The Seeds of Change trademark was created in the 1980s by a small organic seed cooperative from Santa Fe, New Mexico, which set out ‘to help people and future generations improve their lives and enjoy wholesome, natural, chemical-free foods’. Seeds of Change expanded its enterprise in 1996 to include a range of organic soups, cereal bars, pastas and sauces. A year later it was bought by Mars and launched in the UK in 1999.
In 1952, Rachel Rowlands’ mother Dinah established the UK’s first organic dairy farm near Aberystwyth with a small herd of Guernsey cows, working ‘in harmony with nature, the elements, the seasons and wildlife’. In 1966, Rachel took over the farm and founded the Rachel’s Organic Dairy brand, which was sold to Horizon, a subsidiary of Dean Foods, in 1999.
Founded in 1991 by Craig Sams and his wife Josephine Fairley, Green & Black’s brand was conceived to represent the ‘green’ concerns of its founders and the ‘black’ of the cocoa bean.
Chemicals, pesticides, GM and agrofuels – when it comes to food production it seems the lunatics are running the asylum. But there is hope in some new approaches
Battling a fractured back and the vagaries of the weather high in the Pyrenees, is the biodynamic dream of wine writer turned grower Monty Waldin about to turn sour?
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization made a u-turn against organic agriculture after lobbying by the biotechnology industry, according to documents seen by the Ecologist.
Every year we’re landfilling or incinerating 200 million non-recycled, mass produced, unromantic valentine cards. So this year we should all make more of an effort to keep our romance and the planet alive.
As the bluetongue virus sinks its teeth into British livestock, there is one appalling certainty: like the outbreaks of Mad Cow Disease and foot-and-mouth before it, some farmers will see no way out, and take their own lives. Farmers in Britain are the profession second most likely to commit suicide (after, bizarrely, dentistry).
Two critical markets are pursuing a stressed planet’s renewable resources, presenting policymakers with complex and difficult choices. The Worldwatch Institute’s latest look at Earth’s “vital signs” sees dangerous times ahead as the “sustainability crisis” unfolds. China Dialogue's Maryann Bird investigates
Eco-labelled wine corks have just hit the market in a move to protect cork forests, which are threatened by a switch to metal screw top and plastic stoppers
Confused when shopping? Wondering if, when you go into the nation’s favourite supermarket, you’re getting the maximum green bang for your buck? Andrew Simms’ latest book, Tescopoly, is a forensic investigation of all things Tesco – including the chain’s green and ethical credentials. Forget the hype, he says, Tesco’s most recent charm offensive, the Good Neighbour policy, launched in May 2006, isn’t good enough. Could Britain’s largest retailer do it better? Take a look at Tesco’s Plan A – then read Plan B
Writing in the Guardian, Joanna Blythman has highlighted the environmental damage caused by intensive growing of oil-seed rape - the distinctive yellow-flowering crop which is now a major source of oil for biofuels.
Growing crops to solve the planet’s energy needs doesn’t work. Recycling the energy in our waste just might have a significant part to play. By Jeremy Smith & Jon Hughes
The Environment Agency (EA) is within weeks of letting Monsanto escape its liability for dumping thousands of tonnes of cancer-causing chemicals – including all the ingredients of the DDT defoliant Agent Orange – in two quarries in Wales.
March 22nd in World Water Day, an UN initiative to draw attention to the dreadful conditions in which many millions of the world's citizens draw their water. Maggie King reports
