Summary of newspapers of the previous day – 13. 12. 2010

Euro: Borrowed cereals should be returned to Reserve Administration by year end

Cereals which various interested persons borrowed before harvest from the Administration of State Material Reserves (SHHR) of the Czech Republic should be returned b y the year end. Meanwhile, only a third of firms succeeded; some gave back at least a part. SHHR would not much mind if others did not keep an agreement with a fixed term for loan. Reputedly, thereby the Administration will save. The weekly Euro, which will be issued on Monday, wrote that. “For us it is advantageous when cereals reserves are lent for a longer time. Nothing pushes us to their returning. We have a limit set by the government in the stores”, a chairman of the Administration, Ladislav Zabo, said to the weekly. However, according to Euro, the state organization would earn beyond compare more if it had sold the reserves, which it does not necessarily need to keep in stores, instead of lengthening of the loan time.

Activists protest against fishermen; they pulled robust boat to EU seat

A trawler appeared in front of buildings of institution of the European Union in the middle of Brussels today. Roughly twenty-meter long model was parked there by activists from the movement Greenpeace. By the unusual step they wanted on the occasion of meeting of EU ministers for fishing and agriculture to warn that fish reserves in European waters fall low and that the Union should do something with this. “Fishing in the EU should be lead by science, not by lobbing power”,, a Greenpeace leaflet proclaims. The activists handed it out to passers-by many of whom looked with a surprise at the huge boat placed a couple of meters in front of the building of the Council of EU and close to the seat of European Commission. The movement calls attention to various scientific works which asserts that many kinds of fish fished in Union waters are endangered from a long-term point of view by fishing technology and set quotas.

Inquiry: Food sale with quality mark Klasa increases

Sale of foods bearing a national quality mark Klasa has increased minimally by a fifth over the last two years. An influence of the logo on increased sale of foods was confirmed by three quarters of producers. It results from an inquiry among chain stores and food-producers about which the State Agricultural Intervention Fund (SZIF) informed ČTK today. “Compared to 2008, sales of Klasa products has increased by 20 to 43 percents in dependence on a concrete chain stores”, SZIF stated. According to some criticisms from a recent past, the mark thanks to its mass use in last years gradually lost its original purpose. The mark Klasa is granted to high-quality Czech food and agricultural products since 2003. At present, more than 1300 various products from more than 220 producers are marked with the logo.

Organic farming of dairy cows more advantageous

An organic breeding of dairy cows based on pasture raising supports cow health, improves milk quality, and decreases an ecological footprint of dairy cow farming. Vice versa, high-production farms based on grain feed cause problems with reproduction health of dairy cows, lead to a smaller number of longer lactations, and shorten the cow life thereby the yield for a breeder is being decreased. According a report issued by American Organic Center with a name: A Dairy Farm's Footprint: Evaluating the Impacts of Conventional and Organic Farming Systems", the ecological system of dairy cow farming supports dairy cow health and their lifetime by exposing them to a lower stress, and provides them with healthier fodder crop feed. Moreover, the organic way of dairy cow farming improves a nutrition milk quality.