As I mentioned, I went to the Canadian Organic Growers Conference on Saturday. It was an absolutely amazing conference and I learned so very much. Yesterday I posted an long list of all of the different resources that were mentioned at the conference. Take a peak because you can find many many sites about organics and related topics. Today I wanted to give a recap about what stood out to me.
Bhutan
Bhutan is a very small country that is located between India and China. This country rates the success of their nation not by their gross domestic product, but by a term that a former king coined. This country rates their success by gross national happiness. Their leaders have formatted 4 pillars to direct their focus:
- environmental conservation
- cultural promotion
- sustainable and equitable development
- good governance
An Australian Farmer Fights Back
Australian farmer, Steve Marsh is one of the first farmers to ever seek legal action after his organic crops were contaminated with GM seed. If you are familiar with the many many US farmers that have been taken to court by Monsanto for patent infringement, you’ll understand what a big deal Steve’s case is. His case is going to take much time and a lot of money, but his success in Australia could set precedent worldwide for farmers, and also consumers who are fighting against genetically modified foods. See this article for more information.
Industry Buzz Words
There are so many buzz words around the food industry:
- organic
- natural
- gm-free
- fair trade
- local
- pesticide free
- etc.
It’s really important to note that depending on your country, these have little or no “official” status. As modern as our food system has gotten, the labels that are supposed to direct us and educate us are extremely misleading. If it’s important to you to “vote with your dollars”, make sure that you are doing more research than just label reading.
An International Perspective
Michael O’Callaghan who is the founder of GM Free Ireland spoke a lot about how advanced European countries are in agriculture policy. He went as far as to say that in Europe, the general view is that Canada is the absolute worst in agriculture policy, followed by the United States. You always hear about voting with your dollars. However, the plea from the Canadian farmers and companies was about a different kind of vote. They pleaded that when voting in elections at all levels, find out what the candidates view are on agriculture and food. The government sets the laws and policies that surround our food system and it’s important we take a stand.
Lunch
Can you get any more delicious than lunch at an organic food conference? I think not! MMMMmmmmm 
I pretty much ate myself silly.
What “hot topics” do you currently find interesting about your food system?
First this whole post is amazing! I will be re reading it again. Second what the what did you have for dessert? Is that an amazing baked apple or pear goodness? Can’t wait to hear more, but for now I will be doing some more digging into some of the topics you touched on.
the case about the gm contamination is so interesting to me! i think monsanto is pretty much the epitome of evil for what they’re doing to small organic farmers. so awful.
My biggest interest at the moment has been the recent approvals within the U.S. for companies to use GM foods such as alpha. It’s been crazy to watch how things move through the courts, etc. Neat post!
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