BBC have produced a series of video reports recently on honey bees which you’ll find below.

• Amazing Facts about honey bees
  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7925218.stm
• Putting the varroa mite under the microscope
  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7925591.stm
• Beekeeper on losing his colony
  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7925399.stm
• Bee mystery in Italy
  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7613786.stm

In the next day or two we’ll be publishing some video conversations we had with French farmers and the general public about their views on pesticides at the Salon de l’Agriculture in Paris last week. In the meantime Pesticide Information has set up a Twitter account to share the latest content published online that we find as well as following others ‘twittering’ about food, environment, politics and health. You are welcome to follow us at http://twitter.com/pesticideinfo or find us by searching Twitter for pesticideinfo.

What’s Twitter, you ask?  Click here to view a short video explaining this tool.

Just watched an interesting video of Bill Gates presenting at a TED conference in America this month. He is talking about two ongoing societal challenges that he is passionate about. The first is malaria; he talks through the facts and the solutions with some interesting statistics, and the second is on education and what makes a great teacher. Worth a watch.

Bees are a fundamental part of sustainable agriculture. Bees and other pollinating insects are responsible for the pollination of more than 80% of crops in Europe. So it’s been extremely worrying to see a mass decline in them over the past years. It’s got to such a critical point that this year the EU has funded a nine-month research project to better understand the problem and investigate the potential cause.

Hubert Deluyker, EFSA’s Director of Scientific Cooperation and Assistance, who is leading the project said: “This project will be an important step forward in international efforts to understand and help tackle the reported decline in bee populations, which could have widespread implications not only in environmental terms but also with regard to the food chain”.

“I strongly encourage scientists and other interested parties – such as beekeeping associations, for example – to share their valuable scientific data, knowledge and experience with the organisers of this project,” he added.

The sudden and dramatic decline in bee populations is called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Many theories have been put forward to the potential cause of CCD, including parasites, the use of pesticides in farming, wet weather and lack of access to suitable forage crops. For further information ESFA has published a list of FAQs on bee mortality and bee surveillance in Europe alongside their press release.

PI is tracking the ongoing conversation and available research on bees and CCD and thought the following article written by bee expert Kim Flottum in America, called Colony Collapse Disorder Showing Up Again in East Coast Hives,  published on The Daily Green, The Consumer’s Guide to the Green Revolution.  It shows that this season in California CCD is back; worse than expected, yet still with no obvious cause.

Also La Croix published an article yesterday called Surmortalité des abeilles: plus de 40 causes recensées, which is worth reading to get a view on the situation in France.

As ever, PI welcomes comments, supporting information or links to the latest news on CCD and so would EFSA.

The Environmental Expert.com published an article recently about the development of a tool to help standardise risk assessment procedures for pesticides across Europe. The software combines climate, soil and crops data specific to each location to help understand the potential impact of each pesticide used.

The objective of the FOOTPRINT project is to develop a set of 3 computer tools that will allow users to:

• identify the dominant pathways and sources of pesticide contamination in the agricultural landscape.
• estimate levels of pesticide concentrations in surface water and groundwater.
• make scientifically-based assessments of how the implementation of risk reduction strategies is likely to reduce pesticide contamination of water resources.

To find out more about the project visit http://www.eu-footprint.org/ataglance.html

To access the FOOTPRINT software, visit: www.eu-footprint.org/FOOT_tools.html