Have a nice day and welcome to Sprout, where it’s National White Chocolate Day, National American Jar Pie Day, and National Lime Pie Day. You certainly have some culinary options today!
Here is the agricultural news of the day.
The head
We begin today at the United Nations, where the United Nations World Food Summit is about to begin. As the Guardian reports, the summit is not without controversy. In an interview with the Guardian, Michael Fakhri, the special rapporteur on food rights, said the international summit risk of leaving behind the very people who are essential to its success, without the worsening impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the right to food, nor the fundamental questions of inequality, accountability and governance having been properly addressed at the global meeting.
“The summit is led by scientists and research institutes who are pro-business,†Fakhri said. “People say, let’s give them the benefit of the doubt, let’s see if this is the ‘top of the people’ that he claims to be.”
“But they failed in what they planned to do. It is not the top of the people. It’s elitist, “he said. You can read an editorial by Fakhri here.
Meanwhile, the livestock industry is reportedly lobbying the United Nations to support more meat and dairy production, despite concerns about the sector’s environmental impact. As reported by the Guardian, documents obtained by Greenpeace Unearthed – the investigative arm of the environmental NGO Greenpeace – and seen by the Guardian, show that livestock industry bodies are threatening to withdraw from the meeting. international if other members of their summit discussion group do not share their “common goal”.
You can find the full webpage of today’s United National Food Systems Summit here. The international meeting is coming a few days before the World Food Forum, scheduled for September 28 in Milan, Italy.
In other titles from the United Nations Food Systems Summit:
Around the city
The annual meeting of the Canadian Farm Writers Federation kicks off this morning on Zoom. You can find more details here.
Statistics Canada has released data on food services and drinking places for July 2021. You can find out more here.
In Canada
Real Agriculture takes a look at what Monday’s federal election results suggest the rural-urban divide in this country has widened.
Also from Real Agriculture: BASF announced a donation of $ 300,000 at the Olds College Smart Farm in southern Alberta. The donation would be part of a three-year funding commitment to support the Smart Farm.
Internationally
US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack urges agricultural co-ops in the United States to strengthen their defenses against cyber attacks after New Cooperative Inc. of Iowa, one of the largest co-operatives in the United States, has was the target of a ransomware attack over the weekend. Bloomberg has more.
UK food producers warn soaring carbon dioxide prices will have an effect on prices for buyers as rising carbon dioxide costs will add to other inflationary prices, including rising commodity prices and staff shortages. As the Guardian reports, the warning to food producers comes as Environmental Secretary George Eustice said financial support would be available for private U.S. company CF Industries for three weeks.
Edwin Poots, Minister of Agriculture for Northern Ireland, calls for some immigration rules to be relaxed so that Filipino meat factory workers can enter the UK to alleviate labor shortages in Classes. BBC News has this story.
Also from BBC: Immune therapy derived from llama blood shows “Exciting potential” in the first trials on the coronavirus.
CNBC reviews the rise of the organic market.
Remarkable
The kick
A police dog in Barrie, Ontario was named after an OPP officer who committed suicide after battling mental illness in 2018. As Global News reports, the Belgian Malinois dog 18-month-old, called Routs, is named after the Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Sylvain “Racines” Routhier.
Until tomorrow.