Summary of newspapers of the previous days – 16.9. – 18.9.2011

The Czech Republic has two first Fairtrade towns: Litoměřice and Vsetín.

The first two towns in the Czech Republic obtained the title Fairtrade town today. They are Czech Litoměřice and Moravian Vsetín. The towns met conditions of an international campaign and ranked among thousands towns from the entire world which in their policy took into account social responsibility and offer their citizen a better access to a support to fair trade. At the same time Litoměřice and Vsetín are the first towns in the Central and East Europe which succeeded to obtain the title. The certificate was handed over to the towns by representatives of the campaign guarantor the Ministry of Environment of the CR and the National Network of Healthy Towns of the CR.

In Čejč in Hodonín region they can grow corn in spite of soil erosion

A corn grower Oldřich Horák from Horák´s farm in the region Hodonín grows corn in an area which seriously suffers from soil erosion. Despite the fact he manages even on sloping land to prevent the erosion thanks to a special growing procedure in which he uses successfully planting of catch crops. The Research Institute of Melioration and Soil Protection (VÚMOP) and the Ministry of Agriculture, which monitor regions endangered with erosion, pointed out his procedure in a press release. According to agricultural experts there are as many as 45 percents of land endangered with erosion in the Czech Republic, mainly in Moravia. So, there is a danger of milliard damage. Therefore the ministry introduced new rules for growing and management checks since July which farmers have to apply on roughly 15 percents of the total area of arable land in the CR.

Czech scientists engaged significantly in wheat research

The International Research Initiative for Wheat Improvement IRIWI met on the 15th of September 2011 in Paris at a meeting of the group G20 associating the most advanced world economies of the world. Important scientists, directors of research organizations, food experts and politicians meet here. The initiative whose opening meeting started yesterday coordinates the world-wide research leading to breeding of better wheat varieties. The aim is to increase yields and to divert a food crisis. In the framework of IRIWI, also Czech scientists from the Institute of Experimental Botany (ÚEB) of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and the Centre of region Haná for biotechnological and agricultural research.

Crop is at home. This year was extraordinarily successful

The harvest has finished and in spite of gloomy prospects in half of the summer, in the end farmers can be satisfied. They harvested by 19 percents more cereals than the last year even if the quality is often very different owing to rainy weather. “This year is very good and it is not held only in cereals, but also in crop of potatoes, hop, corn, fodder plants and sugar beet”, the president of Agrarian Chamber Jan Veleba stated. He added that this year was extraordinarily favourable for winter wheat in which farmers recorded the highest yield. They obtained 5.9 tonnes of this kind of cereals from one hectare.