Campaigners say plants being grown in US may worsen global food crisis, while farmers express cross-contamination fears US farmers are growing the first corn plants genetically modified for the specific purpose of putting more ethanol in gas tanks rather than producing more food. Aid organisations warn the new GM corn could worsen a global food crisis exposed by the famine in Somalia by diverting more corn into energy production. The food industry also opposes the new GM product because, although not inedible, it is unsuitable for use in the manufacture of food products that commonly use corn. Farmers growing corn for human consumption are also concerned about cross-contamination. The corn, developed by a branch of the Swiss pesticide firm Syngenta, contains an added gene for an enzyme (amylase) that speeds the breakdown of starches into ethanol. Ethanol plants normally have to add the enzyme to corn when making ethanol. The Enogen-branded corn is being grown for the first time commercially on about 5,000 acres on the edge of America’s corn belt in Kansas, following its approval by the US Department of Agriculture last February. In its promotional material Syngenta says it will allow farmers to produce more ethanol from the corn while using less energy and water. Meanwhile, campaigners say the corn will heap pressure on global food supplies and contribute to environmental degradation. They argue Enogen will lead to an increase in the amount of food crops going to fuel, leaving less for human consumption and leading to food price rises. That will lead to food price rises on the global market. “The temptation to look at food as another form of fuel to use for the energy crisis will exacerbate the food crisis,” said Todd Post of Bread for the World, a Christian anti-hunger organisation. Although individual events such as the Somalia famine are caused by a complex combination of factors, several studies have established that the expansion of biofuels has pushed up food prices worldwide, making it harder to afford for the poorest. A World Bank report released on Tueday says food prices that are now close to their 2008 peak have contributed to the famine in Somalia. Marie Brill, a senior policy analyst at ActionAid warned: “It’s going to put even more pressure on a really tight market. It will be really tempting to farmers to take on this new more efficient ethanol form of corn.” The food industry is warning of the dangers of contaminating existing corn crops with the new GM corn. The same traits that make the modified corn so attractive to the ethanol industry – the swift breakdown of starches – would be a disaster for the food industry, turning corn chips into shapeless lumps, and stripping the thickening properties from corn starch. Even a small amount of the amylase corn – one kernel out of 10,000 – could damage food products, according to data supplied to the North American Millers’ Association by Syngenta. The organisation, like most food industry groups, has opposed the corn, noting failures to prevent cross-contamination from earlier GM breeds. The European Union, South Korea, and South Africa have not approved its import. Enogen also has to catch on among farmers. “I’m sceptical as a farmer,” said Allen Jasper, who runs a cattle-feed operation near Whitten, Iowa. “The first thing I’m going to ask is how does it yield. Any time you try and change a corn plant and get it to do something that is not native to the plant you have to be sceptical of the yield.” Syngenta maintains the corn variety has a high yield, and that it has the appropriate safeguards to prevent cross- pollination. After Kansas, the company plans to expand its growing area to Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, and southwest Minnesota. Farmers will grow the corn under contract to an ethanol production plant, getting a premium over regular corn. Buffer rows of corn will be planted. “This is a very slow ramp-up. This is not a broad acre crop at this point,” said Paul Minehart, a Syngenta spokesman. Steve McNinch, of Western Plains Energy, in Kansas, the only ethanol plant to have processed the new corn, said adding a small amount of amylase corn to the mix – about 10% – would increase production by 10%. GM Farming Energy Food Famine United States Suzanne Goldenberg guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Campaigners say plants being grown in US may worsen global food crisis, while farmers express cross-contamination fears US farmers are growing the first corn plants genetically modified for the specific purpose of putting more ethanol in gas tanks rather than producing more food. Aid organisations warn the new GM corn could worsen a global food crisis exposed by the famine in Somalia by diverting more corn into energy production. The food industry also opposes the new GM product because, although not inedible, it is unsuitable for use in the manufacture of food products that commonly use corn. Farmers growing corn for human consumption are also concerned about cross-contamination. The corn, developed by a branch of the Swiss pesticide firm Syngenta, contains an added gene for an enzyme (amylase) that speeds the breakdown of starches into ethanol. Ethanol plants normally have to add the enzyme to corn when making ethanol. The Enogen-branded corn is being grown for the first time commercially on about 5,000 acres on the edge of America’s corn belt in Kansas, following its approval by the US Department of Agriculture last February. In its promotional material Syngenta says it will allow farmers to produce more ethanol from the corn while using less energy and water. Meanwhile, campaigners say the corn will heap pressure on global food supplies and contribute to environmental degradation. They argue Enogen will lead to an increase in the amount of food crops going to fuel, leaving less for human consumption and leading to food price rises. That will lead to food price rises on the global market. “The temptation to look at food as another form of fuel to use for the energy crisis will exacerbate the food crisis,” said Todd Post of Bread for the World, a Christian anti-hunger organisation. Although individual events such as the Somalia famine are caused by a complex combination of factors, several studies have established that the expansion of biofuels has pushed up food prices worldwide, making it harder to afford for the poorest. A World Bank report released on Tueday says food prices that are now close to their 2008 peak have contributed to the famine in Somalia. Marie Brill, a senior policy analyst at ActionAid warned: “It’s going to put even more pressure on a really tight market. It will be really tempting to farmers to take on this new more efficient ethanol form of corn.” The food industry is warning of the dangers of contaminating existing corn crops with the new GM corn. The same traits that make the modified corn so attractive to the ethanol industry – the swift breakdown of starches – would be a disaster for the food industry, turning corn chips into shapeless lumps, and stripping the thickening properties from corn starch. Even a small amount of the amylase corn – one kernel out of 10,000 – could damage food products, according to data supplied to the North American Millers’ Association by Syngenta. The organisation, like most food industry groups, has opposed the corn, noting failures to prevent cross-contamination from earlier GM breeds. The European Union, South Korea, and South Africa have not approved its import. Enogen also has to catch on among farmers. “I’m sceptical as a farmer,” said Allen Jasper, who runs a cattle-feed operation near Whitten, Iowa. “The first thing I’m going to ask is how does it yield. Any time you try and change a corn plant and get it to do something that is not native to the plant you have to be sceptical of the yield.” Syngenta maintains the corn variety has a high yield, and that it has the appropriate safeguards to prevent cross- pollination. After Kansas, the company plans to expand its growing area to Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, and southwest Minnesota. Farmers will grow the corn under contract to an ethanol production plant, getting a premium over regular corn. Buffer rows of corn will be planted. “This is a very slow ramp-up. This is not a broad acre crop at this point,” said Paul Minehart, a Syngenta spokesman. Steve McNinch, of Western Plains Energy, in Kansas, the only ethanol plant to have processed the new corn, said adding a small amount of amylase corn to the mix – about 10% – would increase production by 10%. GM Farming Energy Food Famine United States Suzanne Goldenberg guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
President hopes to energise re-election campaign with tour of Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois, all of which he won last time President Barack Obama began a bus tour of the US midwest focused on jobs and the economy on Monday, aiming to leave behind doubts about his leadership that could dent his 2012 re-election prospects. The three-day trip takes him to Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois, states he won in the 2008 presidential election, but could expose Obama to voters who, polls suggest, are furious about political gridlock in Washington as he begins serious campaigning for his 2012 re-election attempt. The White House says Obama is on a listening tour to hear from Americans about the economy and talk about how to boost jobs and hiring. There are no plans announced for a major policy speech to roll out initiatives for economic growth. With unemployment at just above 9%, jobs are expected to be the central issue for voters in next year’s presidential and congressional elections. Even some of Obama’s fellow Democrats have expressed frustration that the president has not promoted plans to boost jobs growth more aggressively. Republicans blasted the trip as a taxpayer-funded “debt end” bus tour and hammered Obama over high unemployment, record national debt and the flagging economy. Obama was distracted for much of the summer by a divisive debate over the debt and deficits that triggered a downgrade in the US credit rating and undermined the public’s faith in Washington. With his own poll numbers flagging, Obama will use the tour to tout his job-growth agenda, which includes extending a payroll tax cut, finalising free-trade pacts and authorising infrastructure projects to create positions for construction workers. He will also try to channel citizens’ anger about the bad economy against Republicans in Congress. Obama’s job approval rating dipped below 40% – to 39% – on Monday in the Gallup daily tracking poll. Obama will speak at a town hall style meeting on Monday in Cannon Falls before heading to Decorah, Iowa. He then holds a rural economic forum in Peosta, Iowa, on Tuesday and town hall meetings in Atkinson and Alpha, Illinois, on Wednesday before returning to Washington. US elections 2012 Barack Obama US politics United States Democrats guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …President hopes to energise re-election campaign with tour of Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois, all of which he won last time President Barack Obama began a bus tour of the US midwest focused on jobs and the economy on Monday, aiming to leave behind doubts about his leadership that could dent his 2012 re-election prospects. The three-day trip takes him to Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois, states he won in the 2008 presidential election, but could expose Obama to voters who, polls suggest, are furious about political gridlock in Washington as he begins serious campaigning for his 2012 re-election attempt. The White House says Obama is on a listening tour to hear from Americans about the economy and talk about how to boost jobs and hiring. There are no plans announced for a major policy speech to roll out initiatives for economic growth. With unemployment at just above 9%, jobs are expected to be the central issue for voters in next year’s presidential and congressional elections. Even some of Obama’s fellow Democrats have expressed frustration that the president has not promoted plans to boost jobs growth more aggressively. Republicans blasted the trip as a taxpayer-funded “debt end” bus tour and hammered Obama over high unemployment, record national debt and the flagging economy. Obama was distracted for much of the summer by a divisive debate over the debt and deficits that triggered a downgrade in the US credit rating and undermined the public’s faith in Washington. With his own poll numbers flagging, Obama will use the tour to tout his job-growth agenda, which includes extending a payroll tax cut, finalising free-trade pacts and authorising infrastructure projects to create positions for construction workers. He will also try to channel citizens’ anger about the bad economy against Republicans in Congress. Obama’s job approval rating dipped below 40% – to 39% – on Monday in the Gallup daily tracking poll. Obama will speak at a town hall style meeting on Monday in Cannon Falls before heading to Decorah, Iowa. He then holds a rural economic forum in Peosta, Iowa, on Tuesday and town hall meetings in Atkinson and Alpha, Illinois, on Wednesday before returning to Washington. US elections 2012 Barack Obama US politics United States Democrats guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Google Inc.’s $12.5 billion deal to buy cellphone maker Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. is aimed at giving the Internet search leader more legal firepower as it battles Apple Inc. (Aug. 15)
Continue reading …
Google Inc.’s $12.5 billion deal to buy cellphone maker Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. is aimed at giving the Internet search leader more legal firepower as it battles Apple Inc. (Aug. 15)
Continue reading …
Click here to view this media The San Francisco Chronicle captured video of an Iowa fairgoer last week confronting Todd Palin. “We’re from Alaska,” the woman told him. “We were sick when she quit.” “What would you recommend doing when you got $600,000, $700,000 of debt hanging over your head, and you still have all these people filing complaints against you?” Todd Palin asked. “What would you do?” “Well, you go for the money obviously. That’s what she did. Everybody in Alaska thinks she sold out,” the woman replied. “Hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. You got all this debt going to be there,” Todd Palin insisted. “It’s not there anymore is it? You got quite the deal,” the woman charged, adding that Todd Palin was also a “sellout” as he walked away.
Continue reading …Click here to view this media The San Francisco Chronicle captured video of an Iowa fairgoer last week confronting Todd Palin. “We’re from Alaska,” the woman told him. “We were sick when she quit.” “What would you recommend doing when you got $600,000, $700,000 of debt hanging over your head, and you still have all these people filing complaints against you?” Todd Palin asked. “What would you do?” “Well, you go for the money obviously. That’s what she did. Everybody in Alaska thinks she sold out,” the woman replied. “Hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. You got all this debt going to be there,” Todd Palin insisted. “It’s not there anymore is it? You got quite the deal,” the woman charged, adding that Todd Palin was also a “sellout” as he walked away.
Continue reading …
As the news agenda goes into warp speed, it becomes ever more difficult for authors writing about current events to keep their books timely and relevant. Seismic events race by at almost weekly intervals: phone hacking gives way to the Norwegian terror atrocity, which is replaced by stories about the London riots and the world in economic meltdown. The hyper acceleration of news is a result of the digital age in which we now live. No sooner will an author begin a book then the story will begin to mutate before her very eyes. This happened to me while I was working on “The Revolution Will Be Digitised,” which will be published in the UK on August 18th. When I began my research for this book in February 2010, few had heard of WikiLeaks or Julian Assange. The speed with which WikiLeaks went from niche interest to global prominence was a real-time example of the revolutionizing power of the digital age in which information can spread instantly across the globe through networked individuals. But how can an author of current affairs keep up with such a fast-changing landscape? Traditional publishers require an author to submit a manuscript six months in advance, and if pressed, no later than two or three. In these months, everything can change. To try and get on top of the news agenda, publishers can pull forward the publication date but they still require at least six weeks from the date the book comes off the presses to the date it is in book shops. In only a few exceptional circumstances can this time be reduced. The digitization of information has revolutionized all sorts of industries from music and movies to shopping and finance. It has fundamentally changed the media landscape, so why not publishing? It seemed appropriate that as the author of a book about the digital revolution, I should look into publishing in new digital formats, so when RosettaBooks’ CEO Arthur Klebanoff pitched the idea of a Kindle Single, I was intrigued. He wanted to take the narrative section of the book and edit it into a 24,000-word, stand-alone piece. Unlike traditional publishing where the author is advanced funds from prospective royalties, digital deals are done without an advance but with a higher percentage of royalties going to the writer. We agreed to try out this new digital experiment. The real surprise was the speed with which it all happened. In less than two weeks from the time Mr. Klebanoff and I spoke, “Assange Agonistes” was proofed, laid out and available to download on Kindle. Of course, the timely work of writing and editing had taken place with the help of a traditional publisher but for a timely news story, I can’t see how a writer of current affairs could beat the efficiency of e-publishing. It will certainly be my first port of call for future investigations. The book trade may be in transition, but it is far from dead. Digitization is certainly challenging the old ways of doing things whether that’s in publishing or politics. But it’s not the end. In many ways, it is just the beginning.
Continue reading …
As the news agenda goes into warp speed, it becomes ever more difficult for authors writing about current events to keep their books timely and relevant. Seismic events race by at almost weekly intervals: phone hacking gives way to the Norwegian terror atrocity, which is replaced by stories about the London riots and the world in economic meltdown. The hyper acceleration of news is a result of the digital age in which we now live. No sooner will an author begin a book then the story will begin to mutate before her very eyes. This happened to me while I was working on “The Revolution Will Be Digitised,” which will be published in the UK on August 18th. When I began my research for this book in February 2010, few had heard of WikiLeaks or Julian Assange. The speed with which WikiLeaks went from niche interest to global prominence was a real-time example of the revolutionizing power of the digital age in which information can spread instantly across the globe through networked individuals. But how can an author of current affairs keep up with such a fast-changing landscape? Traditional publishers require an author to submit a manuscript six months in advance, and if pressed, no later than two or three. In these months, everything can change. To try and get on top of the news agenda, publishers can pull forward the publication date but they still require at least six weeks from the date the book comes off the presses to the date it is in book shops. In only a few exceptional circumstances can this time be reduced. The digitization of information has revolutionized all sorts of industries from music and movies to shopping and finance. It has fundamentally changed the media landscape, so why not publishing? It seemed appropriate that as the author of a book about the digital revolution, I should look into publishing in new digital formats, so when RosettaBooks’ CEO Arthur Klebanoff pitched the idea of a Kindle Single, I was intrigued. He wanted to take the narrative section of the book and edit it into a 24,000-word, stand-alone piece. Unlike traditional publishing where the author is advanced funds from prospective royalties, digital deals are done without an advance but with a higher percentage of royalties going to the writer. We agreed to try out this new digital experiment. The real surprise was the speed with which it all happened. In less than two weeks from the time Mr. Klebanoff and I spoke, “Assange Agonistes” was proofed, laid out and available to download on Kindle. Of course, the timely work of writing and editing had taken place with the help of a traditional publisher but for a timely news story, I can’t see how a writer of current affairs could beat the efficiency of e-publishing. It will certainly be my first port of call for future investigations. The book trade may be in transition, but it is far from dead. Digitization is certainly challenging the old ways of doing things whether that’s in publishing or politics. But it’s not the end. In many ways, it is just the beginning.
Continue reading …