This section highlights information which has been added to the website within the last 14 days.
ADDED Tuesday July 22, 2008 – EVENTS - OUTPUTS |
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Organic market trends and sustainability: presentations
The UK fresh produce sector recently held its annual re:fresh conference. One of the key presentations was by Andrew Fearne of The dunnhumby Academy of Consumer Research, Kent Business School. His presentation reveals the results of a major research project into trade and consumer perceptions of organic produce, asks how this affects perceptions of all other produce, and whether the industry should be relaying a new set of messages to its end customers. You can download both his presentation and the actual report of his research here: www.refreshconference.com . There are also interesting presentations from researchers on th following subjects:
- Food production in the 21 Century: What are we trying to achieve? (Rosemary Collier)
- How can genetics help deliver sustainability? (David Pink)
- How to obtain a more sustainable pre-harvest fruit chain? (Esther Bravin)
As well as other presentations. |
ADDED Tuesday July 22, 2008 – RESEARCH LIBRARY – WATER |
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waterfootprint.org
This website outlines the concept of the water footprint. The water footprint of an individual, business or nation is defined as the total volume of freshwater that is used to produce the goods and services consumed by the individual, business or nation. This website explains the concepts of the water footprint and of ‘virtual water’ (When there is a transfer of products or services from one place to another, there is little direct physical transfer of water … There is however a significant transfer of virtual water. By importing virtal water, water poor countries can relieve the pressure on their domestic water resources). There are also online water footprint calculators (for individuals and nations) and an extensive publication list.
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ADDED Tuesday July 22, 2008 – RESEARCH LIBRARY – INDUSTRY |
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Guardian article on Thanet Earth greenhouse
The Guardian (11 June 2008) reported that: 'Once built, this will be Britain's biggest greenhouse development, which will increase by 15% the UK's crop of salad vegetables. Cucumbers and peppers will be grown hydroponically and picked continuously from February to October, tomatoes harvested every day of the week, 52 weeks a year. The project is costing £80 million and will cover 91 hectares.Combined Heat and Plower plants are being installed that that will provide enough electricity to supply over 50,000 homes; more than half of Thanet’s needs. CHP will generate power for the National Grid but will also produce by-products needed to grow - the hot water produced will replace conventional boiler heating normally needed to warm the greenhouses whilst the carbon dioxide will be absorbed by the plants as part of the natural growing process. |
ADDED Tuesday July 22, 2008 – RESEARCH LIBRARY – INDUSTRY |
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British Soft Drinks Association commits to environmental targets
Britain's leading soft drinks companies from Britvic to Coca-Cola have teamed up to commit to targets on:
- Climate change (30% reduction in CO2 by 2020 on 1990 levels)
- Waste and packaging (zero waste to landfill by 1015
- Water (reduce water used by 20% by 2020 on 2007 levels
- Transport (reduce external impacts of transport – not defined in press release – by 20% by 2012 on 2002 levels).
To read the BSDA press release, see here. For coverage in the Telegraph see here.
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ADDED Tuesday July 22, 2008 – RESEARCH LIBRARY – POLICY |
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Promoting Sustainable Consumption – OECD report
The OECDs report entitled: Promoting Sustainable Consumption: Good practices in OECD countries is part of the OECD contribution to the UN Marrakech Process on Sustainable Consumption and Production. The report reviews the approaches taken in different OECD countries to promote sustainable consumption, categorising these approaches as follows: Standards and labels, Taxes and charges, Subsidies and incentives, Communications campaigns, Education, Voluntary labelling, Corporate reporting, Advertising, Public procurement, Understanding consumer behaviour, Combining policy instruments, Institutionalising sustainable consumption. At the end of each of these it gives a few good practice case studies of specific actions taken by various countries.
The report concludes that the 'complexity and array of government tools and initiatives directed at sustainable consumption underline the need for more integrated programmes as well as institutionalisation of sustainable consumption in sustainable development strategies'.
For more about the Marrakech process see here. |
ADDED Friday July 18, 2008 RESEARCH LIBRARY – POLICY |
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Strategy Unit food report published A ten-month Strategy Unit project looking at food policy across Government was published by the Cabinet Office in early July 2008. Food matters: Towards a strategy for the 21st Century concludes that rising demand, climate change, and trade and productivity restrictions must all be addressed. Commissioned by the Prime Minister, the report focuses on food issues in the UK and puts them in a global context. It draws together evidence about long-term trends in food production and consumption, and how food safety and nutrition impact on the health of the UK. The report makes several recommendations, including that building on the Stern Review and drawing on the UK’s world class science base, the UK should take a leadership role in looking at how the world can meet the twin challenges of climate change and global food security. The Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser is commissioning a major new project on this, which is announced today. It will explore how the food system and its associated policies will need to mitigate and adapt to climate change. You can read the press release and follow links to the full report here.
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ADDED Friday July 18, 2008 RESEARCH LIBRARY – BIOFUELS |
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UK Government Biofuels review
In July 2008. Transport Secretary, Ruth Kelly, and Environment Secretary, Hilary Benn, set out a new approach to biofuels based on recommendations from the Gallagher review, including that the introduction of biofuels in the UK should be slowed down to take into account emerging scientific evidence about their sustainability.
Read the press release here.
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ADDED Friday July 18, 2008 - OPPORTUNITIES |
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PhD Studentship: Modelling, monitoring and mitigating the carbon footprint of food supply chains
This PhD opportunity is offered as part of a partnership between Newcastle Business School (NBS) at Northumbria University and AB Agri Ltd; which is part of Associated British Foods Ltd and is an international UK-based business delivering products, technology and services to food, drink and animal feed supply chains. Many of these supply chains start with the production of animal feeds and food end-products can be traced back through supply chains to these inputs.
AB-Agri and NBS have so far collaborated to map out the supply chains for a selection of pork and chicken end-products and produced baseline
estimates of the carbon footprint for those products. The purpose of
this project is to take this baseline information into the future, to identify where the significant contributions to total environmental impact are happening throughout the supply chain, monitor the baseline as processes evolve and to identify how best to mitigate the most significant carbon hotspots.
Further details can be found here.
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ADDED Friday July 18, 2008 - OPPORTUNITIES |
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Scottish Agricultural College PGDip/MSc course in Organic Farming
This coruse is available for part time study through on-line distance learning. With the exception of several weekend schools and a short study tour, the learning is carried out in the student’s own home or workplace. There are eight taught modules providing a range of technical, marketing, management, work experience and professional skills development. A study tour is also used to visit a range of organic and conventional farms as well as businesses operating in the organic food supply and distribution chain. Further details can be found here. |
ADDED Friday July 18, 2008 - OPPORTUNITIES |
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Leeds University MSc Sustainability (Climate Change)
In September 2008 the University of Leeds will run its new MSc Sustainability (Climate Change). This is one of a suite of Sustainability masters programmes, for which we are registering students for study this academic year or in the future. The programme provides students with a solid foundation in the broader debates on sustainability as well as expertise in climate change, encompassing the physical science of climate change, climate change impacts, and adaptation to and mitigation of climate change. The programme's interdisciplinary training is based upon compulsory modules on sustainability, in physical climate science and in the economic, political and business dimensions of managing climate change and its impacts. There are also electives to broaden or focus the taught content, and the dissertation gives students a chance to examine an issue of their choice in detail. The programme also offers a stepping stone towards a doctoral degree for qualified and interested students. More details can be found here. |
ADDED Friday July 18, 2008– EVENTS - OUTPUTS |
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Symposium presentations
The Agricultural Sustainability Institute at the University of California, Davis held a symposium last year on Critical Issues and Research Methods in Food Life Cycle Assessment. You can find the extended symposium summary as well as some of the invited speakers' presentations at the ASI’s website. |
ADDED Friday July 18, 2008– RESEARCH LIBRARY - WASTE |
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New Zealand – animal waste made into plastic
A process developed at the University of Waikato will allow animal waste to be turned into useful and biodegradable plastic. The new process, developed over two years by University of Waikato chemical engineer Dr Johan Verbeek and Masters student Lisa van den Berg, can turn animal protein waste like blood meal and feathers into a biodegradable plastic using industry-standard plastic extrusion and injection moulding machinery. Dr Verbeek says "The material we can produce has the strength of polyethylene - the plastic used in milk bottles and plastic supermarket bags - but it's fully biodegradable." Dr Verbeek expected the bioplastic would be suitable for agricultural plastic sheeting, seedling trays, plant pots and even biodegradable golf tees, for which, he said there was a surprisingly high demand. For more information see here or here. |
ADDED Friday July 18, 2008 - OPPORTUNITIES |
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University of East Anglia, School of Development Studies: New MSc in Climate Change and International Development (MScCCID)
Registration open for September 2008. This new MSc in Climate Change and International Development has been designed to meet the career needs of people working in international development and climate change policy and practice. The course will cover a range of issues surrounding international and local dimensions, particularly the questions of mitigation and adaptation in resource-poor and vulnerable settings. The course will address aspects of the policy process, and include units on dimensions of climate change (CC) and development: International policy frameworks on climate change; Adaptation and Mitigation choices and pathways; Adaptation and National Responses; Linking CC mitigation and development (CDM and beyond); The carbon trade: markets and development; CC and poverty reduction, trade-offs and synergies; Local responses to extreme events and disasters; adaptation and mitigation impacts in Africa; Sectoral responses (e.g. Managing coastal / water resources).
For more information see here. |
ADDED Friday July 18, 2008– RESEARCH LIBRARY - CONSUMPTION |
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WRAP on wine WRAP has now completed its Glassrite project. This was a large-scale demonstration project of the viability and opportunities available to the wine industry for bulk importing wine, lightweighting bottles – it also explores consumer perceptions of these. To download the reports (5 in all, of which one is a general overview) see here. |
ADDED Friday July 18, 2008 – RESEARCH LIBRARY - WASTE |
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WRAP research on recycling household plastic The UK produces around 1.4m tonnes of mixed plastic packaging waste every year – including yoghurt pots, salad bags and ready meal trays and this figure is growing by 2-5% every year. In 2008 WRAP, the Waste Resources Action Programme, published research into the best ways of dealing with it, asking if it made financial sense to recycle this waste and if recycling it would be better for the environment than other options – such as burning it or sending it to landfill. The research showed that, in addition to the environmental benefits, recycling can be cheaper than both these options. It found that overall, landfill is the least favourable option for disposing of plastics waste. However, in terms of global warming potential the research found that incineration of plastic packaging, was the worst option. This is because more CO2 is emitted by burning plastics than by burning gas or coal to generate the same amount of energy. It also found that the best environmental option is to invest in technology to produce high quality recycled plastics, but there will still be a need for solid recovered fuel (SRF) in some cases. Consequently, it makes sense to build integrated plants capable of both options as this improves the economic benefit and maximises the environmental impact
To read the press release and for the link to the full report see here. |
