• CAR test
• Czech Republic: Organic food consumption up 70 per cent in 2007
• Travel to gardens sees huge increase - 10 of the world's best botanical gardens

• New Maharishi Sthapatya Veda communities planned for England
• Maharishi University of Management graduate publishes non-GMO directory
• Success of Maharishi's programmes in Australia

• US: Biotech giant Monsanto to buy vegetable seed company
• Tensions rise as world faces short rations
• European Union approves Syngenta biotech maize for import

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Positive Trends
10 Short Summaries of Top Stories

CAR test
14 August 2008 - test (more)

Czech Republic: Organic food consumption up 70 per cent in 2007
30 March 2008 - In 2006, Czechs spent Kc 760m on organic food, while in 2007 organic food consumption grew by 70 per cent to Kc 1.29 billion, according to a survey by the Green marketing agency. (more)

Travel to gardens sees huge increase - 10 of the world's best botanical gardens
30 March 2008 - There has been a huge increase in garden travel according to Elizabeth Scholtz, director emeritus of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in the United States. Travel and Leisure magazine lists their top 10 botanical gardens in the world. (more)

Romania mulls national ban on Monsanto genetically modified maize
29 March 2008 - Romania's environment ministry wants to impose a national cultivation ban on Monsanto MON 810 genetically modified maize this year, minister Attila Korodi said on Thursday. (more)

US: Report says shift to organic would cut pesticide risks in diet
27 March 2008 - Converting the country's eight million acres of produce farms to organic would reduce dietary pesticide risk by 97 per cent, the non-profit Organic Center organization concluded recently. (more)

India: April-February spices exports rise 16 per cent
26 March 2008 - India's spices exports during the April-February period rose 16 per cent in volume terms the Spices Board said late on Monday. In value terms, it exceeded the full year target of 36 billion rupees, according to a statement from the Board. India produces over 4 million tonnes of spices and exports around 180 spice products to over 150 countries. (more)

Qatar prepares ground for organic farming
24 March 2008 - The Qatar Department of Agriculture and Water Resources is looking to introduce organic farming -- rejecting modern agrichemical techniques. (more)

US: Bees look good so far in Ohio
22 March 2008 - In Ohio bees are plentiful this year. The numbers of honey bees surviving the winter across Ohio are up from last year by 85 per cent. The higher numbers so far this year are good news for Ohio farmers who rely on bees to pollinate more than 70 crops, including apples, strawberries, and pumpkins. (more)

Fiji: Pacific keen on organic farming
21 March 2008 - Worldwide demand for organic produce is growing and the Pacific's farmers are interested in marketing their organic produce internationally. (more)

France: Auvergne aims at becoming country's first organic region
21 March 2008 - Auvergne has an ambitious plan to become the first organic region in France, including investing in development, distribution, and promotion of organic products. (more)

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Success of Maharishi's Programmes
10 Short Summaries of Top Stories

New Maharishi Sthapatya Veda communities planned for England
16 March 2008 - England's Yogic Flyers plan to build new Maharishi Sthapatya Veda homes and communities in several locations in the country. (more)

Maharishi University of Management graduate publishes non-GMO directory
9 March 2008 - A graduate of the MA in Professional Writing at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, USA recently published The 2008 Non-GMO Sourcebook, the world's only 'farm to fork' directory of non-genetically modified products. The Sourcebook features more than 700 suppliers of non-GMO products and services. (more)

Success of Maharishi's programmes in Australia
3 January 2008 - Dr Rogers Badgett, Raja (Administrator) of Australia for the Global Country of World Peace and former Raja of Hawaii, USA reported on progress in his new Domain. (more)

Maharishi Vedic Organic Agriculture products inspire 'rapt attention' at India Organic Trade Fair in New Delhi
3 December 2007 - On the Global Family Chat, broadcast on the Maharishi Channel, Dr Peter Swan (Minister of Communication of the Global Country of World Peace) read a report and showed slides from Maharishi Vedic Organic Agriculture in India about the success of their booth in New Delhi, which was visited by over 300 individuals and groups. (more)

Maharishi University of Management greenhouses teach organic farming
13 November 2007 - The Maharishi University Organic Farm offers students in the sustainable living programme at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, USA practical experience in the field of organic agriculture, and also provides fresh, pure food to the school. (more)

National invincibility rising from the heart of Central Vedic America
13 November 2007 - Dr Robert Wynne, Raja (Administrator) of Central Vedic America for the Global Country of World Peace, and Mayor of Maharishi Vedic City in Fairfield, Iowa, recently reported progress in many aspects through which his domain is contributing to the rise of invincibility in the United States. (more)

US: Update on Maharishi Vedic Organic Agriculture in Maharishi Vedic City
6 November 2007 - Dr Robert Wynne, Raja (Administrator) of Central Vedic America for the Global Country of World Peace, was recently interviewed about Maharishi Vedic Organic Agriculture in Maharishi Vedic City, Iowa, and nearby Maharishi University of Management (MUM) in Fairfield. (more)

New York Peace Palaces and Maharishi Vedic Organic farm in Goshen taking shape
1 November 2007 - Dr Paul Potter, Raja (Administrator) of New York for the Global Country of World Peace, recently described the beginning excavation for their four Peace Palace buildings, progress on the Goshen farm, and plans for other sites around New York City. (more)

Maharishi Vedic Organic Agriculture crops flourish in greenhouses, nourish the population
27 October 2007 - Dr Kent Boyum, Chief Minister of Central Vedic America for the Global Country of World Peace, who coordinates the domain's organic lands with a federal agency, recently reported on Maharishi Vedic Organic agriculture in Maharishi Vedic City. (more)

Growing worldwide popularity of organic food and agriculture
30 September 2007 - Citing the conclusion of 293 studies on the value of organic agriculture, Dr John Konhaus, Raja (Administrator) of the Global Country of World Peace for California, USA, and an expert in Vedic Agriculture, reported recently that a global switch to organic farming would increase the world's food supply and result in security in food production. (more)

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Flops
10 Short Summaries of Top Stories

US: Biotech giant Monsanto to buy vegetable seed company
1 April 2008 - Monsanto Co on Monday said it has agreed to acquire Netherlands-based De Ruiter Seeds Group B.V., which operates De Ruiter Seeds, for $860 million (546 million euros), to expand the agricultural biotech company's presence in the vegetable seeds business. The move comes three years after Monsanto began aggressively moving into the vegetable seed arena with the $1.4 billion purchase in 2005 of California-based Seminis, which gave Monsanto control over more than 30 percent of the North American vegetable seed market, as well as more than 20 percent of the world's tomato seed market and more than 30 percent of the global hot pepper seed market. (more)

Tensions rise as world faces short rations
31 March 2008 - Food prices are soaring, a wealthier Asia is demanding better food and farmers can't keep up. In short, the world faces a food crisis and in some places it is already boiling over. Around the globe, people are protesting and governments are responding with often counterproductive controls on prices and exports, a new politics of scarcity in which ensuring food supplies is becoming a major challenge for the 21st century. (more)

European Union approves Syngenta biotech maize for import
30 March 2008 - The European Union has approved imports of a genetically modified (GM) maize type for sale across its 27 national markets for the next 10 years, European Commission officials said on Friday. EU law allows for rubberstamp GMO approvals when ministers cannot agree after a certain time. Since 2004, the European Commission has approved a series of GM imports -- nearly all maize -- in this way, outraging green groups. (more)

Food prices soaring worldwide
28 March 2008 - If you're seeing your grocery bill go up, you're not alone. Consumers worldwide face rising food prices in what analysts call a perfect storm of conditions. Freak weather is a factor. But so are dramatic changes in the global economy, including higher oil prices, lower food reserves, and growing consumer demand in China and India. The world's poorest nations still harbour the greatest hunger risk. Clashes over bread in Egypt killed at least two people last week, and similar food riots broke out in Burkina Faso and Cameroon this month. As of December, 37 countries faced food crises, and 20 had imposed some sort of food-price controls. (more)

Argentina: People take to streets as farm conflict deepens
26 March 2008 - Several thousand protesters took to the streets of Argentina's capital on Tuesday after President Cristina Fernandez refused to back down on a tax hike that has sparked a two-week strike by farmers. The farmers have blocked roads with tractors and paralyzed markets across the country in the biggest conflict to face Fernandez since she took office in December. (more)

EU set to approve Syngenta GM maize on 28 March
20 March 2008 - EU regulators will approve imports of a genetically modified (GM) maize type next week, a document said on Wednesday. The maize, known by its codename GA21, is marketed by Swiss agrochemicals company Syngenta and intended for use in food and animal feed, but not for growing in Europe's fields. According to a draft document, imports of GA21 maize will be permitted for food, food ingredients, and animal feed produced from the modified strain. The approval will be valid for a standard 10 years across the EU's 27 countries. On a positive note, nine countries voted against approval: Austria, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, and Slovenia. (more)

Mexico approves rules to begin planting GM corn
20 March 2008 - Mexico, widely thought to be the birthplace of corn, said on Wednesday it will begin allowing experimental planting of genetically modified crops, despite resistance from some farmers who question their safety. Bio-tech food producer Monsanto Company welcomed the decision. Farmers opposing the decision said the government was bowing to pressure from Monsanto. Mexico now imports between 8 million and 9 million tonnes of US yellow corn a year, and more than 70 per cent of US corn is genetically modified. (more)

Money lenders only hope for India's poor farmers
20 March 2008 - An inescapable cycle of debt is fuelling one of the worst agrarian crises facing India, a crisis that has seen some 150,000 farmers commit suicide since 1997. Almost every farmer across India's arid cotton-bearing central plateau is a hostage, in one way or another, to a profitable mega-business of illegal money lending. (more)

Brazil GMO cane research advances, waits for OK
18 March 2008 - Sugar cane genetically modified for greater ethanol and sugar production could be developed in three to five years, though strict Brazil biotechnology regulation could keep it off the market for as much as seven years, companies said. (more)

Australia to grow first GMO canola in 2008
14 March 2008 - Australia will grow its first genetically modified (GMO) canola crop this year, the state government of New South Wales said. After removing a four-year ban on GMO canola last November, state Agriculture Minister Ian Macdonald said on Friday approval had been given to an application by the canola industry to plant a commercial crop. (more)