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In the first case of its kind in Argentina, the poisoning of people through the use of pesticides has been punished. Soya farmer, Francisco Parra, and pilot of pesticide-spraying aircrafts, Edgardo Pancello, were yesterday convicted of polluting the neighbourhood of Ituzaingó Anexo with glyphosate and endosulfan. Both were given conditional sentences of three years, along with community service. A third defendant, also a soy producer, was acquitted due to lack of evidence. In 2001, a group of community activists known as the Mothers of Ituzaingó started to document the high number of miscarriages, infant deaths and illnesses in the area. According to the public attorney, 169 of the 5,000 inhabitants of Ituzaingó Anexo died from cancer between 2002 and 2010. Following the verdict, one of the claimants, environmental activist Sofía Gatica, whose baby daughter died of kidney failure shortly after birth said “It is a historic sentence, but the fact that it is only a conditional verdict is a slap into the face for the victims.” Gatica was awarded the ‘Goldman Environmental Prize’ for her courage in the ten-year battle against pesticides earlier this year. In Argentina, 370 million litres of pesticides are used every year, especially on the soy fields where animal feed for Europe’s meat industry is produced. In September, Sofìa Gatica and Maria del Milagro Godoy will talk about their experiences at the GMO Free Europe Conference, as well as at different events taking place as part of a speakers tour across Europe.

Climate change could threaten food supply chains from fields to consumers’ forks, and trigger further food price spikes such as the one the world is currently experiencing following the drought in the United States. According to food security experts contributing to a United Nations report on global warming (due to be published in 2014), governments should pay more attention to the impact of extreme weather events, such as heat, drought and floods, on food supplies. "It has not been properly recognised yet that we are dealing with a food system here. There is a whole chain that is also going to be affected by climate change", said Professor Dr John Porter of the University of Copenhagen. He added that he was only stating his personal opinion, not that of the UN panel. Floods could destroy roads or bridges, and prevent food from reaching processing factories or supermarkets. Heavy storms could destroy grain storage facilities. The experts said that extreme weather events require more research into drought- and flood-resistant crops.

On Sunday, British Prime Minister David Cameron hosted a hunger summit at Downing Street. Political leaders from Brazil, Kenya and India among others, as well as representatives from NGOs and the private sector, were joined by double Olympic champion Mo Farah at the event where a plan to cut child malnutrition by the next Olympics in Rio was announced. 170 million children are currently suffering from stunted growth as a result of inadequate diet, which prevents them from fulfilling their potential. Cameron hopes to secure sufficient pledges to save 25 million children under five from stunting by 2016. It is hoped this target will be met through scientific innovation, better government accountability in developing countries and greater co-operation with the private sector. The UK has promised a £120 million investment in research for drought-resistant and vitamin-enriched crops. Together with Canada, Ireland, the US and the Gates Foundation, Britain will invest in HarvestPlus: a programme for biofortified crops, to make nutrition-rich seeds and tubers availabe to people in Africa and India. Ahead of the summit, NGOs warned against the private sector liaison which involves companies such as Unilever, Syngenta and British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline. Amy Horton from World Development Movement criticised the approach of marketing products to the ‘bottom billion’ of poor consumers: “It’s great that David Cameron is using the Olympics to focus attention on the need to reverse the rising incidence of child malnutrition. But by promoting the role of big business in developing countries’ food markets, his approach risks entrenching the root causes of hunger.” This concern is shared by campaign group Baby Milk Action, which stated that “public-private partnerships involve shared decision making. This can lead to the control of marketing practices that undermine breastfeeding, and sustainable, affordable, nutritious family foods being overlooked in favour of ‘market-led’ strategies.”

According to the Food Price Index, global food prices have increased by 6% from June to July. The index, published today by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), measures monthly price changes in a food basket consisting of commodities such as cereals, dairy products and oilseed. Food prices averaged 213 points in July. This is still below the two previous price peaks in June 2008 and February 2011 - 224 and 238 points respectively. However, prices are getting dangerously close to the level of the 2007/2008 food price crisis when soaring cereal prices sparked violent food riots and hunger. “There is a potential for a situation to develop like we had back in 2007/08”, FAO’s Senior Economist Abdolreza Abbassian told Reuters. He warned against pursuing inadequate policies and intervening in the market by restrictions: “If those policies get repeated, anything is possible.” Following three months of decline, the current rise in prices was mainly triggered by a jump in grain and sugar prices. The FAO Cereal Price Index reached 260 points in July – a rise of 17% compared to June – and was only 14 points below the record high of 274 points in April 2008. The surge was driven by a severe deterioration of maize crop prospects due to the ongoing drought in large parts of the US, which pushed up maize prices by 23% in July. Worsened production prospects in the Russia and a strong anticipated demand for wheat as animal feed due to scarce maize supplies saw international wheat quotations increase by 19%.

According to a new report published last week by the European Environment Agency (EEA), emissions of air pollutants in the European Union have decreased over the past 20 years despite the fact that several Member States have failed to meet internationally agreed emission limits. The agricultural sector also remains one of the biggest polluters, along with industry, road transport, power plants and households. In 1999, European countries commited to reducing air pollution under the Gothenburg Protocol of the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP), which established emissions ceilings for nitrogen oxides, non-methane volatile organic compounds, ammonia and sulphur oxide - to be met by 2010. The report found that 11 countries had exceeded the agreed limits for these air pollutants. In 2010, the agricultural sector was responsible for the lion’s share of ammonia emissions (94%), with France and Germany accounting for most of these emissions in absolute terms. The good news is that ammonia (NH3) emissions decreased by 28% between 1990 and 2010, with the most significant cuts achieved by Poland, the Netherlands and Germany. The EEA report largely attributes the fall in ammonia emissions to reduced livestock numbers in Europe, and the lower use of nitrogenous fertilisers. Agriculture also accounts for 11% of coarse particulate matter emissions, which increased by 8% between 2000 and 2010 and are particularly harmful to human health.

The Kingdom of Bhutan has decided it will pursue its goal for all agriculture to become organic. The Himalayan nation, which borders India and China, plans for its food production to become 100% organic by 2020, an aim enshrined in Bhutan’s National Framework for Organic Farming. At the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio, Prime Minister Jigmi Thinley explained that his government is developing a full-fledged ‘National Organic Policy’ and is training agricultural extension officers in organic methods. Farmers opting for organic agriculture will be given priority in technical assistance. At an event organised by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) Mr Thinley stated that “going organic will create new economic opportunities for farmers and rural communities, adding value to what they produce and reducing the costs of farming as they’ll no longer have to pay for expensive imported seeds, pesticides, fertilisers and other chemicals.” According to IFOAM President Andre Leu, an adviser to the Bhutanese government, the complete transition to an organic agricultural system is feasible: “I don't think it's going to be that difficult given that the majority of the agricultural land is already organic by default”. Only a minority of Bhutan’s farmers have access to synthetic chemicals and fertilisers because they cannot afford them. Most of them, however, are not currently officially certified as organic farmers.

On Monday, US farmers and livestock groups called on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reduce or suspend the use of maize for ethanol production for an entire year. The ongoing drought in large parts of the US has led to soaring grain prices, causing concern about food supplies and high feed costs for cattle farmers. “We are having trouble buying corn”, said J.D. Alexander, president of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. “It's time to wean the ethanol industry and let it stand on its own.” In the US, around 40% of maize production is used to produce ethanol which is added to fuel in order to fill American petrol tanks. The EPA has the mandate to reduce the quotas, but has not granted a waiver since the Renewable Fuels Standard came into force in 2007. EPA officials announced that a waiver is currently not being taken into account. The request does not come as a surprise: Livestock farmers have been severely hit by the 50% increase in maize and wheat prices over the last six weeks following the worst drought in the US since 1956. According to a Reuters poll of 13 analysts, maize production will drop to 11.3 billion bushels, and soybean production to 2.834 bushels – the lowest figures in six and nine years respectively. These figures largely coincide with estimates from the US Department of Agriculture released last week.

In tandem with local farming partners, the Development Fund of Norway has today launched a project designed to establish the impact of sustainable agriculture on Malawi’s soils. Agriculture consultant Mahara Nyirenda explained to reporters that the project will gather empirical evidence that would serve to help promote sustainable farming practices to a larger proportion of farmers throughout the country. "For a long time, we have been saying that sustainable agriculture practices are very effective once engaged just because we observed increased crop productivity, we want to establish what exactly happens in the soils where a particular sustainable agriculture practice has been used." He said the Development Fund of Norway, together with its implementing partners Find Your Feet, Circle for Integrated Community Development (Cicod), Mzuzu Agricultural Development Division (Mzadd) and Trustees for Agricultural Production and Promotion (Tapp), have already started conducting soil analysis to determine changes that have taken place in the soil over past years. The Development Fund of Norway has, since 2001, been promoting sustainable agricultural practices in the country under a project that extends to neighbouring Zambia. However, Nyirenda said there was now a need to move from the current practice which solely assesses the efficacy of sustainable farming solely on changes in harvest output, to one that would detail the exact changes in the soil. "It might be hard for some people to understand that its these practices that lead to the improved yields because improved yields could be influenced by other factors as well depending on location," added Nyirenda. "We believe that when we have this evidence in place, we will be able to say this is what you can get if you use a particular sustainable agriculture practice, and we believe this way we can easily market the practices." Nyirenda also said that Norway’s local implementation partners are also starting to encourage farmers who have already tested sustainable agriculture practices to implement them on a larger scale.

Food experts are warning that America's Midwest drought threatens a repetition of the 2008 global food crisis, when spiraling prices set off riots in parts of Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. With corn and soybean crops in the midst of an unrelenting heat wave, huge crop losses are inevitable. This will, in turn, boost food and fuel prices and cut exports and aid from the United States, the world's largest exporter of these key crops. "We're moving from a crisis to a horror story," said Purdue University agronomist Tony Vyn. "I see an increasing number of fields that will produce zero grain ". The drought is the worst since 1956, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in a report released on Monday. Drought is now affecting 55% of the land mass in the lower 48 states. Marie Brill, a policy analyst at ActionAid joined the voices raising alarm saying "What's difficult is that we see a drought happen today but people really are going to be feeling that six months from now, possibly a year from now". Brill went on to say that it was already clear the reduced supply, and high prices of corn and soybean were set to cause serious hardship – especially among poor people in poor countries which depend on imported grain. Countries that are net importers of corn will be hit the hardest including South Korea, Japan, Peru, Guatemala, El Salvador and Columbia. Much of East Africa will also be badly affected, she said. Even those African countries that produce their own corn will suffer because they are locked into the higher global prices. America's demand for ethanol may further limit the amount of corn on the world market. This is because 40% of America's corn is used for ethanol which serves to drive up the price of corn. But there were some reports that American ethanol factories have been temporarily closed down across the mid-west, because high corn prices made ethanol production uneconomic.

A ground breaking new book, ‘Sustainable Diets and Biodiversity’, exploring sustainable diets and how they relate to the production and consumption of the food we eat, has this week been released by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Bioversity International. Written by prominent scientists, policy makers and practitioners, the book studies the link between agriculture, health, the environment and industry. Making a compelling case for re-examining both food systems and diets, this new publication attempts to address concerns around the vast numbers of the global population not deriving sufficient nutrition from their diets. The authors also look at viable solutions to address biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation and the resulting impact on poverty and health. Barbara Burlingame, Principal Officer of the FAO Nutrition and Consumer Protection Division said “Sustainable Diets are those diets with low environmental impacts which contribute to food and nutrition security and to healthy life for present and future generations. Sustainable diets are protective and respectful of biodiversity and ecosystems, culturally acceptable, accessible, economically fair and affordable; nutritionally adequate, safe and healthy; while optimizing natural and human resources.’ Emile Frison, Director General of Bioversity International added “This publication is an important milestone in sharing our work on sustainable diets and their contribution to sustainable development. It makes the much-needed link between agriculture and the environment and is at the core of our work on nutrition. Sustainable food systems need good policies based on the best evidence from smallholders, large-scale producers and even at the global level. This book illustrates that imaginative, holistic approaches, that combine disciplines from the natural and social sciences to address the multiple dimensions of malnutrition and sustainability, are possible.” Welcomed by experts in this field, ‘Sustainable Diets and Biodiversity’ elevates food from being viewed just as nutrients, to being considered an integral part of our lives and livelihoods profoundly affecting us and the environment around us. In doing so, this publication represents a tangible contribution to Rio+20 ‘follow-up’ and the post 2015 development agenda.