  |
|
|
|
Comprehensive International Organic News©
Organic Newsline, an electronic newsletter, provides comprehensive weekly international news from Organic Trade Services http://www.organicts.com based in the UK.
A typical issue includes short news storie from Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia. There is also an international calendar and a classified ads section. The ads are usually made up of farmers and manufacturers looking for export markets for such products as organic Finnish licorice or organic Spanish wine. Articles are arranged into subject headings such as the special May 24th section on ETHICAL INVESTMENT, along with the regular COMPANIES AND PRODUCTS, GM ISSUES, and GENERAL NEWS from Europe and the World.
Here's a sampling of article titles from the May 24, 2001 issue:
*Germany: More Regional Support For Organic
*Italian Ministry Launches Organic Promotional Campaign
*USA: Alternative Growers Teach At N.C. School
*China: Green Food Promoted In Anhui Province
*New Zealand: Triple Bottom Line Includes Ethics
*Belgium. Fair Trade To Reduce Poverty
*USA: Green Mountain Coffee Reports Net Income Up 97.2%
BELGIUM. FAIR TRADE TO REDUCE POVERTY May 17, AFP "Made in dignity" is the fair trade label in Belgium, one of a number of ethical tags which are developing quickly across Europe to ensure that producers from poorer countries receive a cost price for their products superior to those imposed by multinationals. ìWe guarantee the farmers and artisans a price above that of the world market ", explains to AFP Denis Lambert, responsible for Oxfam Belgium stores, which have more than 200 selling points across the world. Coffee is a pertinent example. Since January, 1999, the price of the coffee has been in free-fall, following the dismantling of the regulatory system in 1989. This decline threatens the survival of millions of producers. For Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and Ethiopia, coffee represents more than half of export income. Wild market fluctuations, caused by speculators can reduce by half, from one year to the next, the already very low level of income for families and whole villages. "We pay a fair price to our coffee producers. The market price is 65 cents per pound of arabica, we give them 1.26 dollars", asserts Denis Lambert. To succeed in guaranteeing this cost price, intermediaries are abolished. "We try to avoid every useless intermediary, so that the main beneficiary of the income is the producer. If an intermediary is necessary, we commit organizations to similar actions to ours" he continues. |
|
|
|
