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Organic farming can yield up to three times as much food as conventional farming on the same amount of land—according to new findings which refute the long-standing assumption that organic farming methods cannot produce enough food to feed the global population. Researchers from the University of Michigan found that in developed countries, yields were almost equal on organic and conventional farms. In developing countries, food production could double or triple using organic methods, said Ivette Perfecto, professor at U-M's School of Natural Resources and Environment, and one the study's principal investigators. Catherine Badgley, research scientist in the Museum of Paleontology, is a co-author of the paper along with several current and former graduate and undergraduate students from U-M. "My hope is that we can finally put a nail in the coffin of the idea that you can’t produce enough food through organic agriculture," Perfecto said. In addition to equal or greater yields, the authors found that those yields could be accomplished using existing quantities of organic fertilizers, and without putting more farmland into production.

Range-wide, bobwhites (Colinus virginianus) have declined an estimated 80 percent over the past 40 years, said Don McKenzie, director of the National Bobwhite Conservation Initiative, a University of Tennessee-based consortium of 25 state wildlife agencies, conservation groups and research institutions launched in 2007 to form a unified strategy for saving bobwhites. "It's hard to overstate how serious the problem is. It's becoming really severe," McKenzie said. "All 25 bobwhite states have experienced short, medium and long-term declines." Moving in lockstep with the decline is a steep falloff in Texas quail hunting, a cultural touchstone for generations of hunters and a once-powerful economic generator. In 1960, 321,000 Texas quail hunters bagged 98 million birds. In 2010, there were fewer than 50,000 hunters and the harvest was around a half million quail. Hunters fear their children will never know what they're missing.

This year, the conference by Akademie Fresenius for the agrochemical industry focussing on EU regulation (EC) 1107/2009 about the placing of plant protection products on the market, covered new findings in ecotoxicology and environmental risk assessment (ERA) as well as risk mitigation and management. The expert meeting “Aquatic and Terrestrial Ecotoxicology and Risk Management” with representatives from the industry, research facilities and regulatory authorities took place from 27 to 28 November 2012 in Mainz (near Frankfurt)/Germany. The conference introduced news concerning bee health, mechanistic effect models and refined exposure scenarios. Furthermore, the meeting dealt with time-dependent toxicity of pesticides, environmental risk assessment of pesticides and biocides and effect assessment of insecticides. In regard of regulation (EC) 1107/2009, interfaces with the Sustainable Use Directive were pointed out. On top of that, the current state of the zonal authorization procedure Guidance Document in Northern Europe and other documents in preparation was discussed at the conference. The programme and the lecture by Dutch toxicologist and author Dr. Henk Tennekes are attached.

Cresswell and Thompson have suggested an elegant way to improve honey bee colony simulations when forecasting the fate of colonies exposed to pesticides. Following their recommendations, we rescaled the model on a sound empirical data set. The adjusted forecast is bleaker than their tentative scenario.

British scientists have shot down a study on declining honeybee populations that triggered a French ban on a pesticide (Cruiser) made by Swiss agrochemicals group Syngenta (article attached). France's farm minister Stephane Le Foll withdrew Syngenta's marketing permit for the pesticide Cruiser OSR in June, citing evidence of a threat to the country's bees. But a study by Britain's Food and Environment Agency with the University of Exeter says the results of the original research were flawed. The French newspaper Le Monde reported that the laboratory of lead author James Cresswell (University of Exeter) is supported by Syngenta, the producer of Cruiser. Reliable sources report that James Cresswell received £136,000 directly from Syngenta within the past few months. Cresswell did not declare a conflict of interests.

Rats fed a lifelong diet of one of the bestselling strains of genetically modified corn suffered tumours and multiple organ damage, according to a controversial French study published today. Scientists said the results raised serious questions about the safety of GM foods and the assurances offered by biotech companies and governments. The first lifetime trials involving rats fed on GM corn found a raised incidence of breast tumours, liver and kidney damage. Dr Michael Antoniou, a molecular biologist at King’s College, London, and an expert on GM foods, said: ‘It shows an extraordinary number of tumours developing earlier and more aggressively – particularly in female animals. I am shocked by the extreme negative health impacts.’

A senior Democratic lawmaker on Wednesday questioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's decision not to suspend use of an insecticide linked to massive bee die-offs, asking the agency to explain what steps it is taking to ensure there is sufficient scientific understanding of the issue. Describing bees as “vital to our nation's economy and food security,” Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., wrote a letter to the EPA expressing concern about widespread bee deaths that environmental advocacy groups say are associated with use of Bayer AG-developed pesticide clothianidin.

Reading people are being urged to get busy as a national bee campaign takes to the streets on Saturday. The activities are all part of The Bee Cause, an initiative organised by the Friends of the Earth, who called for a nationwide day of action to draw attention to how the use of chemicals in farming and horticulture are posing a threat to the nation’s bees. A University of Reading report, Decline of England’s Bees, found that increased use of insecticides used on crops pollinated by bees was having a dire effect on bees, and the increased use of herbicides was destroying important food sources for them too.

There is a new American video documentary about the global death of honeybees, bumblebees and other pollinators. This hard-hitting film lays the blame for this global ecological crisis firmly on the doorstep of the government regulatory agencies in America and Europe - working in collusion that verges on open conspiracy with the giant pesticide companies. The film has been produced by Earth Focus in the USA, working closely with PANNA - Pesticide Action Network North America, Beyond Pesticides and a variety of independent beekeepers, notably Tom Theobald and Dave Hackenburg.

The attached report by Dr. Rosemary Mason and Palle Uhd Jepsen provides evidence that, unwittingly or otherwise, a long-term strategy has existed with the aim of putting the pesticides industry in charge of human health and biodiversity. Over the last 20 years or so, a series of new products have been authorised by Regulatory Authorities around the world. Two in particular, the systemic neonicotinoid insecticides and genetically-engineered crops have caused gross contamination of the environment.