CABI Blogs: hand picked... and carefully sorted

Milk Quotas in European Union to Be Abolished after 31 Years

By Miroslav Djuric, DVM, Editor of Dairy Science Abstracts

Milk quotas in the European Union (EU) will be abolished from the 1 April 2015, exactly 31 years after its introduction.

The Dairy Produce Quota Regulations were introduced by the European Economic Community (EEC) on the 2 April 1984 and were originally due to run until 1989, but have been extended many times since then.

According to this regulation, the milk market in the EU is regulated by a quota system. Every member country has a production quota which it distributes to farmers. Whenever a member country exceeds its quota, it has to pay a penalty (‘super levy’) to the EU.

 

 

 

Abolition of milk quotas has been heavily criticized by farmers. However, in the light of globalization of dairy markets in recent years, together with increased consumption of dairy products outside the EU, milk quotas have long outlived their usefulness for EU countries. It is estimated that global milk production between 2008 and 2013, for example, increased by over 90 billion litres  -  equivalent to over half of the entire EU production of 160 million litres.

Apart from distorting production across the EU, national quotas have facilitated dairy market development in other countries. For example, New Zealand and Australia, which produce only 5% of global milk, account for 40% of global exports of dairy products. Meanwhile, the EU accounts for 24% of the global milk production, and 24% of world cheese, butter, skimmed milk powder (SMP) and whole milk powder (WMP)  exports, according to figures presented by CLAL (dairy brokerage firm).

“A Wakeup Call” on Climate Change and Global Health

Climate change will affect human health through multiple routes according to speakers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) on Friday. They were there to launch “Climate Change and Global Health”, a book that analyses impacts on human health from heat waves, vector-borne diseases to conflict.

Sir Andy Haines, Professor of Public Health and Primary Care, and former director of the LSHTM, described the book is a “wakeup call”, “creating a new paradigm that will define the issue for decades to come.” He highlighted the role of the late Tony McMichael, a contributor to the book, who developed the concept of the “healthy worker effect” (the observation that people in employment tend to be healthier) and pioneered the study of climate change and global health.

Colin Butler, at the LSHTM, London

The Cost of Pakistan’s Floods

IPCC Highlights Urgent Need for Greater Political Will Over Climate Change Readiness

The last 2 weeks have seen the worst floods in Kashmir for almost 50 years. In Pakistan alone, more than 250 people have died and hundreds of thousands have been displaced. The waters currently extend well into the country’s most populous province, Punjab and are due to effect more southern areas in Sindh and Balochistan, very soon. Climate change scenarios predict events like this will be increasingly common, especially in South Asia, where already, there is evidence that the annual monsoon has become much less predictable than in the past. A combination of Pakistan’s agricultural economy, reliance on river-bodies for irrigation and its high number of poor, rural communities, make it particularly vulnerable to the effects of flooding, predicted to become more common under future climate change scenarios.  According to an expert panel convened last month in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, a combination of lack of political will, poor governance and degradation of natural resources is to blame for the countries current lack of climate change readiness.

International Women’s Day 2014: Women in agriculture

by Rachel Hill with contributions from Abigail Rumsey, Claire Curry, Emily Palmer and Léna Durocher-Granger.

For over a century countries globally have celebrated International Women’s Day as a day to reflect on the role of women in society. In honor of International Women’s Day 2014 we are giving a special focus to women in agriculture.

Female farmers account for around 40% of the agricultural work force in parts of the developing world. Despite this, women face severe constraints in accessing agricultural resources and markets. This ‘gender gap’ reduces their productivity and their contribution to food security. Reducing the gender gap in agriculture and increasing women’s access to resources such as land, seed and water, and to education, technologies and markets will significantly help to lift rural communities out of poverty and reduce food insecurity.

Mind the gap

In developing countries, women are playing an increasingly prominent role in agriculture, now making up 43% of the agricultural labour force on average. The following graph shows how the numbers of women in agriculture have increased around the word since 1980.

It has been recognized that women are producing 60-80% of the food in most developing countries, but less than 2% of land is owned by women. Women often bear the brunt of managing both agricultural production and providing social protection services to family members and to vulnerable people in their community. The agricultural roles of women may vary between regions, however there is one thing that many women in developing countries have in common and that is lower access to resources such as inputs, extension services, credit and to markets for their produce. Women are also underrepresented in policy-making processes and laws and therefore, their needs, interests and constraints are not reflected. Evidence shows that if women were given the same agricultural resources as men they would achieve the same yields. The current yield gap between males and females in agriculture is around 20-30%. The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) estimate that closing the yield gap will lift 150 million people out of hunger and out of the estimated 925 million people undernourished this would make a significant contribution to global food security.

Limitations of Voluntary Plan for Phasing Out Non-Medical Antibiotic Use in Farm Animals in USA

By M Djuric, DVM

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently issued a guidance document on the use of antibiotics in farm animals. The document notes that excessive use leads to the spread of antibiotic-resistant diseases in both animals and humans. In the document, the FDA proposes that pharmaceutical companies voluntarily change some of their labelling and marketing practices to help phase out the use of certain antibiotics for enhanced food production.

All the drugs affected by this plan are antibacterial products, which have long been approved for the treatment, control or prevention of animal diseases.  However, the same antibiotics are often added to the animal feed or drinking water of cattle, pigs, and poultry to gain weight faster or use less feed to gain weight.

The agency is asking animal pharmaceutical companies to notify the FDA within the next three months of their intent to voluntarily make the changes recommended in the guidance document. Based on timeframes set out in the guidance document, companies would then have three years to fully implement these changes.

New £45m Veterinary School at University of Surrey, UK – Construction to Begin

M Djuric, DVM

The proposal to construct a new Veterinary School of Medicine at the Manor Park campus of the University of Surrey in Guildford, England, UK has been given planning permission by the Guildford Borough Council. This will be one of eight of veterinary schools in the UK.

The new Veterinary school will consist of three buildings.  The main academic building will include offices, teaching spaces, lecture theatres, research laboratories, a cafe and an animal clinical skills centre -  the new school’s flagship centre.

The animal clinical skills centre will include a haptics laboratory, which will feature simulators that will help students to develop their clinical diagnostic skills and mock veterinary surgery practise.

The University of Surrey will receive a grant from the Higher Funding Council for England for the clinical skills centre, which will include an animal examination area, as well as livestock and handling areas.

The new school of Veterinary Medicine will invest in 65 new posts within the university and joint academic posts with partner institutions, as well as numerous support staff roles.

Farm Animal Welfare Moves Up Business Agenda

By Miroslav Djuric, DVM, CAB International

 

The second report of the Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare has been published with the expertise and support of animal welfare organisations, Compassion in World Farming (CWF) and World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA).

70 companies from across Europe and the USA were assessed, representing food retailers and wholesalers, restaurants and food producers and manufacturers. Companies were assigned into six tiers according to their approach to the management of farm animal welfare and across three categories: Management Commitment and Policy, Governance and Policy Implementation and Leadership and Innovation.

The Report showed that 56% of companies have published formal farm animal welfare policies in 2013 (compared with 46% in 2012) and that 41% have published objectives and targets for farm animal welfare compared with 26% in 2012.

 

Climate change and extreme weather

Image from BBC News images

As we have read in the news this morning, the weather system named St Jude's storm swept in from the Atlantic and hit the Southern part of the UK today, with winds gusting up to 99 mph (The Guardian online) and causing a lot of damage, including widespread travel disruption due to flooding, power cuts, and 100s of fallen trees. Could extreme weather and its devastating effects become a common occurrence from now on?

Warming in the climate system is unequivocal - IPCC Fifth Assessment Report on Climate Change

The much anticipated Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 5th Assessment Report on Climate Change was released today. In fact, what was released is the summary report for policymakers, which was produced by the IPCC’s Working Group I, and aimed to present the findings as clearly as possible. The full report will be released in unedited form on Monday, 30th September 2013 and will be available in the IPCC webpage.

New urban invasives report launched with CABI contributions

 

Highly invasive Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica) growing in High Wycombe, UK

 

Contributed by Esther Gerber, CABI Switzerland

Last week in Gland, Switzerland, a meeting was held on the threat of urban ecosystems titled ‘Invasive Alien species: the Urban Dimension.” During the meeting, a representative of the European Commission announced a series of upcoming regulations aimed to increase control and prevention of invasives and its damage on the continent. This announcement was further explained in an official press release outlining the new EU directive.

 

Prior to the meeting, a publication from the International Union on the Conversation of Nature (IUCN) was distributed which featured CABI’s work on Fallopia among its many other invasive alien species (IAS) projects. The work of CABI scientists provides key examples of the type of research which the new EU policies could aim to support- sustainable biocontrol solutions to manage the spread and damage of harmful species. New doors opened to research and implementation of these measures would further efforts to protect natural ecosystems and wildlife in rural and urban areas alike. IUCN informed attendees of the event that the publication on urban invasives was already picked up in Mark Kinver’s BBC news article.Click here to view the full report.

 

The rest of the meeting focused more specifically on the threat posed by invasives to urban ecosystems. It was attended by over 60 participants from regulators, researchers, and nature protection organizations, which included animal rights and wildlife trade groups such as the Born Free Foundation and the World Association of Zoos and Aquaria. The event was sponsored by Switzerland’s Federal Office for the Environment (BAFU) and the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU). Experts and stakeholders from fields relevant to invasive alien species (IAS) management covered a diverse range of topics appropriate for the group of attendees.

 

With the announcement of new regulations, events such as this one on urban invasives will continue to engage experts in the field, and offer platforms to exchange ideas for meeting this call to action. CABI, as a centre for research on invasives for over 100 years, will continue to be part of this conversation and present sustainable solutions to this dynamic and increasingly important EU environmental agenda. For more on CABI’s invasive work, click here: http://www.cabi.org/projects/subjects/invasive-species/