Educational news for schools & teachers at Old MacDonald’s Farms for Schools in Essex & East London

There are many good things about helping Old Macdonald out, not just sharing his company and looking around his wonderful farm and meeting his fascinating animals, but also the chance to take part in lively discussions. Thanks to Old Mac’s passion for the Environment (only matched by his passion for his wallet) we were invited to a tremendous evening at the Natural History Museum in London to take part in the final Earth Debate leading up to the Rio + 20 conference taking place in Rio from 20th to 22nd June this year. (Old Mac is not sending me there though!)

Organised by the British Council, Natural History Museum (who hosted this) and the Stakeholder Forum for a sustainable future (the latter being a collection of major companies committed to ensuring that corporate operation is genuinely sustainable in future) the Earth Debates brought together a wide range of people to debate all these issues that are key for our future, that of wildlife and indeed of the world itself. Quite a task, and exciting plus rewarding.

Old Macdonald is fully supportive of the Stakeholder Forum for a sustainable future proposal to Rio + 20 for there to be new regulations to get major companies to publish their environmental impact alongside their financial reports and hopes that this key objective can be achieved in Rio this year. If you want to know about our views on this, email info@omdfarm.co.uk, and if you want to learn more about the Earth Debates visit http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/biodiversity/earth-debates/.

If you are concerned about these matters, visit http://www.zsl.org/conservation/about-conservation/conservation-policy/healthy-planet/ and sign the pledge there to show your concerns and add to the petition.

By the way, the Natural History Museum is still free to enter and a great and valuable day out for all the family. We strongly recommend it to you! Our images are from the NHM and a reminder that whilst humans cannot be blamed for the loss of the Diplodocus, we can for the Dodo but it is not too late to prevent any more of the creatures with whom we share this world from sharing the same sad fate.

Old Macdonald left his farm on 2nd November and told me he was going to the HSBC building. Now normally when Old Mac visits HSBC it is to stand outside and wave at his money, but this time he was going to the giant tower in Canary Wharf for a conference.

This was organised by LEAF, and he wanted to ask who it was who had cleverly created this name for the charity Linking Environment And Farming as he could do with some clever acronyms himself, but instead he was fascinated by the debates on GM foods, organic farming and water savings, and more on this soon on this blog page.

But first he learnt about the LEAF Marque, as important as the Fair Trade sign on food, because this shows that the food has been produced by farmers who are committed to sustainable farming, which is farming that ensures it does not damage the countryside. There are many tests that farmers have to pass to achieve this and Old Macdonald tells me that 20% of fresh produce now is produced by LEAF marque suppliers and that all major shops stock this food, which not only tastes good and is great value but is done in a way that will help future generations too.

This Marque shows that farmers 

• Carefully managing hedgerows to provide habitats and food for wildlife
• Using pesticides and fertilisers only when absolutely necessary
• Leaving a strip of land between hedgerows and crops to act as a habitat for as a wildlife
• Recycling on-farm waste and conserving energy
• Improving water efficiency and quality 

You can find this on vegetables, salad, fruit, crisps, oil or even flowers. So join Old Macdonald and when you go shopping look for the LEAF Marque.

By the way, he said his money said hello!