CABI Blogs: hand picked... and carefully sorted

The Environmental Impact of NutritionandFoodSciences…dot org

We've explored obesity in many different forms during the course of this year and if you're a regular Handpicked reader (enter your email in the box on the left and click on 'subscribe' to become one if you're not already), you'll by now be well aware of a recurring theme in our nutrition posts. Energy. This thread will doubtless also run through the imminent new CABI product Environmental Impact (plug, plug), where I hope the loose ends help the experts tie the information in nice, concise and user-friendly packages as opposed to a confused mess of knots.

Death takes the poor man's cow...

Seven years since the major outbreak of foot and mouth disease devastated farming here in the UK, another animal health disaster story is unfolding just over a thousand miles to the south, in Morocco. A viral disease, called peste des petit ruminants (PPR), in sheep and goats has broken out in Morocco for the first time. This story may not be reaching the main news channels, but it is having a serious impact on the livelihoods of the many people who rely on these animals to survive, and it could spread to neighbouring countries.

EAAE Conference

The XIIth Congress of the European Association of Agricultural Economists (EAAE) took place in Ghent, Belgium. The theme 'People, Food and Environments: Global trends and European strategies' meant a huge variety of topics were covered in a packed 4 days. Attended by well over 750 delegates from all over Europe plus a strong US presence and some Asian and African representation, the contributed papers and posters gave a wider international feel to the conference.

Intellectual activity blamed for obesity epidemic

Its becoming a hobby of mine, spotting odd reasons for the obesity epidemic. Here's the latest: don’t read the next bit too closely and certainly don’t analyse it because the intellectual activity could be bad for your body weight. That’s what a study in Psychosomatic Medicine suggests at first glance. 

ICPP 2008

CABI’s presence was strong at this year’s International Congress of Plant Pathology (ICPP). The 9^th congress, entitled “Healthy and safe food for everybody”, was held in the Lingotto Conference Centre, Torino, Italy. There were participants from 84 countries and 1430 pre-registered. Attendees primarily visited from Italy, USA and UK.

Source: http://www.icpp2008.org

Pollinator Presence Plummets

National Wildlife Week in Canada was from 6-12 April and this year’s theme was pollinators. Hot on its heels was National Pollinator Week in Washington D.C. from 22-28 June. I am pleased to see an upkeep of the pollinator profile. This is hardly surprising given the importance of these industrious workers. Their increasing decline makes profile lifters such as these of the utmost importance.