Bees: Another reason to eat organic food

Here is one more reason to eat organic food. That is if you want to keep eating - we may not have a choice. Pesticides and fungicides are killing the bees. 

Scientists had struggled to find the trigger for so-called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) that has wiped out an estimated 10 million beehives, worth $2 billion, over the past six years. Suspects have included pesticides, disease-bearing parasites and poor nutrition. But in a first-of-its-kind study published today in the journal PLOS ONE, scientists at the University of Maryland and the US Department of Agriculture have identified a witch's brew of pesticides and fungicides contaminating pollen that bees collect to feed their hives. The findings break new ground on why large numbers of bees are dying though they do not identify the specific cause of CCD, where an entire beehive dies at once.

[Treehugger]

US - Europe partnership on organic food

Europe-US partnership creates huge new market for organic foods - http://bit.ly/zlCMko

Under a deal announced last Wednesday by trade representatives for each region, products certified as organic by either the US Department of Agriculture or the EU's Agriculture and Regional Development department are authorised for sale in either Europe or the US.

"To help reduce paperwork and expenses, the arrangement is simple in its aim: it recognises that the EU and the US have credible organic certification systems and that we share common perspectives about what constitutes the production of organic products," wrote Dacian Cioloş, the EU's agriculture commissioner, and Kathleen Merrigan, the USDA's deputy secretary, in an op-ed in the Guardian.

The arrangement further opens up the world's two largest markets for organic foods, which are together valued at about $50bn, according to the US Organic Trade Association. Prior to the new trade deal, organic growers and producers needed a second certification in order to sell their goods in the overseas market.