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The Nordic Diet
Catherine Phipps, Guardian
It's a useful resource for winter recipes, but isn't suggesting we in the UK eat a Nordic diet all year round going a bit far? Could you be convinced?
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It all started back in 2004, when Claus Meyer, co-owner of the much feted Noma, brought together a number of well respected Scandinavian chefs in order to formulate a number of principles which were to become the New Nordic Cuisine Movement manifesto .

Central was the idea that a diet rich in Scandinavian foods could be seasonal yet varied, traditional yet innovative, and above all, healthy without heavy resort to ingredients from outside the region. A few years later, Copenhagen University embarked on a project to establish exactly how healthy a traditional Scandinavian diet is, with preliminary research indicating 'very'.

... Fast forward to last month: Trina Hahnemann, described as the Danish Delia, has brought out her own version of The Nordic Diet, in an effort to encourage us to ditch our longstanding love affair with all things Mediterranean, and embrace the Scandinavian way which she considers to be a healthier, greener, more natural diet for northern Europeans to adopt.
(1 February 2010)
related: British olives, anyone? -KS

UK overseas aid ignoring small scale agriculture
the ecologist
Department for International Development (DfID) accused of failing to support long-term agricultural programmes and being obsessed with an 'industrial model' of food production

MPs have criticised the Department for International Development (DfID) for overseeing a decline in support for agriculture in international development and ignoring the needs of smallholder farmers who make up the bulk of food production in less industrialised countries.

A new report, 'Why no thought for food?', from the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Agriculture and Food for Development, revealed that spending on agricultural programmes currently makes up just 3 per cent of DfID's total annual aid expenditure.

Sub-Saharan Africa

In sub-Saharan Africa, where hunger and malnutrition are pronounced, agriculture spending is just 0.3 per cent of the DFID's total aid spend.

MPs called on DfID and the UK Government to raise that figure and commit to 10 per cent of overseas aid to food security and sustainable agriculture.

They said the funding should, as the findings of the groundbreaking IAASTD report recommended in 2008, focus efforts on small scale farmers, especially women smallholders...
(3 Feb 2010)
The All Parliamentary Group report Why No Thought for Food? is here.

and thanks again to kalpa's blog for the stories below. -KS

Greece farmers demand subsidies at Athens protest march
BBCNews
Hundreds of Greek farmers have marched through the capital Athens demanding more subsidies and higher prices for their goods.

The rally came after 10 days of nationwide protests by farmers who blocked main roads with their tractors.

The campaign has increased pressure on a government already wrestling with an acute economic crisis.
But the government said its austerity programme left it no room to accede to the farmers' demands.

"The government is determined to get the country out of the crisis," Agriculture Minister Katerina Batzeli said after meeting farming union representatives on Sunday. "It can't afford the money they are asking for."
(25 Jan 2010)

Gulf firm seeks long-term lease on Tanzanian farmland
thisday
A UNITED Arab Emirates (UAE) company is seeking a 98-year lease on vast tracts of farmland in Tanzania to grow rice in order to secure food supplies for the Gulf countries.

Pharos Miro Agriculture Fund, which was launched in November last year, plans to lay hands on 50,000 hectares of prime land in Tanzania this year.

According to media reports from the Gulf, the private sector fund is to invest $350m in farmland across Africa and Europe.

The company says it has attracted interest from Gulf sovereign wealth funds seeking to secure food supplies, an executive told Reuters last week.

Gulf countries, mainly reliant on food imports, have increased efforts to buy or lease land in developing nations such as Tanzania to secure food supplies and minimize the impact of food inflation.

...The Tanzanian contract will be on a 98-year lease basis and includes terms under which the local community will benefit from the farm's produce and employment opportunities will be created, Barnes added.

He declined to disclose the cost of the deal, but noted: "Many people think that land in Africa is cheap, but it's not because you have to invest in infrastructure which is not there, thus costing around $1,500-2,000 per hectare."

In Eastern Europe the company will be able to have freehold rights over the land which roughly costs around $2,000 per hectare, said Barnes, adding: "We are looking for land across that area in countries like Romania, Bulgaria and Moldova and this will give a good mix for the portfolio to have land in both Africa and Europe."

The fund announced last year that crops from Eastern Europe would be mainly sold to the Middle East while from land acquired in Africa the crops would be sold domestically.

...Details of many key land deals have been kept secret so it is unknown whether they have built-in safeguards for local populations.

There has also been a considerable land grab in Tanzania for foreign companies investing in bio-fuels at the expense of local food production...
(4 Feb 2010)