If you're in Cape Town and interested in all things green and organic, then I can guess where you'll be heading this weekend. Now, as a reader of urban sprout, you'll get to visit for free - click here for your complementary ticket that allows you access to both the Natural & Organic Products Exhibition and Womens Show.

This year's show at the CTICC (Fri 19 - Sun 21 Feb) promises to be bustling, judging by the turnout at the Joburg show last year and the growth in consumer interest, so get there early!

Cape Town's Natural & Organic usually draws more visitors with 15 000 attending in October 2008, but this was eclipsed in Joburg last June when 26 000 people visited the show. This was a 370% increase over the last Joburg show and at a time of recession!

Clearly the organic & green movement is shifting

Ammendments to the law in SA mean that, despite the fact that the country has been growing genetically modified crops since 1997 and has never conducted a single environmental impact assessment (EIA), the Minister of Environment now has the power to carry out EIAs.

Join The African Centre for Biosafety (ACB) in their most recent campaign – to call for an EIA for Syngenta's application to government to permit them to commercially release a new event of genetically modified maize, called GA21.

This maize is resistant to their herbicide, Touchdown Forte. The technology gives farmers the freedom to spray poisonous herbicide indiscriminately, as the poison will kill everything except the crop, which is modified to survive the poison (in much the same vein as Monsanto's Roundup).

Before the word gets out, I thought I’d share my addiction to the latest restaurant to open on the Spier Wine Estate in Lyndedoch Road, Stellenbosch. Eight at Spier serves good wholesome breakfasts, brunches and lunches on the grounds of the popular weekend destination.

The restaurant is child-friendly, affordable, and one of very few restaurants with a green ethos where environmental consciousness and commitment to the Earth is a high priority. Most of all, the restaurant lacks pretentiousness, and easily ranks as one of the best places to get a decent, healthy breakfast over a weekend …

As far as food markets go, the Wild Oats Market in Sedgefield on the Garden Route probably comes up tops. Residents of Sedgefield and visitors to the town head out in their droves on a Saturday morning to the edge of town right next to the Swartvlei lake-lagoon, where the market has a permanent home under the trees.

The market's full name is the Wild Oats Community Farmers' Market and it has won numerous awards during its ten year life span. Whilst I'd heard only good things about the farmers' market, I hadn't yet had the opportunity to visit it, but our road trip up to Hogsback had been conveniently carved into a number of stopovers that included Sedgefield, and the market was one of the first to make its way onto the itinerary.

A new GM study by the University of Caen in France shows a negative impact on the function of kidneys and liver in rats consuming GM maize varieties for just 90 days.

From the study:
"We investigated three different GM corn namely NK 603, MON 810 and MON 863, which were fed to rats for 90 days. The raw data have been obtained by European governments and made publically available for scrutiny and counter-evaluation.

“These studies constitute a model to investigate possible subchronic toxicological effects of these GM cereals in mammals and humans. These are the longest in vivo tests performed with mammals consuming these GMOs. The animals were monitored for numerous blood and organ parameters.

2010 is virtually upon us, but before we allow the new year to sweep us back into the swing of things, it's a good moment to reflect on the past year and what news stories were most popular with our readers.

1. is Woolworths just another bad egg?
So there you are; surrounded by posters of poultry basking in their freedom, your conscience and shopping experience clean because you are promised that the eggs you are buying came from free-range chickens. If chickens could smile, I’m sure we would be confronted by an enormous picture of a splendid beaky grin.

2. you can recycle tetra pak!
I have to confess to sending various irate messages to Tetra Pak over the last year about their apparent lack of recycling facilities in Cape Town, or the country for that matter. The perception out there, despite their very obvious drive to recycle overseas, is that one can't recycle tetra pak, and there are a fair amount of them if you consider things like fruit juice, some olive oil, long-life milk and custard all come in these containers – they heap up over time!

I've met a few organic farmers before and always enjoy finding out the fascinating stories behind where my food comes from. But for the last eight weeks I've been mostly dependent on one particular farmer for my vegetable sustenance. That farmer is Erick Zenzele and this is the story of how Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) has made a difference to both of us.

The short version of the story is that I got to eat organic, fresh produce that was grown about 45 minutes drive from where I live, was good value for money and the supply chain was really short: farmer -> delivery man -> me. Good for freshness and a lower carbon footprint.

Erick benefitted by knowing that he has

For those of you in search of something new that is not only set to be equally as good as the Biscuit Mill's Neighbourgoods Market, but also emphasises the local, artisan and sustainability aspect of food, head off to the Earth Fair market in Tokai.

Earth Fair is also an indoor market. It lies in the South Palms (for those of you to whom this means nothing, it's actually in the same area as Builders Warehouse in Main Road, although behind Bathroom Bizarre). There is plenty of parking, for a start, and there are activities for kids, which for many living in Tokai is something of a godsend on a Saturday morning.

Remember the field trials for and the campaign against the GM potato, or Spunta G2. Well the campaign was successful and the government has rejected the application to release them onto the market!

As Haidee Swanby from the African Centre for Biosafety said – that this rejection has happened in the pro-GM environment of South Africa is testament to the power of citizens becoming involved in the government decision making process.

Thank you to those of you who took the time to sign!

The Agricultural Research Council has appealed the decision and ACB will keep us up to date on the appeal process. Read an article in Businessday about it, and read ACB's press release.

pic: blogs.guardian.co.uk

Demo at UCT campus on Friday 9 OctIt was only a few hours after we posted this story yesterday that Woolworths sent out the following sms – I'm sure you received it too:

”Celebrate World Egg Day with eggstra-special savings on Woolworths large free range eggs. Buy 12, get 6 free until 25 Oct.”

This morning we received a further press release from Compassion in World Farming SA (read on to sign their petitions), to let us know they are staging a demonstration this Friday, World Egg Day, at Jameson Plaza, UCT Main Campus between 12.30 -1.30pm.

“Women dressed in egg-yolk yellow swimsuits will spend their lunch hour inside cages, holding egg shaped placards, calling for an end to battery eggs in SA.

50% of eggs in the UK are currently free range, and in 2012 EU legislation will ban battery cages for egg laying hens, meanwhile....only 3% of eggs in South Africa are free range.  Why is this?