Replies to post #310 on MegaTrends (MEGA)

[wow_happens28]

I have not been this excited about food in a long time, great article. JJG is a pure grains play, but I'm heavy on RJA,

I will post at Food, I only got one post on it here so far at iHub,

I really feel this could be the start of a meg trend.

[wow_happens28]

30% of U.S. Homes Use Organic Food, New Report Shows

http://www.organicauthority.com/organic-food-reaches-30-percent-of-households-new-report-shows/

Household usage of organic food in the United States has reached 30 percent, according to a new report from Packaged Facts. The report also shows that the share of grocery shoppers specifically seeking out organic or natural foods grew by five percent over the past seven years, now also reaching nearly 30 percent.

The report points to evidence that many American consumers find natural and organic food “healthier, tastier, or more nutritious” than the alternative, thus motivating the ever-increasing transition. A recent report from the University of Kent confirms these findings, noting that most people who buy organic food are motivated to do so for reasons relating to taste and health benefits, as opposed to ethics or environmental implications, for example.

The report found that organic produce has the highest penetration into American households, with 34 percent for fruit and 31 percent for vegetables. This is not surprising, given past research on organic shopping habits. Nate Lewis, Farm Policy Director at the Organic Trade Association, says that, “The biggest piece of the organic pie is produce, and always has been,” and Matt Seeley, chief executive officer of the Organic Produce Network, noted at an Excellence in Organic Merchandising seminar last fall that organic fresh produce was “a gateway” into other organic food sales.

The report also shows that organic eggs have reached 30 percent penetration into American households, while organic milk has reached 15 percent penetration. Choosing organic when it comes to products derived from animal agriculture is of ever-increasing importance to shoppers, due to their sensitivity to food safety concerns such as the use of growth hormones and antibiotics in livestock, the report found.

The report, entitled “The Organic and Clean Label Food Consumer in the U.S.,” was compiled using data from Packaged Facts National Consumer Surveys and Simmons Profile Reports.

Other data has postulated even higher penetration of organic food into American households: one report released last April by the Organic Trade Association found that 82 percent of American homes stock organic food.

Organic food currently represents a $43 billion industry in the United States and $77.4 billion worldwide. A report released last year by Grand View Research estimated that the global organic food and beverage market was poised to reach $320.5 billion by 2025.

[wow_happens28]

Catastrophic Bird Decline Due To Pesticides But In An Unexpected Way

https://www.naturalblaze.com/2018/03/catastrophic-bird-decline-pesticides.html

It seems the trail of destruction left behind by the use of heavy pesticides is never ending. Besides the well-known negative effects of pesticides such as glyphosate on human health and the use of certain chemicals on the bee population, there is now damning evidence that they are taking a major toll on the bird population.

Two studies were conducted in France – one study conducted on the national level and another focused on a large agricultural region – whose results have demonstrated a decline in dozens of bird species, some of them as much as 2/3 decline over the last decade and a half.

Benoit Fontaine, conservation biologist at France’s National Museum of Natural History and co-author of one of the studies that “The situation is catastrophic.”

“Our countryside is in the process of becoming a veritable desert,” he said in National Centre for Scientific Research communique, which also contributed to the research.

Among the species that are exhibiting decline are the common white throat, Eurasian skylark, ortolan bunting, and other birds that were once extremely common.

One bird – the meadow pit – a migratory song bird has declined in population by nearly 70%.

The museum described the bird decline as “a level approaching an ecological catastrophe.”

The researchers are speculating that the reason for the die off is the intense use of pesticide on intensely farmed monoculture crops, particularly corn and wheat. But the problem isn’t that the birds themselves are being poisoned but that there are no more insects left for them to eat.

“There are hardly any insects left, that’s the number one problem,” said Vincent Bretagnolle, a CNRS ecologist at the Centre for Biological Studies in Chize.

He notes that recent research has discovered that, across Europe, flying insects have declined by 80% and bird populations have dropped by more than 400 million over a period of 30 years.

The government has announced its intentions to cut pesticide use in half by 2020 but the sales of pesticides in France are still climbing.

“What is really alarming, is that all the birds in an agricultural setting are declining at the same speed, even ’generalist’ birds,” which also thrive in other settings such as wooded areas, said Bretagnolle.

“That shows that the overall quality of the agricultural eco-system is deteriorating.”

Stats coming from the national survey which uses a network of volunteer ornithologists shows that the die offs have gotten worse and accelerated in 2016 and 2017.

But the lack of edible insects is not the only reason for the bird die-offs according to some of these scientists. There is also the issue of shrinking woodlands, the expansion of mono agriculture, and the gradual decline of allowing fields to repair themselves.

“If the situation is not yet irreversible, all the actors in the agriculture sector must work together to change their practices,” Fontaine said.

In other words, if France and the rest of the world want to change things, they had better start taking measures now if it isn’t already too late.