The farmer organisation European Coordination Via Campesina (ECVC) has condemned the 24 April vote by the European Parliament to support the deregulation of patented new GMOs/new genomic techniques (NGTs), which consolidated the Parliament's position adopted in an earlier vote in February. ECVC said, "In several open letters to MEPs, ECVC had denounced that it was unacceptable for the European Parliament to consolidate its position, while many key issues remained unresolved: extension of the scope of patents covering NGTs to traditional seeds, violation of the precautionary principle, negative opinions by several European agencies, Commission’s impact study on patents and EFSA opinion still to be published, etc. Today, the European Parliament has demonstrated its lack of integrity by approving this proposal without this essential information, despite the numerous inquiries of peasants’ organisations and GMO-free agricultural sector. This position of Parliament, which is based on empty promises on traceability, labelling and patentability of NGT plants, is unacceptable for small farmers in Europe, as any deregulation of patented GMOs would threaten their rights to preserve, use and exchange their own seeds, as well as the possibility of continuing to produce GMO-free." ECVC also criticised shortcomings in the EU proposal to alter the seeds law (plant reproductive material), on the grounds that they will impede farmers' seed freedom and encourage biopiracy by seed companies of traditional peasant seed varieties. ECVC called the two files – on new GMOs and seeds – "absolutely essential for peasants’ rights on seeds and the future of European agriculture, in particular the GMO-free agricultural sector and peasant agroecology". ECVC

 

 

In a new blow to those who argue that bioreactor-produced, GMO-derived, and synbio "alternative proteins" must replace animal-derived foods in order to save the climate, new research shows that building animal-driven carbon capture into sequestration models can lead to more accurate ecosystem carbon budgets, enhancing nature-based climate change solutions. The work, which is not specifically on livestock animals but presumably would also apply to them, shows that animal presence fundamentally changes the relationships between plants, microbes, and the environment. In turn, this leads to large changes in the amount of carbon captured and stored in ecosystems relative to conditions that exclude animals – meaning that animals can be allies in fighting climate change. Yale University’s Matteo Rizzuto, lead author on the paper, said, “Our results show that, when it comes to animals, it is really all about ‘what they do’ rather than ‘how many there are’. Animals move, eat, poop, die. And, they ‘change’ how carbon moves in ecosystems. Our model shows that animals eating, pooping, and peeing are really carbon capture multi-purpose vehicles. These three animal activities have the ‘largest’ effect on ecosystems’ carbon sequestration because they ‘speed up’ the whole carbon cycle. By supercharging the recycling processes in an ecosystem, animals’ presence can increase its carbon capture by 2-3 times.” See also this article on research that found that grazing ruminant animals on land benefits the environment and improves carbon cycling. GMWatch comments on articles in 8.9ha and Feed Navigator

 

 

George Monbiot, who wants to replace farming, and especially livestock farming, with high-tech bioreactor industrial food production, has been advising EU diplomats on the future of agriculture and the environment. This news has provoked strong pushback on Twitter/X from farmers and others, many of whom wanted to know if any actual farmers were present at the meeting. GMWatch comments on Twitter/X thread

 

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